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4oo  Years 


of 


Freethoup-ht. 


By  Samuel  P.  P 


AMUEL   r.    rUTNAM. 


Yet  I  doul)t  not  thro'  the  ajjes  one  increasing  purpose  runs, 

And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the  process  of  the  suns. 


NEW  YORK. 

The  Truth  Skk.kkr  Company. 

1894. 


Copyrishted,    1894, 

BY 

The  Truth  Seeker  Compant. 


LIST  OF  PORTRAITS. 


i 


opp.  page 

Adams,  Robt.  C 294 

Andrews,  Stephen  Pearl 228 

Baker,  R.  L 840 

Bennett,  D.  M 258 

Besant,  Annie 198 

Bird,  Henry 750 

Bjornson,    Bjornstjerne 786 

Blodgett,D.  A 414 

Botsford,  W 648 

Bradlaugh,  Charles VS2 

Bruno,   Giordano 10 

Bruno  Monument 852 

Biichner,  Ludwig 180 

Burnham,  J.  H 510 

Butterfield,    R 686 

Cee,  Jean  Paul 336 

Child,   0 402 

Cilwa,  C 330 

Close,  Converse 420 

Coleman,  W.  E 672 

Colman,  Lucy  N 396 

Comenius 24 

Comte 66 

Conant.  Jas.   A 846 

Cook,  J.  H 504 

Creede,  N.  C 684 

Darwin,  C.  R 156 

Dekker,  E.   D 546 

Denton,  William 384 

Des  Essarts,  Jules 324 

Emerson,  R.  W 114 

Fergus,   Jas '.  . .  660 


opp.  page 

Foote,  E.  B.,  Sr 498 

Foote,  E.   B.,  Jr 594 

Foote,  Geo.  W 282 

Freeman,  Mrs.  M.  A 720 

Freeman,  Mrs.  M.  D 618 

Freeman,  W.  F 612 

Gage,  Matilda  J 450 

Garcia,  J.  M.  L 318 

Gardener,  Helen  H 444 

Garibaldi,    Giuseppe 144 

Garrison,  Wm.   Lloyd 138 

Gibbon,   Edward 48 

Gibson,  Ella  E 270 

Girard,  Stephen 102 

Goethe,  J.  W.   von 72 

Goodell,  N.  D 642 

Green,  H.  L 456 

Greenhill,  J.   A 756 

Griswold,  N.  F 768 

Hardee,  R.  A 762 

Haigh,  Joseph 312 

Hayden,  Charles  T 678 

Heston,  Watson 852 

Heywood,  Ezra  H 378 

Holyoake,  G.  J 126 

Hugo.  Victor 108 

Humboldt,  A.  von 60 

Hume,   David 30 

Hu.xley,  T.  H 168 

Hunt,  S 792 

Ingersoll  and  Grandchild 15 

Ingersoll,  R.  G 516 


LIST    OF    PORTRAITS. 


opp.  page 

Jamieson,  W.  F 534 

Kneeland,  Abner 234 

Krekel,  Mattie  P 708 

Leland,  Lilian 552 

Leland,  T.   C 366 

Lennstrand,  Viktor  E 354 

Lick,  James 186 

Lincoln,   Abraham 210 

Macdonald,  E.  M 432 

Macdonald,  G.   E 438 

McCabe,  J.   J 822 

Martineau,    Harriet 90 

Mendum,  Ernest 468 

Mendum,  J.    P 246 

Mille,  Constantin 570 

Monroe,  J.  R 372 

Noyes,   R.   K 802 

Oswald,   Felix 702 

Paine,  Thomas 54 

Palmer,  Courtlandt 306 

Parker,  Theodore 204 

Parton,  James 240 

Peck,  John 528 

Pillsbury,  Parker 264 

Post,   Amy 390 

Putnam,  Samuel  P 518 

Reichwald,  E.    C 808 

Remsburg,  John  E 480 

Reynolds,  C.  B 540 

Richardson,  J.  P 666 

Rose,  Ernestine  L 216 

Rosenow,  A 814 

Ross,   W.   Stewart 288 

Rousseau,  J.J 42 

Rowley,  Henry 828 

Rush,  Reuben 834 

Schell,  Abram 624 

-Schell,  Mrs.  Caroline  A 630 

Schroeder,  J.  Henry 774 


opp.  page 

Schwella,  Edward 360 

Seaver,  Horace 252 

Shaw,  J.  D 492 

Shelley,  P.  B 78 

Smith,  Katie  Kehm 726 

Specht,  Dr.  August .564 

Spencer,  Herbert 174 

Spinoza 18 

Stanton,  Elizabeth  Cady 192 

Steiner,  Franklin 714 

Stevens,  E.   A 606 

Sturoc,  W.   C 696 

Taber,  Henry  M 690 

Ten  Bokkel,  J.  G 582 

Thompson,  Otto 348 

Thoreau,  Henry 120 

Thorne,  Robert 796 

Toomey,  S 742 

Tyndall,  John 162 

Voelkel,  Titus ...    558 

Voltaire,  M.   de 36 

Vostrovsky,  J 654 

Wade,   Robert 736 

Waite,  C.  B 462 

Wakeman,  T.   B 300 

Walker,  E.  C 588 

Washburn,  L.   K 426 

Watts,  Charles 276 

Watts,  Kate  E 474 

Wettstein,   Herman 600 

Wettstein  Otto 732 

Whitman,  Walt 150 

Wicksell,   K 780 

Wille,  Bruno 342 

Wixon,  Susan  H 408 

Wollstonecraft,   M 84 

Wright,  Elizur 222 

Wright,   Frances 96 


CONTENTS. 


PAGK 

Proem  _____  -         vii 

Introduction        -  -  -  -  -  11 


II. 

Columbus,  Vasco   de   Gama,  and   Magellan — The 

Three  Voyages  -  -  -  -         18 

III. 

Before  Columbus  _  _  .  .  27 

IV. 

Astronomy     -  -----         38 

V. 

The  Reformation  -  _  -  -  47 

VI. 

Philosophy  :  Bruno  and  Spinoza     -    .        -  -         51 

VII. 
Pomponazzi,  Telesio,  Campanella,  and  Vanini        -         '71 

VIII. 

The  Critical  Philosophy — Descartes,  Locke,  Hume, 

Kant,  Hamilton,  and  Comte      -  -  -  93 


iv  CONTKXTS. 

IX 

The  Final  Scientific  Answeu— Monism        -  -    129 

X. 

Education  and  Ethics — Bacon,  Comenius,  Pestalozzi, 
Froebel,  Combe,  Herbert  Spencer,  Huxley, 
HoLYOAKE,  Owen,  Haeckel  _  .  .    143 

XI. 

Literature — Provencal,  Rabelais,  Montaigne,  Cer- 
vantes, Mysteries  and  Moralities,  Marlow, 
Shakspere  _____    197 

XII. 

Gibbon  _._._.        228 

XIII. 

Yoltaire,  The  French  Revolution,  Thomas  Paine, 

Rousseau,  the  Paris  Salon,  CoNDORCPn',  Volney      248 

XIV. 

Shelley  and  Goethe— Homer.  Virgil,  Milton — 
Modern  Poets— Bukns.  Wordsworth,  Scott, 
Krats,  Byron,  Lessing,  Schiller  -  -      314 

XV. 

Geology- -Age  of  Man — Age  of  Earth — Order  of 

Evolution      _____   349 

XVI. 

Evolution — Methods,  Proofs,    Results — Religion — 

Morality,  Progress  -  -  -  -    361 


CONTENTS.  Y 

XVII. 

Modern  Europe— Politics — Kossuth,  Mazzini,  Gari- 
baldi, Proudhon,  Bakounine,  Marx,  Gambetta, 
Oastelar,  Bradlaugh        -  -  -  -    397 

XVIII. 

Modern  Europe —  Literature  —  Realism — Tennyson, 

Swinburne,  Massey,  Hugo.  Zola,  Ibsen,  etc.       -    432 

XIX. 

America  Before   the   Civil  War— Puritans,  Aboli- 
.  tion,  the  Yankee  _  _  _  .    453 

XX. 

Woman's  Emancipation — Woman  and  the  Bible,  the 

Church,  the  State— Before  Christianity  -    476 

XXI. 

America  To-day  _  .  _  _  _    517 

XXII. 

I'reethought     Organization  —  America,     England, 

Continental  Europe  -  -  _  _    519 

XXIII. 

American  Biographical  Sketches       -  _  _    680 

XXIV. 

IEnglish  Biographical  Sketches         _  _  _    830 

XXV. 

Treethinkers  of  Continental  Europe  -  -    834 


\ 


GIORDANU   BRUNO. 


PROKM. 

FEEETHOUGHT— PAST,  PEESENT,  AND  FUTUEE. 

THE   PAST — BRUNO. 

Fair  Bruno,  looking  forth  with  eyes  of  fire 

Upon  the  world's  broad  scene  ;  beyond   the  sun 

Thy  undimmed  glance  seems  to  behold  the  stars, 

Countless,  and  rushing  through  the  endless  space, 

With  opulence  of  life  as  on  earth's  breast.; 

Thyself  a  star  from  out  the  past  didst  burn, 

Wakening  the  darkness  with  resplendent  course 

Athwart  the  centuries  of  gloom  and  fear ; 

Herald  of  morning,  of  the  happy  days, 

With  Freedom  breathing  in  the  peaceful  skies ; 

With  science  in  the  kingly  garb  of  toil, 

The  green  earth  paradised  with  loving  hearts. 

O  brave  Immortal,  glorious  in  the  robe 

Which  burned  thy  body  into  fruitful  dust, 

They  knew  not,  that  wild   horde  about  thy  p3're, 

Who  knelt  and  trembled  to  a  God  of  hate, 

And  crouched  to  earth — nor  saw  its  wealth  of  life  ; 

They  knew  not  what  was  in  thy  dauntless  gaze, 

Outsweeping  the  rude  throng  and  torturing  heat — 

The  winged  thoughts  that  all  the  despot's  power 

Could  fetter  not,  nor  blast  with  fiercest  zeal. 

They  saw,  that  sluuldering  and  relentless  crowd. 

The  frail  flesh  sink  in  unconfining  tomb, 

And  vainly  triumplied  o'er  that  murdered  form. 

For  from  that  blackened  spot  went   forth  a  word 

Of  wonder,  joy,  and  beauty  to  all  time, 


yiii  PROEM. 

And  millions  greet  its  power  and  hope  unscathed. 
O  martyred  Bruno,  Science'  fearless  path, 
Through  regions  numberless  of  earth  and  sky, 
Makes  laurels  for  thee,  and  man's  brightest  days 
Flow  from  the  moment  of  thy  bitter  death. 
In  thee  the  past  turns  from  its  darkened  course, 
Bursts  from  tlie  gyves  of  ignorance  and  fear, 
Smites  down  the  tyrant  from  his  bloody  throne  ; 
And  as  the  earth  wheels  round  the  golden  sun, 
And  as  the  sun  speeds  through  unmeasured  realms, 
So  doth  the  mind  of  man,  unchained  and  vast, 
From  thy  red  dawn  of  death  move  radiant  on, 
In  paths  of  glory  broadening  to  the  noon. 

THE   PRESENT — INGERSOLL. 

And  now  the  present  answers  to  the  past. 
Genius  to  genius,  through  the  wondrous  years ; 
Bruno  and  Ingersoll,  and  on  Time's  arch 
What  shining  names  adorn  the  pregnant  space 
From  Nolan's  silent  ashes  to  the  lips 
That  drop  the  sweetest  words  that  charm  the  ear — 
The  eloquence  that  ceases  not  with  speech, 
But  is  immortal  music  to  the  mind  ! 

Beloved  master  of  the  art  supreme 

To  language  forth  the  spirit  world  within  ; 

To  make  words  flow  with  new  melodious  grace. 

Like  waves  that  beaming  break  on  shores  of  sense; 

From  the  vast  ocean  of  unbodied   thought 

Thv  brain  hath  caught  all    feeling,  all  the  light 

Of  imageries  that  rill  the  poet's  eye  ; 

The  subtlest  thoughts  of  man  ;  the  dim  desires 

That  warm  the  savage  breast  ;  the  dreams  tliat  haunt 

And  thrill  and  glorify  the  toiler's  task, 

Till  beauty  springs  from  labor  as  the  sheen 

Of  lilv  from  th<^  sunless  water  sproads  ; 


PRO  KM. 

Thou  read'sfc  the  past,  not  as  the  bookworm  reads, 

With  words  and  facts  strun<^  on  a  leaden  thread, 

But  with  imagination's  gohlen  power, 

So  that  the  finest  effluence  of  its  life, 

Its  heroes,  martyrs,  songs,  philosophies, 

Resurgent  in  the  living  present  breathe. 

Translated  in  thy  miracle  of  speech 

To  heavens  of  thought,  enriching  life  to-day. 

Thus  past  and  present  in  one  glory  join 

To  make  the  marvel  of  our  future  hope  ; 

From  Bruno's  stake  to  Voltaire's  radiant  star, 

To  Paine's  clear  luster  in  the  storms  of  war, 

To  grace  and  charm  of  him  wlio  gems  this  hour 

With  reason  wedded  to  the  poet's  strain 

What  light  has  gathered  on  man's  toilsome  way, 

What  joy  and  promise,  as  new  births  bloom  on ! 

THE    FUTURE — THE    CHILD. 

O  babe,  so  beautiful,  love's  gracious  gift ; 
The  sweetest  jewel  of  our  mortal  life, 
The  happy  dawn  upon  our  sorrow's  path. 
The  only  tyrant  that  our  hearts  enthrone, 
The  only  monarch  Ave  obey  and  bless ! 
O  heir  of  ages,  and  the  future's  glass 
In  which  we  see  the  splendors  yet  to  be ; 
The  tiny  propliet  of  untraveled  years  ; 
The  royal  messenger  of  new  domains 
Embosomed  in  the  unborn  wealth  of  time, 
To-morrow's  king,  sceptered  in  weakness  dear. 
We  bring  to  thee  the  treasures  of  the  past ; 
Thou  bring'st  to  us  a  thousand 'treasures  more. 
For  all  the  boundless  future  is  thy  realm  ; 
Thine  eyes  are  gates  into  the  deeps  of  time, 
Far  shining  in  their  clear  and  wondering  gaze ; 
In  thee  are  all  the  imprints  of  the  past— 
The  million  years  of  man's  evolving  life — 


PROEM. 

A  thousand  generations  toiled  for  thee. 

Poets  have  sung,  and  nations  have  marched  on  ; 

Heroes  have  died,  and  martyrs  starred   the  heavens ; 

The  h)ne  discoverer  hath  watched  the  night, 

Or  tcnled  across  the  ocean's  heaving  breast, 

Or  pierced  the  chambers  of  the  sea  and  land, 

To  make  more  splendid  thy  delightful  hour — 

To  make  thy  birth  the  richest  of  all  time. 

In  thee  the  past  and  present  find  their  goal, 

The  fountain  of  the  hope  wliich  jewels  life. 

Oh,  what  were  life  without  thy  helpless  grace, 

The  soft  entreaty  of  thy  smiles  and  tears, 

The  beauty  exquisite  of  dainty  flesh 

Flushed  with  the  rose  tints  of  thy  joyous  pulse  ? 

O  crown  of  all  our  toils  and  all  our  gains. 

Bear  on  the  song  of  life  to  future  years. 

Oil,  take  the  blessing  of  the  mighty  past; 

Oil,  take  the  love,  the  glory  of  to  day, 

Whose  face  is  o'er  thee  tender  as  thy  look, 

Which  holds  the  flower  of  i^romise  o'er  thy  brow. 

Grow  strong  and  beautiful  and  brave  and  free. 

Fair  child,  inheritor  of  sweet  renown  ; 

Make  thy  bright  harvest  in  the  fields  of  time  ; 

Enrich  with  reason's  light  thy  mingling  path 

With  those  which  front  with  thine  the  golden  dawn. 

The  great  hereafter  in  thy  beams  we  hail ! 


INGERSOLL  AND  (GRANDCHILD. 


FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF 
FREETHOUGHT. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Introduction. 


Four  hundred  years  of  Freethought — from  1492  to 
1892 — present  the  most  alluring  and  brilliant  pages  of 
human  history,  Onl}^  those  who  stand  at  the  end  of 
these  crowded  centuries  can  realize  the  advancing  great- 
ness of  humanity.  Never  was  the  picture  of  Shakspere 
so  glowingly  demonstrated  :  "  "What  a  piece  of  work  is 
man  ;  how  noble  in  reason  ;  how  infinite  in  faculties  ;  in 
form  and  moving  how  express  and  admirable  ;  in  action 
how  like  an  angel,  in  apprehension  how  like  a  god." 

What  lofty  intellects  adorn  the  way !  What  pomp  of 
music  is  poured  forth !  What  radiant  discoveries  on 
earth  and  in  heaven  are  there !  What  vast  inventions ! 
what  gigantic  powers  !  It  is  like  looking  upon  the 
splendors  of  the  dawn,  ever  accumulating,  as  the  day  ad- 
vances. 

Through  darkness  and  struggle  ;  through  bloody  war  ; 
through  torture  and  terror  ;  through  superstition,  ignor- 
ance, and  tyranny,  Freethought  has  steadily  pushed  on- 
ward, with  true  Promethean  fire,  with  the  torch  of  reason, 
with  undaunted  face,  with  unreceding  step,  until  now  it 
leads  the  world  with  victorious  colors. 


12  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREE;TH0UGHT. 

But  in  tracing  and  unfolding  the  harmonious  grandeur 
of  these  spacious  centuries,  it  is  necessary  first  of  all  that 
we  understand  what  Freethought  is — not  a  vague  and 
indeterminate  coruscation,  but  a  distinct  radiance,  a  mani- 
fold power,  ah  intelligence  "  looking  before  and  after,"  a 
destroyer,  and  a  builder. 

Freethought  is  a  spirit,  a  method,  and  a  result. 

The  eternal  spirit  of  Freethought  is  the  spirit  of  doubt, 
Freethought  never  ceases  to  inquire,  to  question,  and  to 
deny.  It  utterly  abhors  faith.  It  makes  no  terms  with  a 
submissive  mind. 

Doubt,  says  Aristotle,  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom.  It 
is,  indeed.  Doubt  is  the  first  step  to  knowledge.  It  is 
only  through  Doubt  that  we  can  analyze,  judge,  and  se- 
lect. Unless  we  deny,  we  cannot  search.  Belief  is  igno- 
rance. Unbelief  is  attainment.  Doubt  is  sanity — faith  is 
insanity.  The  supreme  virtue  of  orthodoxy  is  credulity. 
The  supreme  virtue  of  Freethought  is  skepticism. 

This  has  been  the  eternal  battle — Faith  on  one  side, 
Doubt  against  it,  and  Doubt  has  won  and  gemmed  tlie 
earth  with  civilization. 

Freethought  doubts ;  but  Freethought  builds.  Truth 
is  its  object ;  but  there  is  only  one  way  to  reach  truth — 
through  facts. 

The  scientific  method  is  the  one  universal  method. 
There  is  no  a  priori  royal  road  to  truth.  There  is  only 
the  common  road,  the  toilsome  common-sense  path  of  ob- 
servation and  induction.  In  experience  alone  are  the 
beginnings  of  knowledge.  He  who  starts  with  ideas, 
and  labors  to  accommodate  facts  to  ideas,  is  no  Free- 
thinker, for  he  is  bound  to  come  to  a  certain  con- 
clusion, not  by  the  force  of  truth,  but  the  fiat  of  an  assump- 
tion. 

The  truth  for  authority,  and  not  authority  for  truth,  is 
the  axiom  of  Freethought ;  and  by  truth  is  meant  not  an 
image  of  the  mind,  but  a  fact  of  the  iiniverse. 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

Freethought  is  observation,  experiment,  demonstration 
— beyond  that  nothing. 

It  therefore  rejects  all  authority — the  authority  of  a 
book,  of  a  church,  of  a  pope,  of  a  philosophy,  of  a  scien- 
tific congress  even.  Science  in  itself  is  not  authority,  but 
influence — the  constant  association  of  facts  with  reason, 
not  to  command  but  to  prove. 

Freethought  furthermore  is  a  result.  It  is  an  intel- 
lectual attitude.  It  is  Agnosticism,  as  that  term  is  scien- 
tifically understood,  and  also  Secularism.  As  all  experi- 
ence is  finite,  so  all  knowledge  is  finite,  and  relative. 
The  infinite,  the  absolute  are  negations  of  thought — not 
thought  itself.  Freethought  rejects  intuitions,  revelations, 
and  high-sounding  words,  which  have  no  meaning.  It 
rejects  God  and  Immortality  as  entirely  outside  of  attain- 
able truth.  Freethought  confesses  the  limitations  of  the 
human  mind.  To  go  outside  of  those  limits  is  to  become 
the  slave  of  an  imperious  desire.  We  are  not  free  when  we 
think  in  obedience  to  an  emotion.  We  are  free  only  when 
we  stick  to  facts.  It  is  folly  to  assert  that  Freethought 
means  that  we  can  believe  as  we  are  a  mind  to.  We  can 
believe  only  according  to  evidence.  It  is  not  slavery  to 
conform  to  reality  ;  but  it  is  slavery  to  believe  a  lie  merely 
because  it  is  attractive. 

Freethought  is  not  an  intellectual  result  only,  but  a 
practical  result.  It  is  the  application  of  truth.  It  is  a 
selection  of  facts,  and  a  re-arrangement  of  facts.  It  is 
the  conquest  of  nature.  It  is  human  happiness,  and  liu- 
man  improvement  by  law  and  not  by  caprice.  AVith 
Freethought  there  is  no  such  thing  as  chance.  It  takes 
nothing  on  trust.  It  is  open-eyed  and  always  on  the 
lookout.  It  believes  in  work,  and  is  tlierefore  an  indus- 
trial power.  It  is  action.  It  is  forethought,  skill,  and 
invention.  It  is  not  only  the  illuminated  brain,  but  the 
deft  hand. 

Freethought  is  also  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity  in 


14  FOUR  HUNDRED    YKARS  OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

the  domain  of  politics.  These  are  not  assumptions,  but 
verities.  As  Freethought  recognizes  the  unity  of  exist- 
ence it  must  also  recognize  the  equality  of  rights.  If  the 
king  on  the  throne  has  an}'  rights  at  all,  the  peasant  in 
the  hut  has  exactly  the  same  rights.  This  is  not  a  "  glit- 
tering generalit}',"  but  a  scientific  induction,  for  rights  are 
not  a  condition  dependent  on  circumstance  and  therefore 
variable,  but  a  quality  of  life  itself.  The  moment  there  is 
an  individual  there  are  rights,  as  the  moment  there  is 
form  there  is  relation.  As  well  talk  of  form  without  re- 
lation as  to  talk  of  an  individual  without  rights.  Annihi- 
lation is  preferable  to  a  personality  without  libert}*  and 
equality.  The  doctrine  of  human  rights  has  been  of  slow 
growth.  It  was  scarcely  recognized  in  ancient  times.  It 
is  the  result  of  many  experiences,  many  conflicts,  and 
many  evolutions.  It  has  gradually  come  to  the  front.  It 
is  the  chief  glory  of  modern  times.  Its  greatest  luster 
has  shone  since  the  birth  of  our  republic.  In  the  daj^s  of 
Columbus  it  was  remote  almost  as  the  islands  of  the 
South  Pacific. 

Modern  science  affirms  fraternity,  not  as  a  sentiment, 
but  as  a  fact.  This  is  an  immense  gain  upon  the  Christian 
theory.  We  do  not  inculcate  fraternity  as  a  feeling 
merely,  but  we  recognize  it  as  a  part  of  human  knowledge. 
The  race  is  actually  one.  The  same  life  is  in  it,  in  every  age, 
in  every  clime.  There  are  no  chasms  in  universal  existence, 
no  dualit}^  but  unit}'.  When,  therefore,  I  use  the  word  Free- 
thought,  I  use  it  in  the  most  comprehensive  sense,  as  an 
intellectual,  moral,  industrial,  political,  and  social  power. 
I  mean  scientific  freedom,  not  a  mere  capricious  freedom. 
I  mean  a  freedom  devoted  to  high  ends.  I  mean  doubt 
•for  the  truth's  sake.  I  mean  facts  correlated  into  a  vast 
and  splendid  system  of  noble  i^hilosophy.  I  mean  liberty 
•  whose  expression  is  law,  whose  spirit  is  universal  equality 
and  universal  brotherhood.  In  this  large  sense  I  would 
picture  the  triumphs  of  Freethought  for  the  last  four  liun- 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

"dred  years — in  philosophy,  in  science,  in  literature,  in  ed- 
ucation, and  in  government. 

I  cannot  minutely  detail  the  progress  of  humanity 
throughout  these  vast  domains  of  activity.  It  is  a  mighty 
maze,  and  volumes  would  be  required  to  elucidate  every 
current  of  thought.  I  can  only  touch  upon  the  main  feat- 
ures. I  can  only  ascend  a  few  mountain  hights  and  from 
there  record  the  extensive  prospects.  In  passing  through 
a  vast  country  we  cannot  look  upon  every  scene.  We  can 
not  wander  through  every  grove,  or  by  every  shining  riv- 
ulet. Many  a  hill  and  dale  must  be  neglected.  We  must 
hurry  on,  and  from  sublime  eminences  here  and  there  be- 
hold the  limitless  expanse,  and  connect  the  whole  by  these 
radiant  glimpses.  Or,  like  the  World's  Fair,  day  after  day 
we  might  haunt  its  treasured  halls,  and  if  we  noted  every 
beautiful  exhibit  it  would  take  years  to  exhaust  the  mar- 
velous display.  We  must  take  a  few  central  points  of  ob- 
servation, and  from  these  witness  what  we  can  of  its  mul- 
titudinous scenes. 

So  must  we  study  the  Four  Hundred  Years  of  Free- 
thought  by  the  representative  geniuses,  the  lofty  minds 
that  in  themselves  contain  and  express  supreme  tenden- 
cies. I  shall  try  and  interpret  history  by  personalities 
rather  than  by  events,  for  it  is  in  personalities  that  we  see 
the  hights  and  depths  of  human  life,  that  we  witness  the 
trend  of  civilization.  I  am  not  giving  the  daily  history  of 
man,  but  the  history  of  his  highest  moments,  of  his  tran- 
scendent altitudes  whence  flow  the  thousand  common 
streams  of  human  advancement. 

Many  a  philosopher,  poet,  hero,  martyr,  discoverer,  and 
inventor  I  shall  not  mention,  because,  however  shining 
and  immortal  their  work,  there  is  some  superior  mind  who 
is  the  one  grand  interpreter  of  themselves  and  the  age  in 
which  they  live. 

I  shall  not  follow  a  strictly  chronological  course,  for, 
entering  upon  some  great  domain  of  the  world's  progress, 


16  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

I  must  outline  its  history  for  -centuries,  to  the  neglect  for 
the  time  being  of  other  parallel  and  equally  important 
departments  of  man's  growth. 

Theologians,  in  endeavoring  to  reconcile  Moses  with 
geology,  declare  that  in  regard  to  creation's  dawn  and  its 
wonderful  events  he  did  not  receive  a  verbally  inspired 
account  of  the  exact  process,  but  that  the  phantasmagoria 
of  those  primeval  occurrences  passed  before  his  mind's 
eye,  and  he  relates  things  not  with  objective  accuracy,  but 
as  they  subjectively  appeared  to  him  in  his  entranced  state. 
He  describes  great  pictures  of  the  world  beginnings  as 
they  roll  upon  his  imagination.  He  is  therefore  right 
in  his  record  from  his  position.  What  actually  occurred 
would  appear  to  him  as  he  wrote  it ;  but  if  his  position 
had  been  changed,  and  he  had  been  actually  present  at  the 
creative  period,  his  delineations  would  have  been  more 
scientifically  correct. 

However  true  this  supposition  may  be  about  Moses,  it 
exactly  illustrates  the  method  of  my  history  of  Free- 
thought.  I  shall  not  write  it  as  if  I  were  present  at  the 
unfolding  of  each  event,  so  that  I  could  photograph  it  and 
reproduce  it  exactly,  but,  standing  at  the  end  of  the  cen- 
turies on  the  gleaming  heights  of  the  "World's  Fair,  these- 
snowy  Alps — not  cold,  but  warm  and  effulgent  as  the 
goklen  bosom  of  the  valleys  where  harvests  shine — from 
these  ample  scenes  and  this  central  brightness  I  look  back 
upon  the  morning  and  the  shadows  of  the  night  and  paint 
the  pictures  as  they  pass  before  my  mental  vision,  as 
Moses  might  have  painted  the  panorama  of  Creation.  The 
misfortune  of  the  theologian  is  that  Moses  failed  to  reconl 
his  metliod,  and  it  was  not  discovered  until  thirty-tive 
hundred  years  after  his  death,  and,  as  a  consequence,  many 
glorious  intellects  have  suffered  martyrdom  wlio  otherwise 
might  have  been  honored  and  rewarded  by  the  church.  I 
take  warning  from  the  tragedy  of  the  "  Mistakes  of 
Moses,"  and  state   my  method  and  ask  foi  criticisms  on 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

that  basis.  I  purpose  to  give  a  pictorial  representation, 
rather  than  a  narrative  ;  interpretations,  and  not  reports. 
Somebody  playfully  and  yet  keenly  remarked  of  Macaulay's 
History  that  is  was  indeed  "  his  story."  This  might  be 
true  and  not  altogether  destroy  the  worth  of  Macaulay's 
labors,  for  a  man's  thoughts  about  history  are  sometimes 
as  valuable  as  history  itself,  for  truth  may  be  in  the 
thoughts  as  well  as  in  the  events  themselves. 


CHAPTEK   11. 

Columbus,  Vasco   de   Gama,  and   Magellan — the   Three 

Voyages. 

Everybody  knows  the  history  of  Columbus — that  he  set 
sail  from  Palos  with  three  small  ships,  etc.  ;  but  what  was 
the  influence  of  that  bold,  adventurous,  successful,  and 
pathetic  life  upon  man's  advancement? 

It  was  a  fateful  moment  when  Columbus  placed  foot 
upon  the  soil  of  the  New  World.  Not  even  he  could 
imagine  the  wonder  that  would  be,  the  magnificence  of  the 
future,  whose  golden  doors  he  was  opening  to  eager 
millions.  Think  of  the  broad  continent  that  lay  before 
him,  glittering  in  the  setting  sun.  Think  of  the  amazing 
riches  of  that  unknown  land,  stretching  for  a  thousand 
leagues  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  Gold  and  silver 
were  there  in  the  heart  of  the  might}^  mountains.  Virgin 
soil  was  there  ribboned  with  many  a  shining  stream.  Vast 
lakes  were  there,  blue  as  the  sea  itself,  and  boundless  to 
the  vision.  Mile-wide  rivers  flowed  from  Northern  zones 
to  tropic  splendors.  Untrodden  prairies  ^spread  in  flowery 
billows  over  spaces  more  expanded  than  Europe  itself. 
Gigantic  forests,  whose  secrets  it  has  taken  centuries  to 
unfold,  extended  in  verdant  gloom  their  stately  ranks. 
Innumerable  hills  and  valleys  were  waiting  to  bloom  in 
harvest.  Rich  with  the  records  of  an  illimitable  past,  a 
thousand  hights  fling  challenge  to  man's  daring  step. 
Here  ^re  buried  civilizations,  and  civilizations  still  living 


BENEDICT   SPINOZA  (p.  51). 


THE   THREE    VOYAGES.  19 

and  beautiful  as  the  civilizations  of  the  white  invader's 
own  home,  and  over  which  shall  now  fall  the  black  pall  of 
slavery  and  death.  A  whole  race,  roaming  over  the  happy 
hunting-grounds,  is  doomed  to  destruction. 

Freighted  with  desolation  and  glory  was  the  landing 
of  Columbus.  Fifteen  millions  of  human  beings  perished 
beneath  tlie  cross  that  waved  in  his  silken  banner,  and 
even  though  liberty  on  this  soil  was  to  win  its  most  daz- 
zling triumphs,  the  church  which  he  represented  with 
drawn  sword,  darkening  to  a  terrible  tyranny,  was  now  to 
be  strengthened  by  the  acquisition  of  millions  of  adher- 
ents and  uncounted  wealth.  It  was  to  own  the  fairest 
portions  of  this  new  world. 

Vastness  and  grandeur  of  physical  scenery,  a  wide  and 
universal  theater  on  which  to  act,  conduces  to  freedom  of 
thought ;  and  in  this  respect  America  has  added  to  man's 
hopes  and  progress.  But  superstition  wins  as  well  as 
freedom.  The  vastness  and  grandeur  that  inspire  the 
lofty  mind  subdue  and  crush  the  weaker.  The  very 
amplitude  of  action  in  a  new  world  prevents  fineness  of 
art,  delicacy  of  genius,  depth  of  insight,  and  nicety  of 
achievement.  These  things  must  grow;  they  must  be  the 
result  of  age.  The  most  superb  of  physical  environments 
must  be  associated  with  centuries  of  national  life  before  it 
can  produce  the  most  perfect  flower.  Action  is  apt  to  banish 
thought  I  have  met  with  thousands  of  shrewd  business- 
men who  are  still  the  slaves  of  the  church.  Tliey  have  not 
time  for  reflection.  I  have  noticed  that  amidst  the  grandest 
forms  of  nature  there  is  oftentimes  the  greatest  mental 
weakness  and  cowardice.  I  have  struck  miners,  bold,  reso- 
lute, adventurous,  who  obeyed  the  priest.  It  does  not  al- 
ways follow  that  sublimity  of  natural  aspect  or  opportunity 
for  action  conduce  to  liberty  or  intellectual  power.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  in  America  to-day  there  is  more  petty  inter- 
ference with  personal  liberty  than  in  almost  any  other  por- 
tion of  the  civilized  globe.     And  this  is  because  Americans 


20  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP  FREETHOUGHT. 

are  so  taken  up  with  the  vastness  of  outward  affairs  that  they 
will  not  concern  themselves  with  fine,  yet  all-important, 
intellectual  and  moral  distinctions.  It  does  not  happen 
because  we  are  on  a  big  continent  and  have  immense 
physical  vitality  that  therefore  we  are  doing  and  thinking 
the  best  things.  We  are  not,  and  the  very  greatness  of 
our  physical  opportunities  does  prevent  intellectual  acu- 
men. Not  until  Americans  are  crowded  together,  and  ma- 
terial advantages  are  lessened,  and  there  is  not  so  much 
chance  for  muscle,  and  one  must  stop  and  think  before  he 
acts,  will  there  be  in  our  country  the  greatest  poetry,  the 
greatest  philosophy,  and  the  greatest  art.  There  is  such 
a  thing  as  having  too  much  room.  To  make  the  best  of  a 
little  is  of  surpassing  educational  value.  In  compact 
Greece  was  produced  the  brightest  civilization  of  ancient 
times.  .  The  vast  countries  never  did  give  the  world  a 
genius.  What  did  imperial  Rome  contribute  to  universal 
literature  compared  to  what  one  of  its  little  provinces — 
Germany,  France,  Britain — has  contributed  ?  And  would 
Rome,  if  she  had  retained  her  enormous  dominion,  have 
rivaled  the  glories  of  modern  civilization,  which  seem  to 
be  the  result  of  concentration  rather  than  of  expansion  ? 

It  is  not  extent  of  territory  that  gives  the  only  or  greatest 
element  of  man's  progress.  It  has  its  dangers  as  well  as  its 
opportunities.  The  tyrant  avails  himself  of  the  unlimited 
chances  and  the  very  immensity  of  the  continent  gives  him 
advantages  that  he  would  not  otherwise  possess.  The  Ro- 
man church  is  acquiring  more  power  in  America  than  in  any 
other  country.  The  Vatican,  paling  before  the  luster  of 
Bruno's  statue  at  Rome,  is  enthroned  in  the  metropolis  of 
the  New  World.  Universal  suffrage,  greater  tlian  any  king, 
is  becoming  the  ally  of  this  rapacious  despotism.  But  Rome 
is  not  the  only  tyranny  that  flourishes  in  this  republic 
through  its  very  vastness.  Upon  our  soil  to-day  we  will  find 
ignorance  as  dense  as  that  of  Africa,  persecution  as  bitter  as 
that  of  Siberia,  and   siiperstition  as  rank  as   that   of  the 


THE   THREE   YOYAaES.  21 

South  Sea  islands;  and  it  is  the  abundance  of  territory 
that  makes  these  things  possible.  If  all  our  millions  were 
crammed  into  one-tenth  the  space  they  now  occupy,  igno- 
rance and  superstition  and  tyranny  would  vastly  decrease. 
Extent  of  territory  is  a  blessing  so  far  as  the  bread-and- 
butter  question  is  concerned,  but  this  very  facility  of  ac- 
quiring a  living  diminishes  thought;  and  while  popula- 
tions are  so  widely  scattered,  so  little  in  contact  and  ever 
moving,  it  is  impossible  to  reach  the  highest  point  of 
human  genius  and  excellence. 

Therefore  while  Columbus  opened  a  new  world  to 
freedom  he  also  opened  a  new  world  to  tyranny,  and  it 
may  be  that  the  greatest  and  bloodiest  conflict  of  all  time 
will  yet  take  place  upon  this  continent,  even  as  the  great- 
est civil  war  has  already  taken  place,  which  would  not 
have  occurred  but  for  the  immense  area  over  which  our 
population  extended.  If  the  people  had  been  in  closer 
contact,  the  sword  would  not  have  been  necessary. 

The  magnitude,  therefore,  of  the  discovery  of  Columbus 
makes  it  an  uncertain  benefit  to  the  human  race.  Organ- 
ized ignorance  and  superstition  entered  upon  its  conquest 
in  opposition  to  freedom,  which  as  yet,  in  1492,  scarcely 
recognized  its  powers.  Justice  for  the  time  being  was 
completely  overthrown.  The  discovery  of  Columbus  was 
followed  by  destruction  and  cruelty  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  Slavery  the  most  pitiless  flung  its 
black  shadow  over  these  fair  regions.  Bloody  wars  anni- 
hilated a  happy  people.  The  cross  which  Columbus  bore 
and  in  whose  name  he  took  possession  of  this  continent, 
gilded  the  blackest  flag  of  piracy  and  murder  that  ever 
cursed  humanity.  Says  Draper :  "  Those  who  died  not 
under  the  lash  in  a  tropical  sun  died  in  the  darkness  of 
the  mine.  From  sequestered  sand-banks  where  the  red 
flamingo  fishes  in  the  gray  of  morning ;  from  fever-stricken 
mangrove  thickets  and  the  gloom  of  impenetrable  forests  ; 
from  hiding-places  in  the  clefts  of  rocks  and  the  solitude 


22  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF    FREETHOUGHT, 

of  invisible  caves  ;  from  the  eternal  snows  of  the  Andes 
where  there  was  no  witness  but  the  all-seein<:^  sun,  tliere 
went  up  a  cry  of  human  despair.  By  millions  and  millions 
whole  nations  and  races  were  remorselessly  cut  off.  From 
Mexico  and  Peru  a  civilization  that  might  have  instructed 
Europe  was  crushed  out." 

Columbus  was  no  Freethinker.  He  was  a  true  child  of 
the  church,  though  he  struck  one  of  the  keenest  blows 
at  the  authority  of  the  church  ever  inflicted  by  any 
skeptic.  He  gave  almost  undeniable  proof  that  the  earth 
was  not  flat,  as  it  was  declared  to  be  by  the  standard 
theology  of  the  church.  For  centuries  the  dark  and  pas- 
sionate spirit  of  Augustine  had  ruled  the  theologians.  On 
the  question  of  the  antipodes  this  great  man  had  declared  : 
"It  is  impossible  there  should  be  inhabitants  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  earth,  since  no  such  race  is  recorded  by 
scripture  among  the  descendants  of  Adam." 

This  unanswerable  argument  was  also  made  against 
the  sphericity  of  the  earth,  that  "  in  tlie  day  of  judgment 
men  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe  could  not  see  the  Lord 
descending  through  the  air." 

Columbus  demolished  a  cardinal  doctrine  when  he 
stepped  upon  these  shores.  It  was  not  so  much  the 
discovery  of  America  as  what  the  discovery  declared 
as  to  the  form  of  the  earth  that  gave  such  immense 
significance  to  the  voyage  of  Columbus.  His  per- 
sistent courage  compelled  the  recognition  of  a  new  truth. 
Everv  wind  that  wafted  him  westward  rolled  back  the 
clouils  of  a  dark  tljeology.  If  Columbus  was  not  a  heretic 
in  thought  he  was  certainly  a  heretic  in  action.  He  could 
not  have  done  a  greater  service  for  Freethought.  Devout 
Catholic  as  he  was,  his  banners  were  the  brightest  signals 
in  the  broadening  dawn  of  science.  It  certainly  must  have 
taken  a  man  of  superior  genius  to  plunge  into  the  unknown 
waste  of  waters,  not  only  against  night  and  storm,  but  the 
almost  universal  tradition  of  the  church  to  which  he  gave 


THE   THREE   VOYAGES.  23 

allegiance.  I  wonder  sometimes  if  in  the  lone  watches 
beneath  the  stars,  straining  his  eyes  to  the  westward  to 
discover  some  sign  of  land  after  days  of  hope  deferred, 
the  words  of  the  Christian  father  Lactantius  did  not  come 
to  his  mind  and  almost  make  him  repent  of  his  audacity. 
"  Is  it  possible,"  says  this  voice  of  the  church,  "  that  men 
can  be  so  absurd  as  to  believe  that  the  crops  and  the  trees 
on  the  other  side  of  the  earth  hang  downward,  and  that 
men  have  their  feet  higher  tlian  their  heads.  I  am  really 
at  a  loss  what  to  say  of  those  who  when  they  have  once 
gone  wrong,  steadily  persevere  in  their  folly." 

Nevertheless  Columbus  did  persevere,  and  he  did  dis- 
cover trees  that  "  hang  downward,"  and  men  with  "  feet 
higher  than  their  heads,"  and  in  so  doing  lie  set  reason 
above  faith,  and  toppled  over  theology. 

And  although  the  same  ecclesiastical  authorities  de- 
clared that  if  the  earth  were  round,  "  its  rotundity  would 
present  a  kind  of  mountain,  up  which  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  sail,  even  with  the  fairest  wind  ;  and  so  he 
could  never  come  back,"  yet  Columbus  did  come  back,  not 
only  revealing  America,  but  the  possibility  of  the  vast 
earth  with  its  continents  and  seas  and  peoples  swinging 
through  the  immensities  of  space.  It  was  no  longer 
flat,  a  quadrangular  plane,  inclosed  by  mountains  on 
which  rests  the  crystalline  dome  of  the  sky.  Though  con- 
futed by  tlie  Pentateuch,  the  Psalms,  the  Prophecies,  the 
Gospels,  the  Epistles,  and  tlie  writings  of  the  Fathers,  St. 
Chrysostom,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Gregory,  St. 
Basil,  and  St.  Ambrose,  the  sturdy  sailor  knocked  over 
the  proudest  superstructure  of  the  religion  wliich  he 
liimself  professed.  I  wonder  if  Columbus  was  at  heart  a 
Freethinker.  Perhaps  lie  belonged  to  that  wise  company 
of  which  D'Israeli  relates,  "  Men  of  sense  have  but  one 
religion."  ''What  is  that?"  is  tlie  inquiry.  "Men  of 
sense  never  tell," 

The  church,  however,  as  the  final  arbitress  of  all  scien- 


24  FOUR  iirxDRi';i)  ykars  of  frfkthougut. 

tific  questions,  had  committed  itself  against  the  globular 
form  of  the  earth.  Rome  the  infallible  never  retracts  any- 
thing, never  recedes,  unless  absolutely  compelled  to  by 
overwhelming  evidence,  and  even  the  voyage  of  Columbus 
was  not  sufficient  to  convince  the  theologian  of  the  error 
of  the  ancient  geography  constructed  out  of  the  texts  of  the 
Bible.  Possibly  the  world  might  still  be  flat,  only  of 
larger  extent  than  hitherto  supposed.  The  four  pillars 
might  still  be  at  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  Columbus 
did  not  settle  the  question  beyond  the  possibility  of  dis- 
pute. Other  voyages  must  be  made  over  still  unknown 
seas.  Columbus  failed  in  his  attempt  to  reach  India  by 
sailing  to  the  west.  Vasco  de  Gama  succeeded  by  sailing 
to  the  south.  He  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and 
retraced  the  track  of  the  ships  of  Pliaraoh  Necho  which 
had  accomplished  the  same  undertaking  two  thousand 
years  ago.  He  set  sail  July  9,  1497.  On  May  19,  1498,  he 
reached  Calicut  on  the  Malabar  coast. 

The  consequences  of  this  voyage  were  to  the  last  de- 
gree important.  The  commercial  arrangements  of  Europe 
were  completely  dislocated.  The  front  of  Europe  was 
changed.  Britain  was  put  in  the  van  of  the  new  move- 
ment. 

And  now,  in  consequence  of  the  rivalry  between  Spain 
and  Portugal,  the  greatest  voyage  of  all  time  was  under- 
taken. August  10,  1519,  Magellan  sailed  from  Seville. 
He  struck  boldly  for  the  southwest.  He  lost  sight  of  the 
North  star,  but  held  courageously  on.  A  mutiny  broke 
out.  One  ship  deserted  and  stole  back  to  Spain.  His 
perseverance  and  resolution  were  at  last  rewarded  by  the 
discovery  of  the  strait,  named  by  him  San  Vittoria,  in 
honor  of  his  sliip,  Init  named  ever  after  Strait  of  Magellan. 
November  20,  1520,  lie  issued  from  its  western  portals 
into  the  Great  South  Sea.  Admiring  its  illimitable  and 
placid  surface,  he  gave  it  the  name,  "Pacific  Ocean." 

Having  burst  through  this  barrier,  he  steered  for  the 


prr 


.C™""™™*^- 


JOHN  AMOS  COMENIUS  (p.  155). 


THE   THREE   VOYAGES.  25 

northwest.  For  three  months  and  twenty  days  he  never 
saw  inhabited  land.  He  was  compelled  by  famine  to  eat 
the  sweepings  of  the  ship.  Yet  he  resolutely  held  on  his 
course,  though  his  men  were  dying  daily.  He  estimated 
that  he  sailed  over  this  unfathomable  sea  not  less  than 
twelve  thousand  miles. 

"  In  the  whole  history  of  human  undertakings,"  says 
Draper,  "  there  is  nothing  that  exceeds,  if  there  is  any- 
thing that  equals,  this  voyage  of  Magellan's.  That  of  Co- 
lumbus's dwindles  away.  But  though  the  church  hath 
evermore  from  Holy  Writ  affirmed  that  the  earth  should 
be  a  widespread  plane,  bordered  by  waters,  yet  he  com- 
forted himself  when  he  considered  that  in  the  eclipses  of 
the  moon  the  shadow  cast  of  the  earth  is  round ;  and  as  is 
the  shadow  such  in  like  manner  is  the  substance.  It  was 
a  stout  heart — a  heart  of  triple  brass— which  could  thus, 
against  such  authority,  extract  unyielding  faith  from  a 
shadow." 

Magellan  reached  the  Ladrones.  He  thus  grandly 
accomplished  his  object ;  but  it  was  not  given  him  to 
complete  the  circumnavigation  of  the  globe.  At  an  island 
called  Zs-bu,  he  was  killed.  "  The  General,"  his  men 
said,  "  was  a  very  brave  man,  and  received  his  death  wound 
in  his  front." 

Magellan's  lieutenant,  Sebastian  d'Elcano,  directed  his 
course  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  encountering  the  most 
fearful  hardships.  He  doubled  the  cape,  and  on  Septem- 
ber 7,  1522,  in  the  port  of  St.  Luca,  near  Seville,  the 
"good  ship  San  Vittoria  came  safely  to  anchor.  She  had 
accomplished  the  greatest  achievement  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  human  race.  She  had  circumnavigated  the 
globe." 

"  Doubly  immortal  and  thrice  happy  is  Magellan,"  says 
the  historian,  "  for  he  impressed  his  name  indelibly  on 
the  earth  and  the  sky ;  on  the  strait  that  connects  the  two 
great  oceans,  and  on  tliose  clouds  of  starry  worlds  seen  in 


26  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  southern  heavens.     He  also  imposed  a  designation  on 
the  largest  portion  of  the  globe," 

It  was  now  altogether  useless  for  the  church  to  bring 
forward  the  authority  of  Hoh'  Writ  that  the  earth  was 
flat.  It  remained  only  to  permit  the  dispute  to  pass  into 
oblivion  ;  but  this  could  not  be  done  without  discovering 
the  fact  that  science  was  beginying  to  display  a  vast 
advantage  over  Bible  theology,  and  unmistakable  tokens 
that  ere  long  she  would  destroy  her  tyrannical  antagonist. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Before   Columbus. 

Draper  places  these  three  great  voyages  as  immediately 
preceding  the  Age  of  Reason  in  Europe.  They  were  the 
destroyers  of  ancient  faith.  They  were  the  illuminators 
of  the  morning. 

Before  the  time  of  Columbus  were  the  "  Dark  Ages," 
but  they  were  not  altogether  the  dark  ages,  and  anterior  to 
the  discovery  of  America  there  were  wonderful  streaks  of 
light  in  those  obscure  times.  Let  us  try  and  understand 
the  condition. 

Christianity,  as  it  ruled  the  world  in  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine,  was  indeed  a  blasting  power.  It  was  the  greatest 
curse  that  ever  came  upon  humanity.  It  destroyed  life,  it 
destroyed  science,  it  destroyed  civilization.  The  murder 
of  Hypatia  was  the  logical  result  both  of  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  and  St.  Paul — "  He  who  preaches  any  other  gospel 
let  him  be  accursed";  "Those  mine  enemies,  which  would 
not  that  I  should  reign  over  them,  bring  hither,  and  slay 
them  before  me."  In  its  inception  and  progress  Chris- 
tianity is  the  most  cruel  religion  that  has  ever  blackened 
the  pages  of  history.  In  the  pathetic  death  of  Hypatia 
we  behold  its  immortal  infamy. 

The  fate  of  Hypatia  was  a  warning  to  all  who  would 
cultivate  knowledge.  Henceforth  there  was  to  be  no  free- 
dom of  human  thought  if  Christianity  prevailed. 

In  the  sixth  century,  Mohammed  appeared,  more  won- 


28  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

derful  and  more  successful  than  Jesus  himself,  for  to-day- 
he  is  the  religious  guide  of  one-third  of  the  human  race- 
Mohammed  overthrew  and  absolutely  annihilated  the 
old  idolatry.  The  essential  dogma  of  the  new  faith, 
*'  There  is  but  one  God,"  spread  without  any  adulteration. 
The  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  God  is  ever  an  advance 
upon  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  of  God.  It  is  a  step  to- 
ward the  destruction  of  God.  lu  fact,  as  Bishop  Hunting- 
don shows,  the  trinitarian  philosophy  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  the  permanency  of  the  God-idea,  for  only  a  tri-une 
God  is  of  any  possible  service  to  humanity,  or  is  compre- 
hensible by  humanity.  The  doctrine  of  the  trinity  is  not 
to  satisfy  the  head,  but  the  heart.  Cold  as  it  seems  to  be, 
it  is  the  outcome  of  a  passionate  religious  sentiment, 
which  desires  to  make  God  real,  tangible,  and  accessible, 
which  he  cannot  be  under  the  bare  idea  of  unity. 

The  doctrine  of  the  uuity  of  God  logically  tends  to 
Pantheism,  as  it  did  in  the  philosophy  of  Averroes,  and 
Pantheism  eventually  becomes  Atheism. 

Both  in  philosophy  and  science  Mohammedanism  sur- 
passed the  Christianity  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Whately 
views  it  as  a  corruption  of  Christianit3^  It  is  rather  a 
reformation,  and  superior  in  many  respects  to  Luther's 
reformation. 

The  triumph  of  the  Saracen  army  was  marvelous.  Je- 
rusalem, Alexandria,  Carthage  fell  before  its  victorious 
colors.  Mohammedanism  dominated  from  the  Altai  Moun- 
tains to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  from  the  center  of  Asia  to 
the  western  verge  of  Africa.  Of  its  advance  in  Europe, 
Gibbon  says:  "A  victorious  line  of  march  had  been  pro- 
longed above  a  thousand  miles  from  the  rock  of  Gibraltar 
to  the  banks  of  the  Loire — a  repetition  of  an  equal  space 
would  have  carried  the  Saracens  to  the  confines  of  Poland 
and  the  Highlands  of  Scotland." 

The  most  powerful  religious  empire  that  the  world 
had  ever  seen  thus  suddenly  came  into  existence.     It  sur- 


BEFORE   COLUMBUS.  29 

passed  in  extent  the  dominions  of  imperial  Rome.  Chris- 
tianity found  its  safeguard  not  in  the  sword  of  Charles 
Martel  or  the  prayers  of  the  pope,  but  in  the  quarrels  of 
the  Ommiades,  the  Fatimitis,  and  the  Abassides. 

The  Nestorians,  who  were  the  ancient  Unitarians,  and 
the  Jews,  exerted  great  influence  in  the  development  of 
Mohammedanism.  The  fanaticism  of  the  Saracens  abated, 
their  manners  became  polished,  their  thoughts  elevated. 
They  abandoned  the  fallacies  of  vulgar  Mohammedanism, 
and  accepted  in  their  stead  scientific  truth.  Al-Manun,  on 
the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  in  the  plains  of  Shinar,  estab- 
lished the  truth  of  the  sphericity  of  the  earth.  Trans- 
lations of  Greek  philosophical  authors  were  made  into 
Arabic.  Schools  of  medicine  and  law  were  established. 
Great  libraries  were  collected.  It  was  the  boast  of  the 
Saracens  that  they  produced  more  poets  than  all  other 
nations  combined.  They  perceived  that  science  can  never 
be  advanced  by  mere  speculation,  but  only  by  the  practi- 
cal interrogation  of  nature.  The  characteristics  of  their 
method  are  observation  and  experiment.  They  were  the 
originators  of  chemistry,  and  the  inventors  of  algebra, 
and  adopted  the  Indian  enumeration  in  arithmetic.  "The 
Thousand  and  One  Arabian  Nights'  Entertainment"  bears 
testimony  to  the  creative  fancy  of  the  Saracens.  Besides 
these  there  were  works  on  history,  jurisprudence,  politics, 
and  philosophy.  They  taught  Europe  the  game  of  chess. 
The  empire  was  dotted  all  over  with  colleges.  The  mod- 
ern philosophy  of  evolution  was  taught.  The  beautiful 
doctrines  of  Averroes  prevailed  and  even  invaded  Christ- 
■endom ;  doctrines  which  affirmed  the  indestructibility  of 
matter  and  force,  and  that  the  spirit  of  man  was  an  ema- 
nation of  the  universal  intellect. 

However,  before  the  time  of  Columbus  the  brilliancy 
of  Arabian  scholarship  had  declined.  Science  and  phi- 
losophy were  retarded,  and  orthodox  theology  began  to 
xeign.     The  religion  of  Mohammed   returned  to  the  old 


30  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

anthropomorphi«  conception  of  God,  and  of  heaven  as  a 
mansion  of  carnal  pleasures.  Mohammedanism  was  a 
tremendous  agitator  and  wide  euliohtenment,  but  it  did 
not  usher  in  the  age  of  reason,  though  for  a  time  it  flamed- 
with  the  colors  of  Freethought. 

Averroes,  in  his  old  age,  1198,  was  expelled  from 
Spain,  and  declared  a  traitor  to  religion.  Other  philoso- 
phers were  put  to  death,  and  the  consequence  was  that 
Islam   like  Europe  was  full  of  hypocrites. 

In  1243  the  Inquisition  was  introduced.  Its  first  duty 
was  that  of  dealing  with  the  Jews. 

Under  the  Saracen  rule  the  Jews  were  treated  with  the 
utmost  consideration.  They  became  distinguished  for 
wealth  and  learning.  Their  mercantile  interests  led  them 
to  travel  all  over  the  world.  The}^  were  the  physicians 
and  bankers  of  Europe.  They  were  proficient  in  mathe- 
matics and  astronomy.  They  were  the  cause  of  the  voyage 
of  De  Gam  a. 

The  orthodox  clergy  excited  popular  prejudice  against 
them.  A  bull  was  issued  in  1478  for  the  suppressiou  of 
heresy.  In  1481  two  thousand  victims  were  burnt  at 
Andalusia ;  seventeen  thousand  were  fined  or  imprisoned. 
Torture  was  relied  upon  for  conviction.  The  families  of 
the  condemned  were  plunged  into  irretrievable  ruin. 
Torquemada  destroyed  Hebrew  Bibles  wherever  he  could 
find  them,  and  burnt  six  thousand  volumes  of  Oriental 
literature.  Then  oame  the  banishment  of  the  Jews. 
March  30,  1492,  about  sis  months  before  the  voyage  of 
Columbus,  the  edict  of  expulsion  was  signed.  All  unbap- 
tized  Jews  were  ordered  to  leave  Spain  by  the  end  of  the 
following  July.  If  they  revisited  the  realm  they  would 
suflfer  death.  The  Spanish  clergy  occupied  themselves  by 
preaching  in  the  public  squares  sermons  filled  with  denun- 
ciations against  their  victims,  who  swarmed  the  roads  and 
filled  the  air  with  cries  of  despair.     Even  the  ou-lookers 


DAVID  HUME  (p.  99). 


BEFORE   COLUMBUS.  31 

wept  at  the  scene  of  agony.  And  this  was  in  the  reign  of 
Perdinand  and  Isabella. 

The  edict  against  the  Jews  was  soon  followed  by  one 
against  the  Moors.  In  1502  all  nnbaptized  Moors  in  the 
kingdoms  of  Castile  and  Leon  Avere  ordered  to  leave  the 
country  by  the  end  of  April.  They  were  forbidden  to 
emigrate  to  the  Mohammedan  dominions.  Such  was  the 
fiendish  intolerance  of  t-he  Spanish  government.  No  faith 
was  kept  with  the  victims.  After  a  residence  of  eight 
centuries  they  were  driven  from  the  land. 

These  instances  show  what  a  black  night  of  bigotry 
and  tyranny  was  over  the  world  in  the  days  of  Columbus. 
And  yet  there  were  bright  and  beautiful  signs  of  the  com- 
ing age. 

Roger  Bacon  was  born  in  England  in  1214,  and  was 
one  of  the  greatest  geniuses  of  his  age  or  of  any  age. 
He  was  familiar  with  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic. 
Of  mathematics  he  truly  says  :  "  It  is  the  first  of  all  the 
sciences.  It  precedes  all  others  and  disposes  us  to  them." 
He  affirmed  the  principles  of  inductive  philosophy.  In 
him,  as  Hallam  says,  "were  many  prophetic  gleams  of 
the  future  course  of  science."  His  life  was  one  of  the 
most  pathetic  and  sublime  ever  lived  upon  this  planet.  He 
struggled  against  tremendous  odds.  He  was  in  an  age  of 
ignorance  and  his  glorious  discoveries  were  little  regarded. 
He  was  hundreds  of  years  in  advance  of  his  times.  How 
sigaificant  was  his  famous  expression,  "  The  ignorant  mind 
cannot  sustain  the  truth  "  !  In  his  letter  to  Pope  Clement 
he  wrote  :  "  It  is  on  account  of  the  ignorance  of  those  by 
whom  I  am  surrounded  that  I  cannot  accomplish  more." 
After  a  life  of  noble  devotion  to  knowledge  he  was  re- 
warded in  old  age  with  ten  years'  imprisonment,  and  when 
he  died  he  uttered  the  melancholy  complaint:  ''I  repent 
now  that  I  have  given  myself  so  much  trouble  for  the 
love  of  science."  Of  him  it  might  be  more  fitly  sung  than 
of  Milton  : 


32  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

"  Thy  soul  was  like  a  star  and  dwelt  apart." 

His  lofty  genius  indeed  shone  in  isolated  grandeur, 
blazing  with  a  light  that  it  took  centuries  to  appreciate. 
Brave,  glorious  old  man,  the  brightest  star  upon  the  fore- 
head of  that  dawn  which  opened  to  a  boundless  day,  thou 
shouldst  have  lived  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  thy  desolate  toil. 
To-day,  thou  wouldst  have  worn  the  crown.  Too  late^  too 
late  for  thy  bruised  and  martyred  spirit  hath  star-eyed 
Science  poured  its  glory  upon  man's  path.  But  thou  shalt 
not  be  forgotten,  though  centuries  pass  before  the  flowers 
bloom  on  thy  unlaureled  grave. 

The  regeneration  of  Italy  began  with  the  exile  of  the 
popes  to  Avignon,  1309.  Dante  sang  his  song  in  that 
century,  and  had  the  courage  to  put  some  of  the  popes  in 
hell  and  damn  them  with  melodious  verse.  The  illustri- 
ous Petrarch,  1304-1374,  not  only  poured  forth  his  own 
passionate  music,  but  endeavored  to  make  his  countrymen 
appreciate  Homer.  According  to  his  own  confession,  the 
number  who  read  Homer  at  that  time  did  not  exceed  ten. 
Boccaccio,  1813-1375,  joiued  iu  the  same  effort.  He  did 
more,  however,  by  his  own  immortal  productions,  which 
will  be  a  part  of  universal  literature  as  long  as  the  world 
stands.  Shelley  writes  of  Boccaccio:  "How  much  do  I 
admire  Boccaccio !  What  descriptions  of  nature  are  there 
in  his  little  introductions  to  every  new  day.  Boccacio 
seems  to  me  to  have  possessed  a  deep  sense  of  the  fair 
ideal  of  human  life.  He  often  expresses  things  lightly, 
too,  which  have  serious  meanings  of  a  very  beautiful  kind. 
His  is  the  opposite  of  the  Christian,  stoical,  ready-made 
and  worldly  system  of  morals."  This  is  the  tribute  of  one 
Freethought  poet  to  another  across  the  centuries.  In 
Petrarch  and  Boccaccio  we  see  mucli  "  sweetness  and  light," 
notwithstanding  the  darkness  of  their  surroundings  and 
the  hideous  theology  that  ruined  the  world.  It  is  in  lit- 
erature that  we  see  the  life  of  a  people  rather  than  in  any 


JUii'OUK    COLUMBUS.  33 

series  of  events,  however  imposing,  and  the  tales  of  Boc- 
caccio, so  graceful,  so  fanciful,  so  agreeable  even  to  the 
imagination  and  culture  of  to-day,  and  sparkling  with  the 
effluence  of  the  breaking  Freethought  of  his  own  time, 
demonstrate  that  the  spiritual  bonds  of  Rome  did  not  very 
strictly  inclose  the  wit  and  genius  of  man — that  there  was 
a  vast  undercurrent  of  intelligence  sweeping  far  beyond 
the  doctrines  of  orthodoxy.  The  "  tender  and  solemn  en- 
thusiasm," as  Shelley  calls  it,  of  Petrarch,  the  great  rep- 
resentative of  Italian  humanism,  ranks  him  also  among 
the  skeptics  of  the  Renaissance,  using  the  word  skeptic  in 
its  philosophical  meaning  to  denote  thinkers  of  an  analytic 
mind  who  search  for  truth  constantly,  and  are  opposed  to 
dogmatism.  Dante  was  also  among  the  skeptics,  m  spite 
of  his  cruel  Christianity,  which  is  an  indelible  blot  upon 
his  otherwise  magnificent  poem,  the  greatest  of  Italian  lit- 
erature, and  the  most  musical  epic  ever  poured  forth  from 
the  brain  of  man.  In  writing  his  poem  in  the  exquisite 
Italian  language,  the  great  Dante  revolted  against  the  su- 
premacy of  the  church,  for,  as  Draper  points  out,  the  uni- 
versal use  of  the  Latin  tongue  was  necessary  to  the  abso- 
lute dominion  of  Rome.  So  long  as  this  was  the  sole  lan- 
guage of  the  educated  classes  the  church  possessed  an  in- 
estimable advantage.  The  growtli  of  modern  languages, 
the  Italian,  German,  French,  and  English  especially,  with 
their  wealth  of  native  literature,  has  not  only  been  a  vast 
civilizing  and  Freethought  agency,  but  an  enduring  and 
insuperable  obstacle  to  the  unity  of  the  church  and  its 
universal  sway.  Language  is  a  most  powerful  instrumen- 
tality either  for  progress  or  retrogression,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Latin  language  as  the  one  language  of 
learning  and  literature  did  more  perhaps  than  anything 
else  to  make  Rome  supreme.  Dante,  Petrarch,  and  Boc- 
caccio, by  their  ennoblement  of  their  native  speech,  were 
the  forerunners  of  the  new  Italy  of  to-day. 

Another  indication  of  the  ocean  currents  of  the  human 


34  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

mind  was  the  extraordinary  popularity  of  a  work  ascribed 
to  Thomas  a  Kempis,  "Imitation  of  Christ."  It  is  said 
to  have  had  more  readers  than  any  other  book  except  the 
Bible.  Its  essential  intention  was  to  enable  the  pious  to 
cultivate  devotional  feeling  without  the  intervention  of 
the  clergy.  As  Draper  says:  "Such  a  work  written  at  the 
present  day  would  find  an  apt  and  popular  title  in  'Every 
Man  His  Own  Priest'  "  The  celebrity  of  the  book  dis- 
plays a  profound  distrust  of  the  ecclesiastics  both  in 
morals  and  in  intellect.  This  book  was  a  favorite  of 
George  Eliot,  one  of  the  greatest  Freethought  writers  of 
this  age,  and  therefore  there  must  be  something  in  it  of 
permanent  value  to  one  religiously  inclined  as  George 
Eliot  undoubtedly  was,  but  whose  vigorous  and  un- 
trammeled  genius  would  accept  only  the  best  of  human 
thought.  In  a  sense  the  "  Imitation  of  Christ "  was  a 
revolutionary  book,  in  that  it  cultivated  self-reliance  in 
religion  instead  of  dependence  upon  a  priesthood.  In 
the  "Imitation  of  Christ"  we  find  the  breath  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. Thomas  a  Kempis  was  the  John  the  Baptist  of 
Luther. 

But  the  two  greatest  Freethought  forces  anterior  to 
Columbus  was  the  restoration  of  Greek  to  Italy,  1395,  and 
the  invention  of  printing,  1440. 

Greek  genius  worked  wonders  in  religion,  in  philoso- 
phy, in  literature.  Think  of  these  mighty  treasures  of  the 
incomparable  past  poured  upon  a  people  who  had  already 
been  stirred  by  the  songs  of  Dante,  of  Petrarch,  and 
Boccaccio,  who  had  imbibed  the  sublime  and  beautiful 
ideas  of  Averroes,  and  now  discovered  their  fountain  head. 
Gibbon,  in  one  of  his  most  splendid  passages,  thus  de- 
scribes the  Greek  tongue  :  "  In  their  lowest  depths  of  ser- 
vitude and  depression  the  subjects  of  the  Byzantine  throne 
were  still  possessed  of  a  golden  key  that  could  unlock  the 
treasures  of  antiquity,  of  a  musical  and  prolific  language 
that  gives  a  soul  to  the  objects  of  sense,  and  a  body  to 


BEFORE  COLUMBUS.  35 

the  abstractions  of  philosophy."  Coleridge,  also,  with  ex- 
quisite eloquence,  says:  "  Greek,  the  shrine  of  the  genius  of 
the  Old  World,  as  universal  as  our  race,  as  individual  as 
ourselves  ;  of  infinite  flexibility,  of  indefatigable  strength, 
with  the  complication  and  the  distinctness  of  nature  her- 
self ;  to  which  nothing  was  vulgar,  from  which  nothing 
was  excluded ;  speaking  to  the  ear  like  Italian,  speaking 
to  the  mind  like  English  ;  with  words  like  pictures,  with 
words  like  the  gossamer  film  of  the  summer ;  at  once  the 
varietj'  and  picturesqueness  of  Homer,  the  gloom  and 
intensity  of  Eschylus ;  not  compressed  to  the  closest  by 
Thucydides,  not  fathomed  to  the  bottom  by  Plato,  not 
sounding  with  all  its  thunder,  nor  lit  up  with  all  its  ardors 
even  under  the  Promethean  touch  of  Demosthenes." 

There  never  was,  there  never  will  be,  anything  like  the 
Greek  world  of  thought  again.  It  shines  with  peculiar 
and  immortal  loveliness,  the  child  of  the  sweetest  clime 
that  ever  invigorated  and  expanded  the  genius  of  man. 
But  not  only  the  Greek  thought,  but  the  Greek  language, 
is  unequalled  in  its  varied  and  marvelous  potency,  and  so 
long  as  civilization  endures  it  will  be  one  of  the  noblest 
educators  of  human  speech. 

And  the  church  dreaded  this  illustrious  innovator, 
more  ancient  in  its  glory  than  its  own  hoary  creeds,  a  liv- 
ing power  before  Rome  was  born.  No  wonder  that  its  influ- 
ence upon  men's  minds  was  a  terror  to  the  priest.  With  a 
quick  and  jealous  suspicion  he  learned  to  detect  a  heretic 
from  his  knowledge  of  Greek — and  of  Hebrew,  too,  for  the 
study  at  that  time  of  Hebrew  assailed  the  foundations  of 
the  church's  faith. 

The  discovery  of  America  was  not  so  great  a  boon  to 
the  race  as  the  discovery  of  intellectual  Greece.  The  one 
was  the  revelation  of  physical  grandeur  and  boundless  ma- 
terial opportunity,  the  other  of  the  sublimity  of  the  mind, 
the  splendor  of  art,  of  poetry,  the  beauty  and  the  grace 
that  must  ever  inspire  humanity  to  its  greatest  deeds, 


3(j  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

But  mightier  than  Greek  genius  or  the  voyages  of  Co- 
lumbus, De  Gama,  and  Magellan  was  the  art  of  printing, 
without  which  the  civilization  of  to-day  would  be  impossi- 
ble. Society  in  its  highest  state  depends  upon  its  means 
of  communication  and  records  of  the  past.  Without  mem- 
ory it  is  impossible  to  know  or  to  advance.  With  memory 
is  the  first  step  of  progress.  Printing  has  increased  a 
thousandfcjld  the  memory  of  man,  and  so  his  possibilities 
of  improvement.  For  one  thing,  it  has  made  insignificant 
the  pulpit,  which  was  once  the  sole  means  of  communica- 
tion with  the  people,  and  which  thundered  its  anathemas, 
from  wliich  there  was  no  appeah  The  newspaper  now  is 
far  more  potent  than  the  pulpit,  and  Avill  not  enslave  the 
race,  for  from  its  very  nature  it  must  ever  be  the  battle- 
field of  opinions.  The  monopoly  of  the  church  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  press. 

But  the  printing-press  would  be  of  little  value  without 
paper.  It  would  be  like  a  chained  giant.  There  were 
methods  of  printing  in  Rome,  Babylon,  and  Egypt,  but  no 
paper.  Books  could  not  be  multiplied.  Fortunately,  with 
the  modern  printing-press  came  the  manufacture  of  paper 
in  illimitable  quantities,  and  the  first  manufacture  of 
paper  in  Europe  was  by  the  Moors,  and  the  art  of  printing 
came  from  China ;  so  it  seems  that  modern  civilization  is 
indebted  to  the  disciples  of  Confucius  and  Mohammed 
for  its  most  fruitful  instruments,  the  press  and  paper,  as 
also  the  mariner's  compass  and  gunpowder.  What  honor 
is  there  for  Christianity  ? 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  activity  of  the  press  at 
the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  all  Europe,  between 
1470  and  1500,  more  than  ten  thousand  editions  of  books 
and  pamphlets  were  printed,  a  majority  in  Italy.  In 
Venice  there  were  2,835,  in  Rome  925,  in  Paris  751,  and  in 
London  only  130,  at  Oxford  7,  and  St.  Albans  4.  As  late 
as  1550  but  seven  works  had  been  printed  in  Scotland,  and 
among  them  not  a  single    classic.      Italy  was  nearly  as 


VOLTAIRE  (p.  248). 


BEFORE    COLUMBUS.  37 

far  advanced  in  1400  as  England  was  in  1500,  says  Dra- 
per. 

I  have  thus  endeavored  to  give  some  idea  of  the  state 
of  the  world  at  the  time  of  Columbus.  It  was  by  no 
means  a  stagnant  world.  It  was  a  world  of  energy,  of 
which  Columbus,  De  Gama,  and  Magellan  are  brilliant 
representatives.  For  centuries  in  the  "  Dark  Ages," 
amidst  the  glooms  of  theology,  the  awful  tyrannies  of  the 
church,  the  dense  ignorance  of  the  masses,  the  immorality 
of  the  clergy,  and  their  hatred  and  terror  of  Greek  and 
science,  still  were  there  mighty  intellectual  movements. 
The  great  Mohammedan  empire  sprang  up,  and  tempo- 
rarily allied  itself  with  learning,  philosophy,  and  science, 
and  its  vast  pathway  was  adorned  with  the  light  of  poetry, 
of  romance,  of  glorious  discovery  and  invention,  though 
now  the  fiat  of  orthodoxy  was  upon  it.  Dante  and  Pe- 
trarch had  sung  ;  Boccaccio  had  made  the  shadow  of  death 
sunny  with  his  immortal  fancies  ;  the  radiant  Oriental 
philosophy  of  Averroes  had  invaded  even  the  courts  of 
Rome  ;  the  ancient  treasures  of  Greece  were  filling  the 
world  with  unexpected  light,  and  the  art  of  printing  had 
scattered  millions  of  books  from  Italy  to  England. 


CHAPTEE   IV. 

Astronomy. 

After  the  three  great  voyages  of  Columbus,  De  Gama, 
and  Magellan,  with  their  immense  results,  changing  the 
whole  face  of  human  history,  came  the  still  vaster  voyages 
of  the  mind  of  man  through  the  infinite  heavens.  The 
earth  was  round.  Still  it  might  be  stationary  and  the 
center  of  the  universe.  Bat  a  more  amazing  discover}'  was 
yet  to  be  made  ;  the  ponderous  earth  itself  was  to  be  let 
loose,  and,  flying  swifter  than  the  ships  of  Columbus, 
travel  space  around  the  distant  sun,  and  the  sun  itself, 
with  its  retinue  of  planets,  was  launched  forth  upon  an  end- 
less journey.  It  was  a  staggering  blow  to  the  church,  and 
no  wonder  it  took  centuries  for  the  infallible  pope  to  ac- 
commodate himself  to  this  stupendous  discovery. 

What  an  enormous  battlefiehl  was  now  opening  upon 
the  range  of  man  for  the  conflict  between  intellect  and 
superstition.  Not  simply  the  solar  system  itself,  but  vast 
spaces  wherein  millions  of  orbs  millions  of  times  larger 
than  the  earth  itself  were  sweeping  with  illimitable  splen- 
dors. Slowly  and  timidly  began  the  battle  in  behalf  of 
the  heliocentric  theory.  It  was  a  daring  speculation,  a 
tremendous  and  fearful  blow  against  the  authority  of  the 
church,  to  be  most  bitterly  resented.  No  wonder  that 
Copernicus  waited  thirty-six  years  before  he  dared  to  give 
his  discovery  to  the  world.  No  wonder  that  he  waited 
until  liis  dying  hour  before  publishing  his  heretical  book, 


ASTRONOMY.  39 

that  was  to  change  the  face  of  the  heavens  and  give  the 
lie  to  all  the  teachings  of  the  Christian  fathers.  Coper- 
nicus died  in  1543.  On  the  day  of  his  death,  a  few  hours 
before  he  expired,  a  copy  of  his  book  was  placed  iu  his 
hands.  He  touched  it  and  seemed  conscious  of  what  it 
was  and  then  relapsed  into  a  state  of  insensibility  and 
passed  away.  He  could  only  thus  be  safe  from  the  hands 
of  the  Christian  church  for  publishing  the  greatest  truth 
yet  made  known  to  mankind — namely,  that  the  earth  was 
not  stationary,  but  was  moving  around  the  sun  and  whirl- 
ing upon  its  axis. 

The  doctrine  of  Copernicus  was  taken  up  by  the  in- 
domitable Bruno  and  urged  with  extraordinary  force  upon 
the  attention  of  Europe.  Bruno  was  born  in  1548  and 
died  1600,  a  martyr  to  Science.  Bruno  was  an  enthusiast, 
a  fiery  spirit,  marvelously  gifted  with  a  vast  imagination, 
and  his  work  on  "The  Plurality  of  Worlds  "  was  a  most 
startling  production.  How  insignificant  it  made  the  earth 
appear  ;  how  insignificant  the  cluirch,  with  its  pompous 
ceremonies,  its  popes  and  its  cardinals,  its  scheme  of  re- 
demption, its  mother  of  God,  St.  Peter  and  the  cross.  No 
wonder  that  bigotry  uttered  a  cry  of  horror  and  crushed 
the  knight-errant  of  philosopliy,  who  found  no  refuge  any- 
where in  the  civilized  world.  He  was  tried,  excommuni- 
cated, and  delivered  over  to  the  secular  authorities  to  be 
punished  "as  mercifully  as  possible  and  without  the  shed- 
ding of  blood,"  the  abominable  formula  for  burning  a  man 
alive.  With  prophetic  truth  he  nobly  responded  when 
the  sentence  was  passed  upon  him,  "Perhaps  it  is  with 
greater  fear  that  ye  pass  this  sentence  upon  me  than  I 
receive  it."  His  illustrious  monument  now  confronts  the 
Vatican  at  Rome.  The  solemn  pathos  of  his  death  scene 
is  eloquently  commemorated  by  a  Freethought  poet  of 
America : 


40  FOUR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

In  the  smiling  laud  where  the  Tiber  flows 

On  its  winding  way  from  the  mountains  down, 

The  sun  of  a  far-oft'  day  arose 

On  a  seven-hilled  city  of  past  renown. 

It  shone  on  pillar  and  tower  and  arch, 
On  church  and  temple  and  statue  fair, 

On  a  mob  of  black-robed  priests  who  march 
To  a  chosen  spot  in  a  public  square. 

It  sees  the  man  they  have  brought  and  bound, 
It  sees  them  driving  the  mart3'r's  stake, 

And  while  they  are  piling  the  fagots  round 
Their  curses  and  maledictions  break. 

We  look,  and  the  cowled  and  howling  crowd 
Of  Eoman  ruffians  and  Romish  priests 

Scowl  dark  on  their  victim,  angry-browed 
With  the  brutal  passions  of  savage  beasts. 

No  friend  is  present  to  take  his  part. 
Nor  venture  the  protest  of  groan  or  sob, 

Save  that  some  woman  of  tender  heart 
Weeps  low  at  the  outskirts  of  the  mob. 

The  hands  of  assassins  have  lit  the  fire. 

But  the  martyr,  erect,  unawed,  unbowed,    • 

Looks  out  from  the  smoke  of  his  funeral  pyre 
Serene  as  the  stars  look  through  a  cloud. 

The  deed  is  done,  and  the  crowds  disperse, 
And  Bruno,  the  noble,  once  more  is  free. 

For  the  waves  of  the  Tiber,  a  somber  hearse, 
Flow  down  with  his  ashes  toward  the  sea. 

Ah,  this  was  Rome  when  the  church  had  power, 
And  owned  the  soil  that  the  patriot  trod ; 

This  was  the  bloom  of  the  papal  flower — 
Yea,  this  was  Italy  under  God. 


ASTRONOMY.  41 

But  the  sun  shines  still,  round  goes  the  world, 
And  another  era  has  dawned  on  Rome  ; 

The  vicar  of  Christ  from  the  throne  is  hurled. 

And  the  land  of  the  popes  is  the  free  man's  home. 

On  the  spot  where  Bruno  died  that  day 

A  marble  statue  confronts  the  eye, 
While  the  priests  in  their  cloister  curse  or  pray, 

And  bemoan  the  worth  of  a  time  gone  by. 

And  Italy's  sons,  while  the  Tiber  flows, 
Will  guard  that  statue  from  break  or  fall, 

And  Bruno's  lovers  shall  fame  disclose, 
As  the  noblest  Romans  among  them  all. 

Ah,  this  is  Italy,  free  at  last 

From  the  curse  of  the  sacerdotal  clan; 

Undoing  the  crimes  of  a  brutal  past, 
Lo,  this  is  Italy  under  Man. 

George  E.  Ma.cdonald. 

Less  than  a  decade  after  his  death,  a  great  and  fortun- 
ate event  occurred,  which,  by  increasing  the  vision  of 
man,  destroyed  the  last  hopes  of  the  ecclesiastical  party. 
This  was  the  invention  of  the  telescope,  by  Lippershey,  a 
Dutchman,  in  1608.  Galileo,  hearing  of  the  circumstance 
in  the  following  year,  invented  a  form  for  himself.  He 
applied  it  to  celestial  objects.  On  turning  it  to  the  moon, 
he  found  that  she  had  mountains  and  valleys  like  those  of 
the  earth.  He  discovered  innumerable  fixed  stars,  hitherto 
unseen  by  man,  an  insuperable  objection  to  the  fallacy 
that  they  were  made  to  illuminate  the  earth  by  night. 
He  discovered  the  phases  of  Venus,  which  indubitably 
established  for  her  a  motion  around  the  sun,  and  removed 
one  of  the  weightiest  objections  to  the  Copernican  theory. 
In  1611  he  wrote  a  letter  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that 
the   Bible  was  not  intended  to  be  a  scientific  authority. 


42  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OK    FRKKTHOUGHT. 

He  thus  repeated  Bruno's  offeuse.  He  was  summoned  to 
Rome.  His  sentence  was  that  he  must  renounce  his 
heretical  opinions  and  pledge  himself  that  he  would  neither 
publish  nor  defend  them  for  the  future.  He  assented  to 
the  required  recantation.  The  Inquisition  then  proceeded 
to  denounce  the  new  system  of  the  universe  as  "that  false 
Pythagorean  doctrine  utterly  contrary  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures." This  was  in  1616.  In  1632  the  irrepressible 
spirit  of  Galileo  burst  forth  again,  and  he  ventured  on  the 
publication  of  his  work,  "The  System  of  the  World,"  its 
object  being  to  establish  more  fully  the  Copernican  doc- 
trine. He  was  again  summoned  before  the  Inquisition. 
He  was  put  into  solitary  confinement — an  old  man  in  ill 
health.  His  trial  completed,  in  penitential  garment  he 
received  judgment.  He  was  made  to  fall  upon  his  knees 
before  the  assembled  cardinals,  and,  with  his  hand  on  the 
Gospels,  abjure  his  heresies.  He  was  then  committed  to 
prison.  After  five  years'  confinement  he  was  permitted 
to  remove  to  Florence  for  his  health.  His  infirmities  and 
misfortunes  now  increased.  In  1637  he  became  totally 
blind.  Shortly  after  he  became  totally  deaf.  He  died 
in  1642,  a  prisoner  of  the  Inquisition.  He  was  denied 
burial  in  consecrated  ground. 

But  the  church  could  not  quench  the  immortal  thought 
of  Galileo  any  more  than  it  could  stop  the  stars  upon 
their  courses.  It  could  not  make  the  earth  to  stand  still 
and  the  sun  to  roll  about  it.  It  could  not  make  one  iota 
less  the  interminable  spaces  through  wliich  sparkled  un- 
counted suns.  The  thumbscrew  could  not  vie  with  the 
telescope.  Sufi"ering  might  make  Galileo  blind,  but  naught 
could  close  that  miglity  eye — increasing  in  brightness  until 
two  hundred  million  suns  glittered  in  its  enormous  circuit. 

The  sublime  Kepler,  with  marvelous  patience,  with 
somewhat  mystic  insight,  unfolded  still  further  the  har- 
monies and  grandeurs  of  the  solar  system.  The  mind  of 
Kepler  seemed  akin  to  the  motions  of  the  planets.     He 


JEAN    JACQUES    ROUSSEAU  (p.  274). 


ASTRONOMY.  43 

was  a  splendid  guesser,  but  every  guess  was  submitted  to 
inexorable  computations.  He  himself  said  :  "  I  considered 
and  reflected  until  I  was  almost  mad."  But  he  held  on 
with  philosophical  determination  to  the  grand  idea  that 
there  must  be  some  physical  inter-connection  among  the 
parts  of  the  solar  system.  At  length  he  hit  upon  the  three 
great  laws.     He  demonstrated  them. 

It  was  an  important  step  to  the  establishment  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  government  of  all  the  world  by  law.  In 
the  movement  of  the  planets  around  the  sun  there  was 
correlation  and  harmony. 

But  what  was  the  cause  of  these  exquisite  and  beauti- 
ful mathematical  movements? 

It  would  not  do  any  longer  to  guess.  There  must  be  a 
slow  and  toilsome  advance  from  the  mechanics  of  the 
earth  to  the  mechanics  of  the  heavens.  In  the  fall  of  a 
coin  of  gold  and  feather  were  to  be  traced  the  mighty  laws 
of  the  movements  of  remotest  worlds. 

Leonardo  da  Yinci,  born  1452,  was  one  of  the  most 
radiantly  gifted  minds  of  his  century.  He  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  earth's  annual  motion.  He  knew  the 
law  of  friction.  He  described  the  camera  obscura,  the 
nature  of  colored  shadows,  the  use  of  the  iris.  He  occu- 
pied himself  with  the  fall  of  bodies  on  the  hypothesis  of 
the  earth's  rotation.  He  treated  of  the  times  of  descent 
along  inclined  planes  and  circular  arcs,  and  foreshadowed 
one  of  the  great  discoveries  of  geology,  the  elevation  of 
continents. 

Leonardo  da  Vinci  is  certainly  the  man  whose  genius 
has  the  best  right  to  be  called  universal  of  any  that  ever 
lived.  He  was  the  most  accomplished  painter  of  his  gen- 
eration. He  was  sculptor,  architect,  musician,  critic.  He 
was  mechanician,  anatomist,  botanist,  physiologist,  as- 
tronomer, chemist,  geologist,  and  geographer.  He  set 
himself  to  perform  tasks  and  solve  problems  too  arduous 
and  too  manifold  for  the  strength  of  any  single  life.     With 


44  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OK   FREETHOUGHT. 

his  labors,  however,  was  the  beginning;  of  Natural  Philoso- 
phy, and  his  name  will  always  shine  in  the  annals  of 
scientific  progress.  He  made  possible  the  Principia  of 
Newton.  Along  with  Copernicus,  Bruno,  Galileo,  Tycho 
Brahe,  and  Kepler  he  helped  to  reveal  the  immensities  of 
the  starry  regions  and  to  place  them  under  law. 

Galileo,  in  1638,  states  the  true  law  of  the  uniformity 
and  perpetuity  of  motion,  the  knowledge  of  which  lies  at 
the  basis  of  physical  astronomy.  Through  the  labors  of 
Torricelli  and  others  the  principles  of  mechanics  were 
solidly  established,  and  everyone  had  become  ready  to  ad- 
mit that  the  motion  of  planetary  bodies  would  find  an 
explanation  on  these  principles,  but  it  wanted  the  master 
mind  to  demonstrate  the  theory. 

In  April,  1686,  the  "  Principia  "  of  Newton  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Royal  Society,  As  a  purely  intellectual 
work  it  is  the  greatest  that  has  ever  appeared  in  the 
world's  history,  and  it  probably  will  never  be  surpassed 
as  an  exhibition  of  the  gigantic  powers  of  the  human 
mind. 

Newton  not  only  laid  the  foundation  of  physical  as- 
tronomy, but  carried  the  structure  very  far  toward  its 
completion.  He  unfolded  the  theory  of  universal  grav- 
itation. Newton  was  led  to  his  discovery  by  reflecting 
that  at  all  altitudes  gravity  appears  to  be  undimin- 
ished. Might  not  gravity  extend  to  the  moon?  In  his 
first  calculations,  Newton  found  that  the  moon  is  deflected 
from  the  tangent  thirteen  feet  every  minute  ;  but,  if  tlse 
theory  of  gravitation  were  true,  the  deflection  should  Ix^ 
fifteen  feet.  He  put  aside  the  subject  for  several  years. 
At  length,  with  new  and  more  accurate  measures  of  a  de- 
gree which  affected  the  estimate  of  the  mugnitnde  of  the 
earth  and  the  distance  of  the  sun,  he  repeated  the  calcula- 
tions. As  they  drew  to  a  close,  he  became  so  agitated 
that  he  desired  a  friend  to  finish  them.  It  was  demon- 
strated that  the  moon  revolved  around  the  earth  by  the 


ASTRONOMY.  45 

force  of  terrestrial  gravity,  and  that  its  orbit  was  elliptical, 
and  so  also  must  be  the  orbits  of  planets  around  the  sun, 
and  the  cause  of  Kepler's  laws  was  thus  made  plain. 

Thus  ended  the  greatest  conflict  in  history  between  the 
church  and  science.  It  had  been  most  bitterly  contested. 
The  church  disputed  every  inch  of  ground.  It  impris- 
oned, it  tortured,  and  it  burned  at  the  stake.  The 
Ptolemaic  system  of  astronomy  was  established  in  the 
second  century,  and  maintained  its  ground  for  nearly  fif- 
teen hundred  years.  It  was  the  "  Principia  "  of  Newton 
that  destroyed  it  forever.  That  ancient  system  was  neces- 
sary to  the  prestige  of  the  church.  It  would  not  do  to 
declare  the  infinity  of  worlds.  It  would  not  do  for  the 
earth  to  be  a  mere  speck  of  light  in  the  midst  of  number- 
less constellations.  It  would  not  do  to  declare  that  law 
pervaded  the  universe,  and  that  there  was  no  room  for  any 
miracle.  It  would  not  do  for  the  telescope  to  penetrate 
space  until  the  sun  itself  was  but  a  mist  upon  the  bound- 
less expanse,  and  no  God,  no  heaven  anywhere  —  not  a 
scintilla  of  angel  or  golden  throne.  It  was  a  tremendous 
conflict — hoary  ages  and  hoary  superstition,  the  pope  with 
his  thunders  of  excommunication,  the  church  with  its 
everlasting  hell,  the  dungeon  and  the  fagot  and  the  sword, 
the  Inquisition  with  its  awful  horrors — all  tliese  were 
mustered  against  the  rising  glories  of  science,  Coperni- 
cus died  before  he  dared  to  blazon  forth  the  truth  he  had 
through  laborious  years  silently  accumulated.  Galileo 
bent  the  knee.  Bruno  imperiously  perished  in  the  flames. 
Yet  the  mind  of  man  was  unconquerable.  It  would  not  be 
chained,  it  would  be  free ;  it  would  scale  the  heavens,  and 
how  magnificent  has  been  the  result.  What  an  elevation 
what  a  splendor  has  been  given  to  human  life — though  the 
earth  itself  shrinks  into  insignificance — for  man  finds  him- 
self part  of  an  infinite  universe,  of  infinite  power,  of  infinite 
light,  of  infinite  law.  There  is  no  end.  Night  after  night 
the  amazing  spectacle  passes  before  his  eyes.     Night  after 


46  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGPiT, 

night  a  thousand  telescopes  sweep  the  glittering  plains. 
Vast  systems  extend  before  the  gaze — some  in  perfect  order, 
some  in  the  nebular  glow  of  formation,  and  some  in  the 
throes  of  destruction.  Stars,  comets,  asteroids,  planets, 
suns,  in  inconceivable  and  measureless  pomp  overwhelm  the 
imagination  with  suggestions  of  still  grander  spaces  and 
vaster  orbs.  What  a  battle-ground  this  has  been,  and 
what  an  ennobling  victory  has  been  won !  The  flag  of 
Freethought  is  gemmed  with  stars,  and  it  floats  from  an 
impregnable  hight. 


CHAPTEK    V. 

The  Keformation. 

The  Reformation,  lurid  and  destructive,  marks  an  epoch 
in  human  progress.  It  soon  reached  its  culmination  and 
ceased  to  be  of  any  benefit.  It  was  a  furious  protest 
backed  by  the  sword  and  cruel  persecutions  of  its  own, 
but  it  was  a  stroke  for  liberty.  Millions  of  men  were 
struggling  for  their  own  rights,  though  careless  of  the 
rights  of  others.  It  is  something,  however,  for  one  to 
have  the  courage  to  defend  himself  rather  than  to  submit. 
The  Reformation  was  as  relentless  as  Rome  m  its  own 
way — but  still  it  was  better,  and  also  by  its  opposition 
made  Rome  better.  I  doubt  if  science  could  have  so 
grandly  won  its  way  if  the  despotic  unity  of  Rome  had 
not  been  destroyed  and  its  very  existence  involved  in  a 
life-and-death  struggle  for  political  power.  Luther  him- 
self was  opposed  to  science.  He  had  no  use  for  Coperni- 
cus. He  said  of  this  astronomer  :  "  People  gave  ear  to  an 
upstart  astrologer  who  strove  to  show  that  the  earth  re- 
Tolves,  not  the  heavens  or  the  firmament,  the  sun  and  the 
moon.  Whoever  wishes  to  appear  clever  must  devise 
some  new  system  which  of  all  sj'stems  is  of  course  the 
very  best.  This  fool  wishes  to  reverse  the  entire  science 
of  astronomy.  But  sacred  Scripture  tells  us  that  Joshua 
commanded  the  sun  and  moon  to  stand  still  and  not  the 
earth." 

Calvin  burnt  Servetus  with  a  refinement  of  cruelty  that 


48  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

would  have  rejoiced  the  heart  of  the  inquisitor-general. 
The  gain  of  the  Reformation  for  science  was  not  in  any 
direct  help  that  it  afforded,  but  by  precipitating  the  world 
of  Europe  into  a  mortal  struggle  on  theological  questions  ; 
for  the  time  being  it  withdrew  the  attention  of  authorit}^ 
to  a  certain  extent  from  the  transactions  of  science,  which 
pursued  its  way  as  in  the  case  of  Newton  somewhat  unob- 
trusively, and  Avon  its  splendid  victories  without  the  church 
a]:»parently  realizing  their  vast  significance — and  when  the 
church  did  have  a  chance  to  turn  its  attention  to  these 
lields  and  supervise  them  as  of  old  it  was  too  late.  The 
*■  Principia  "  had  been  published. 

The  Reformation  was  an  enormous  help  to  the  literarv 
activity  of  the  people.  The  printing-press  was  used  as  an 
engine  of  war.  Luther  invoked  its  aid  and  Avas  thus 
enabled  to  strike  a  terrific  blow  at  Rome  from  Avhich  it  has 
never  recovered.  Rome  would  have  burned  every  printing- 
press  if  it  had  had  the  power.  Rome  wanted  no  means  of 
communication  with  the  people  except  the  pulpit,  and 
through  an  accredited  priest.  The  power  of  the  pulpit 
was  the  bulwark  of  Rome.  On  the  other  hand,  the  print- 
ing-press was  the  salvation  of  Luther.  He  could  not 
have  won  without  it.  It  enabled  him  to  arouse  vast 
masses  of  people — and  to  give  them  an  opportunity  to 
judge  for  themselves.  His  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
the  common  language  was  a  masterstroke.  To  give  the 
Bible  to  the  people  was  an  immense  advance  for  liberty. 
No  matter  what  the  Bible  is  in  itself,  its  distribution  by 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  copies  in  the  time  of  Luther 
Avith  an  appeal  to  private  judgment  was  the  source  of  a 
tremendous  agitation.  It  brought  into  play  forces  of  rev- 
olution that  Luther  and  his  princes  could  not  control. 
Besides,  Luther  made  the  German  language  a  literary 
power.  It  took  the  place  of  Latin  as  a  vehicle  for  song 
and  philosophy.  Luther's  translation  was  the  fountain 
Lead  of  the   glorious  poetry  of  Schiller  and  Goethe.     It 


EDWARD  GIBBON  (p.  228). 


THE   REFORMATION.  49 

showed  what  the  language  was  capable  of  doing.  It  was 
the  beginning  of  a  national  literature.  And  also,  as 
Luther  dissented  from  Rome,  and  Zwingle  dissented  from 
Luther  it  was  inevitable  that  there  should  be  dissent  and 
protest  everywhere.  The  era  of  individuality  had  set  in, 
and  Luther  could  not  make  its  currents  move  according  to 
his  wishes.  It  swept  beyond  him.  It  swept  beyond  the 
power  of  any  man  or  any  church  to  regulate.  There  were 
numberless  sects,  divisions,  separations,  strifes,  quarrels, 
and  these  indicated  that  there  were  plenty  of  private 
judgments,  more  than  Luther  ever  bargained  for ;  but  it 
was  the  logic  of  the  situation.  Luther  himself  might 
retreat,  but  the  tide  went  on,  and  the  waves  of  contro- 
versy multiplied,  and  there  was  no  knowing  when  the 
ocean  of  human  thought  would  end  its  tumultuous  course. 
In  fact,  there  is  no  end,  no  finality,  as  we  have  found  out 
in  these  latter  days.  The  separation  from  Rome  once 
begun,  has  no  bounds.  It  goes  on  infinitely  in  every  direc- 
tion. There  is  an  everlasting  break  up,  not  only  away 
from  the  pope,  but  away  from  Ciiristianity,  away  from  the 
Bible,  away  from  all  religions.  Luther  put  man  upon  a 
vaster  voyage  of  discovery  than  Columbus  or  Magellan. 
One  can  circumnavigate  the  globe,  but  who  can  circum- 
navigate the  truth  or  map  out  the  intellectual  reaches  of 
inquiry  ? 

So  swift  was  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  that  at 
the  close  of  Luther's  life  it  seemed  as  if  the  piip;icy  must 
end  in  total  ruin  ;  yet  it  recovered  itself  and  is  now 
stronger  every  way  than  before.  The  Reformation  did  not 
have  in  it  any  universal  power,  it  did  not  represent  any 
universal  principle.  Its  chief  value  was  in  its  destructive 
tendencies.  The  Reformation  was  simply  a  fight  for  an 
opinion — it  was  not  a  battle  for  world-wide  freedom. 
Hence  it  was  limited  in  its  action  and  must  soon  reach  the 
acme  of  its  success.  After  the  colossal  political  struggle 
was  over — when  the  Thirty  Years'  war  closed  with  tho 


50  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

peace  of  Westphalia  and  the  great  potentates  lay  down 
their  arms — came  the  era  of  construction  on  other  bases 
than  mere  force,  and  in  this  the  papal  church  had  superior 
advantages  to  that  of  the  Protestant.  It  had  age,  culture, 
art,  letters,  the  elegance  of  the  da}'.  It  was  logically  the 
true  conservative  power,  and  kings  naturally  allied  them- 
selves with  it  rather  than  with  the  disintegrations  of 
Protestantism,  that  must  some  day,  to  the  far-seeing 
mind,  end  in  democracy.  And  then  when  the  Reformation 
became  crystallized — when  it  ceased  to  be  dynamic  and 
became  static,  no  longer  a  flowing  energy,  but  an  institu- 
tion— what  was  there  to  choose  between  it  and  Rome, 
which  had  learned  lessons  from  the  struggle,  was  purged 
of  its  outward  immoralities,  and  through  the  might}'  spirit 
of  Loyola  consecrated  itself  as  never  before  to  a  spiritual 
dominion  over  mankind?  The  churches  of  the  Reformation 
kindled  the  flames  of  persecution.  They  were  opposed  to 
science  and  progress — they  would  bind  people  by  the 
superstitions  of  the  past ;  they  would  make  a  slave  of  the 
human  mind,  and  they  equally  with  Rome  were  the  instru- 
ments of  oppression.  As  a  result,  there  was  nothing  to 
choose  between  the  Reformation  and  the  new  papacy,  as 
we  might  call  it.  I  do  not  wonder  that  scholars  and 
thinkers  like  Erasmus  and  Grotius  accepted  Romanism  in 
the  place  of  Protestantism.  Intellectually  there  Avas  no 
gain  in  the  latter  ;  and  for  a  mind  tliat  delighted  in  beauty, 
order,  and  learning  Rome  offered  the  greater  advantages. 
The  spirit  of  Protestantism  was  what  made  its  chief  value; 
but  that  spirit  after  the  peace  of  Westphalia  was  soon 
banished  from  the  churches  of  the  new  faith.  If  there 
had  not  been  something  in  the  world  to  reform  the  Refor- 
mation the  Reformation  itself  would  have  been  as  great  a 
curse  as  Rome.  Fortunately  the  logic  of  the  Reformation 
is  the  irresistible  power  that  will  eventually  destroy  both 
it  and  Rome. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

Philosophy:  Bruno  and  Spinoza. 

We  are  now  to  consider  philosophical  advance — repre- 
sented by  Bruno  and  Spinoza  in  one  direction,  and  Des- 
cartes, Locke,  Hume,  Kant,  Hamilton,  and  Comte  in 
another.  What  is  philosophy?  Bruno  defined  it  to  be 
the  search  after  unity.  This  certainly  was  the  sense  in 
which  Bruno  and  Spinoza  were  philosophers  ;  this  was  the 
goal  of  their  ceaseless  effort,  the  unity  of  the  universe — 
the  one  in  the  many,  the  harmony  of  all  worlds,  all  life, 
matter  and  spirit,  God  and  man.  If  they  did  not  solve 
the  problem  aright  they  certainly  adorned  their  age  with 
the  brightest  productions  of  human  genius.  They  have 
given  a  noble  impulse  to  Freethought.  They  have  been 
the  source  of  many  a  golden  stream  of  poesy  over  the 
fields  of  time.  The  world  will  never  cease  to  be  a  debtor 
to  these  immortal  dreamers. 

Bruno  was  not  a  man  of  science  like  Galileo  or  Darwin. 
He  was  not  a  plodder,  infinitely  painstaking,  slow,  patient, 
wary,  advancing  step  by  step.  He  assimilated  the  dis- 
coveries of  his  time  with  wonderful  accuracy — but  rather 
by  genius  than  by  investigation ;  and  he  leaped  to  con- 
clusions far  beyond  even  the  daring  speculations  of  Gali- 
leo and  Kepler.  Philosophy  was  his  domain,  not  science. 
He  was  not  analytic — but  synthetic.  He  was  a  creator — a 
builder— out  of  the  facts  furnished  by  others.  A  more 
active  or  richly-gifted  man  never  was  on  this  planet.     He 


52  FOUR    IinXDRED    YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

was  like  a  flame.  He  was  born  for  agitation — for  con- 
trovers}'.  He  called  himself  "  The  awakener  of  sleeping 
minds."  He  was  indeed  that.  He  was  an  intellectual 
athlete.  He  was  armed  and  equipped  for  battle  at  every 
point.  His  learning  was  prodigious — and  it  was  wrought 
together  like  chained  lightning.  No  wonder  the  church 
dreaded  this  imperious  knight  whose  armor  was  always 
shining,  whose  blows  were  always  telling. 

And  Avhat  a  glorious  philosophy  he  proclaimed — beauti- 
ful and  enchanting  as  the  sweet  poetry  of  Shelley.  In- 
deed, Shelley  is  the  modern  Bruno,  and  the  magnificence 
of  the  poet's  genius  is  the  twin  glory  of  the  sixteenth- 
century  martyr.  If  we  desire  to  realize  the  spirit  of 
Bruno,  and  the  splendor  of  his  powers,  we  must  read 
Shelley.  The  one  interprets  the  other.  On  the  firmament 
of  time  they  shine  with  the  same  intensity.  One  might 
think  that  the  poet  was  singing  of  the  philosopher  in  this 
glowing  music : 

*'  He  is  made  one  with  nature ;  there  is  heard 
His  voice  in  all  her  music,  from  the  moan 

Of  thunder  to  the  song  of  night's  sweet  bird; 
He  is  a  presence  to  be  felt  and  known 

In  darkness  and  in  light,  from  herb  and  stone, 
Spreading  itself  where'er  that  power  may  move, 
Which  has  Avithdrawn  his  being  to  its  own, 

Which  wields  the  world  with  never-wearied  love, 

Sustains  it  from  below,  and  kindles  it  above." 

Bruno  proclaimed  the  immanence  of  God ;  that  nature, 
at  no  point,  was  separate  from  God — but  everywhere  was 
his  flowing  divinity.  Nature  is  the  universal  mother. 
There  was  no  real  discord.  There  was  no  creation — but 
constant  emanation.  As  Goethe  sings.  Nature  is  the 
**  garment  we  see  Him  by."  God  is  not  on  a  throne,  but 
is  an  eternal  presence.  There  is  no  need  of  any  priest — 
only  the  open  soul. 


PHILOSOPHY:  BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  53 

Bruno  infuses  matter  with  the  noblest  qualities.  Spirit 
is  not  der^radecl  by  any  association  with  it.  As  I  under- 
stand Bruno,  he  makes  matter  and  spirit  co-eternal,  both 
unbeginning  and  unending.  They  are  two  different  ex- 
pressions of  the  same  being,  which  being  is  incomprehen- 
sible in  itself.  But  matter  and  spirit,  however  different 
their  expression,  are  one  in  God — the  universal  soul. 
The  word  God  to  Bruno  was  simply  the  term  for  the 
unity  of  existence.  He  did  not  define  God,  or  give  him 
any  character  or  personality,  or  any  attribute  except  sim- 
ply to  make  him  the  totality  of  existence,   all-embracing. 

As  Goethe  sings  : 

"  The  all-enfolding, 
The  all-upholding. 
To  head  and  heart  the  force 
Still  weaving  its  eternal  secret 
Invisible,  visible  round  our  life." 

And  Pope  declares  the  same  : 

•'  See  through  this  air,  this  ocean,  and  this  earth, 
All  matter  quick  and  bursting  into  birth ! 
Above,  how  high  progressive  life  may  go; 
Around,  how  wide  ;  how  deep  extend  below. 
From  nature's  chain,  whichever  link  you  strike. 
Tenth  or  ten  thousandth,  breaks  the  chain  alike." 

And  modern  science  still  echoes  the  thought  in  Tyndall: 
"  I  prolong  the  vision  backward  across  the  boundary  of 
the  experimental  evidence,  and  discern  in  that  matter 
which  we,  in  our  ignorance,  have  hitherto  covered  with 
opprobrium  the  promise  and  potency  of  every  form  and 
quality  of  life." 

Bruno  does  not  identify  the  universe  with  God.  It  is 
the  expression  of  God — but  not  God  himself.  Withdraw 
God  and  the  universe  would  cease  to  be,  but  Bruno  seems 
to  affirm  that  so  long  as  God  is,  so  long  must  he  con- 


54  POUR   HUNDRED   YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

stantly  express  himself  in  the  universe  ;  that  is,  God  must, 
in  his  very  nature,  be  action,  eternal  action ;  he  cannot 
be  merely  a  thou^^ht,  or  a  dream,  or  a  sleep.  Therefore 
the  universe  is  co-eternal  with  God.  The  relation  of  the 
universe  to  God  is  not  one  of  identity,  but  of  expression, 
or  revealing.  The  universe  is  the  constant  revealing  of 
God,  and  is  one  with  God  in  the  sense  that  language  is 
one  with  the  thought  it  expresses.  The  universe  is  the 
language  or  the  word  of  God. 

It  is  best,  however,  to  give  Bruno's  own  words,  so  that 
we  may  most  clearly  understand  his  pantheistic  philosophy. 
He  says :  "  There  is  only  one  absolute  possibility,  one 
only  reality,  one  only  activity.  Whether  it  be  form  or 
soul,  matter  or  body,  it  is  but  one — one  only  being,  one 
sole  existence.  Unity  is,  therefore,  perfection ;  its  char- 
acter is  impossibility  of  being  comprehended,  in  other 
words,  it  possesses  neither  limit,  bound,  nor  definitive  de- 
termination. The  one  is  infinite  and  immense,  and  there- 
fore immovable  ;  it  cannot  change  its  place,  because  out- 
side of  it  there  is  no  space ;  it  is  not  engendered,  because 
all  existence  is  only  its  own  existence ;  it  cannot  perish, 
because  it  can  neither  pass  into  nor  transform  itself  into 
anything  else.  It  cannot  increase  nor  diminish,  because 
the  infinite  is  susceptible  neither  of  augmentation  nor  of 
diminution.  It  is  liable  to  alteration  neither  from  with- 
out, because  nothing  exists  outside  of  it,  nor  from  within, 
because  it  is  at  once,  and  at  the  same  time,  everything  it 
can  become.  Its  harmony  is  an  eternal  harmony  since  it 
is  unity  itself.  Because  it  is  self-identical,  it  cannot  form 
two  beings ;  it  has  not  two  kinds  of  existence,  because  it 
has  not  two  modes  of  being;  it  has  not  different  parts, 
for  it  is  not  composite.  It  is  in  the  same  manner,  the 
whole  and  parts,  all  and  one,  limited  and  unlimited, 
formal  and  informal,  matter  and  void,  animate  and  inani- 
mate. In  the  universe  solid  body  does  not  differ  from  a 
mathematical  point,  nor  the  center  from  the  circumference. 


THOMAS  PAIXK. 


PHILOSOPHY:  BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  55 

nor  the  finite  from  the  infinite,  nor  the  infinitely  great 
irom  the  infinitely  little.  The  universe  is  only  a  center, 
or  rather  its  center  is  everywhere,  its  circumference  no- 
where. 

Again  he  explains  :  "  The  supreme  being  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  universe,  the  pure  essence  of  all  life  and 
reality,  the  source  of  all  being,  the  force  of  all  forces,  the 
virtue  of  all  virtues.  If  nature  is  the  outward  originating 
cause  of  all  existence,  divinity  is  its  deeper  foundation, 
and  the  more  profound  basis,  both  of  nature  and  of  each 
individual.  God  being  the  cause  of  all  causes,  the  ruling 
principle  of  all  existence,  may  become  everything ;  being 
also  perfect  he  is  everything.  In  him  existence  and 
power,  reality  and  activity,  are  inseparably  united,  indeed 
they  cannot  be  conceived  separately  and  apart  from  him. 
Not  onlv  is  he  alone  the  external  cause  of  all  things,  he 
is  also  the  inherent  principle  which  maintains  them  in 
life.  By  means  of  his  omnipresence  and  his  boundless 
activity,  the  existence  and  motion  of  all  beings  constitute 
but  one  sole  life,  one  immense  and  inexhaustible  reality. 
The  cause  of  all  causation,  the  supreme  being  is  at  once 
the  formal,  material,  efficient,  and  final  cause  of  all  that 
exists.  He  is  the  nature  of  all  nature,  being  the  univer- 
sal cause  and  in  perpetual  action.  He  is  the  universal 
reason,  in  other  words,  the  intelligence  which  conceives 
all  and  produces  alL  Being  also  the  universal  power — 
that  which  determines  and  differentiates  everything  the 
world  contains — the  supreme  being  is  the  soul  of  the 
world,  the  spirit  of  the  universe,  the  hidden  life  of  every 
form  of  existence.  The  infinity  of  God,  his  presence  and 
activity  in  every  part  of  creation,  as  well  as  its  immeasur- 
able totality.  His  omnipresence  and  persistent  energy 
constitute  the  most  wonderful  character  of  his  being." 

Bruno,  notwithstanding  his  mysticism,  was  a  born  skep- 
tic. Doubt  with  him  was  the  starting-point  of  all  philos- 
ophy and  all  reasoning.     This  is  affirmed  again  and  again 


56  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

in  various  parts  of  his  works,  and  is  exemplified  in  his 
own  career.  However  much  the  abstractions  of  the  In- 
finite and  the  One  satisfied  for  the  time  his  intellect  and 
soothed  his  emotional  needs,  there  was  a  prior  stage  of 
doubt  of  a  sweeping  and  comprehensive  character.  "  He 
who  wishes  to  philosophize,"  says  Bruno,  "  must  begin  by 
doubting  all  things."  Bruno  affirms  that  the  human  mind 
is  made  for  knowledge  and  freedom.  He  lays  it  down  that 
thought,  by  its  own  nature,  cannot  be  the  subject  of  puni- 
tive justice,  for  if  sincere  it  can  be  no  offense  to  God  or 
human  law.  Thus  political  freedom  is  the  outcome  of 
his  doctrines. 

"  Our  opinions,"  he  says,  "  do  not  depend  upon  our- 
selves ;  evidence,  the  force  of  circumstances,  the  reason, 
impose  them  on  us.  If  no  man,  therefore,  thinks  what  he 
wishes  nor  as  he  wishes,  no  one  has  the  right  of  compel- 
ling another  to  think  as  he  does.  Every  man  ought  to  tol- 
erate with  patience,  nay,  with  indulgence,  the  beliefs  of 
his  neighbor.  Toleration,  that  natural  faith  graven  upon 
all  well-born  hearts,  the  fruit  of  the  enlightened  reason, 
is  an  indispensable  requirement  of  logic,  as  well  as  a  pre- 
cept of  morality." 

Bruno  was  an  ardent  worshiper  of  nature,  because,  in 
nature,  he  saw  the  ever-flowing  divinity  of  the  supreme 
being.  He  describes  the  charms  of  nature  in  the  passion- 
ate language  of  a  lover.  Nature,  moving,  fluctuating, 
changing,  instinct  with  life  and  energy. 

Bruno  was  something  like  Milton,  rather  furious 
against  personal  enemies.  One  of  his  opponents  he  calls 
a  pig.  There  was  a  kind  of  grim,  elephantine  humor  in 
him — a  fierce  cynical  mockery,  which  gives  a  sort  of  gro- 
tesque light  to  his  otherwise  magnificently  earnest  spirit. 
Neither  Bruno  nor  Milton  was  born  to  be  a  wit,  but  their 
efforts  at  comedy  are  worthy  of  preservation.  Bruno 
erects  Asinity  into  a  goddess  and  sings  her  praises  thus  : 


PHILOSOPHY:   BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  57 

"  O  sainted  Asinity.     Ignorance  most  holy  ! 
Stupidity  most  sacred !  Devotion  most  profound, 
Thou  alone  canst  make  us  learned,  good,  and  sound. 
While  human  thought  and  study  are  void  of  value  wholly. 

Little  availeth  the  search  that  men  so  fully 

Employ  by  every  art  or  science-operation, 

Little  availeth  their  sky-ward  contemplation, 

To  gain  the  heavenly  seat  which  is  thy  object  solely. 

What  boots  then,  ye  curious,  your  persistent  exploration? 
The  wish  to  learn  the  secret  of  nature's  laws  and  ways, 
If  the  stars  be  water,  earth,  or  Q.erj  exhalation  ? 
Holy  Asinity  despises  wisdom's  rays  ; 

Folded  hands  and  knees  form  her  sole  occupation. 

Expecting  from  Providence  the  luck  of  better  days  ; 

All  passes,  nothing  stays, 

Save  the  fruition  of  that  eternal  peace, 

Which  God  will  give  her  after  her  decease." 

In  another  strain,  more  befitting  his  royal  nature,  he 
afterwards  sings  : 

"  AAvay  from  the  prison  cell,  narrow  and  gloomy. 
Where  so  many  years  error  closely  hath  bound  me, 
Leaving  the  fetters  and  chains  which  around  me 
My  foe's  cruel  hand  hath  entwined  to  entomb  me. 
Securely  to  the  air  my  pinions  I  extend — 
Fearless  of  all  barriers,  feigned  by  men  of  old, 
The  heavens  I  freely  cleave — to  the  Infinite  I  tend. 
So  leaving  this,  to  other  worlds  my  upward  flight  I  wend. 
Ethereal  fields  I  penetrate  with  dauntless  heart  and  bold, 
And  leave  behind  what  others  deem  a  prospect  without 
end." 

And  then,  wonderfully,  he  seems  to  predict  his  own 
immortal  martyrdom  : 


58  FOHR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

"Since  I  my  wings  to  sweet  desire  do  lend, 

The  more  the  air  uprises  'neath  my  feet, 

Tiie  swifter  on  the  gale  my  pinions  beat, 

And,  earth  despising,  toward  heaven  I  tend. 

Nor  for  the  son  of  Daedalus'  guilty  end 

Feel  I  dismay,  nay,  rather  bouyant  heat ; 

His  deadly  fall  I  joyfully  would  meet. 

Peer  to  such  death,  what  life  could  mortal  spend? 

Soaring,  I  hear  my  trembling  heart's  refrain, 

'  Where  bearest  me,  O  rash  one  ?     The  fell  steep 

Too  arduous  is  not  climbed  without  much  pain.' 

'  Fear  not,'  I  answer,  '  for  the  fatal  leap. 

Serene  I  cleave  the  clouds  and  death  disdain. 

If  death  so  glorious  heaven  will  that  I  reap.'  " 

Such  was  the  magnanimous  soul  of  Bruno — a  mighty 
light  indeed  shining  at  the  beginning  of  the  Era  of  Man. 

Maurice  says  of  him:  "Grace  and  beauty  of  every 
kind  speak  to  his  soul,  and  exercise  a  dominion  over  him 
which  one  would  fear  must  have  often  been  too  much  for 
his  judgment  and  loftier  aspirations.  His  countenance 
testifies  how  mightily  he  must  have  been  attracted,  and 
how  he  must  have  attracted." 

Professor  Berti  gives  this  description  of  Bruno : 
"  Short  in  stature,  agile  in  frame,  of  meager  body,  a  thin 
and  pallid  face,  thoughtful  expression ;  a  glance  both 
piercing  and  melancholy  ;  hair  and  beard  between  black 
and  chestnut ;  a  ready,  rapid,  imaginative  tongue,  accom- 
panied by  vivacious  gestures,  a  manner  courteous  and 
gentle.  Sociable,  amiable,  and  pleasant  in  conversation, 
like  the  Italians  of  the  South  ;  adapting  himself  without 
difficulty  to  the  tastes,  usages,  and  habits  of  another ; 
open  and  candid,  both  with  friends  and  foes,  and  as  far 
from  rancor  and  revenge  as  he  was  quickly  moved  to 
anger." 

After  fifteen  years'  wandering   over  Europe  Bruno  ar- 


PHILOSOPHY:  BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  q(^ 

rived  at  Venice  about  1591.  He  paid  occasional  visits  to 
Padua  and  gave  private  lessons  to  some  German  students. 
The  chronology  of  Bruuo's  life  shows  that  he  could  have 
had  no  personal  acquaintance  with  Galileo,  who  did  not 
commence  lecturing  at  Padua  until  soms  months  after 
BruucVs  long  incarceration  had  begun.  On  Friday,  May 
22,  1592,  Mocenigo,  of  infamous  memory,  his  former  pupil 
and  patron,  and  now  his  betrayer,  forcibly  entered  the 
bed-chamber  where  Bruno  was  asleep,  accompanied  by  his 
servant  and  five  or  six  gondoliers  of  the  neighborhood^ 
and,  on  the  pretext  of  wishing  to  converse  with  him,  con- 
ducted him  to  a  garret  and  then  locked  him  in.  He  wa& 
removed  on  Saturday,  the  23d  of  May,  into  the  prison  of 
the  Inquisition.  With  this  ends  the  free  life  of  Bruno. 
Before  him  was  a  cruel  captivit}'  of  eight  long  5^ears,  ter- 
minating with  the  stake.  He  was  sent  to  Rome,  January, 
1593.  "  Never  did  malignant  destiny,"  says  the  historian, 
"  provide  a  fate  so  atrocious  and  pitiless  as  that  which  be- 
fell Bruno.  His  whole  life  had  been  a  warfare  with  re- 
striction. The  limits  of  earth  itself  were  too  narrow  for 
his  soaring  intellect.  Incarceration  in  a  dark  and  loath- 
some dungeon,  for  a  man  whose  every  breath  was  an 
aspiration  for  freedom,  whose  every  thought  centered  in 
her  divine  attributes,  and  whose  every  act  was  part  of  a 
life-long  strviggle  to  possess  her,  imparts  to  his  lot  a  pecu- 
liar aspect  of  intense  liarshness  and  grim  irony.  What 
Bruno's  trials  were  ;  how  often  his  limbs  were  stretched 
on  the  rack  ;  what  other  tortures,  mental  and  physical,  he 
was  compelled  to  endure  ;  what  cunning  and  ruthless 
efforts  were  made  by  his  jailers  to  break  down  his  indom- 
itable spirit;  to  crush,  fully  and  finally,  his  irrepressible 
yearnings  after  freedom ;  to  transform  the  Freethinker 
into  a  religious  slave,  we  shall  never  know.  The  long 
duration  of  his  imprisonment  seems  to  imply  that  unusual 
pains  were  taken  to  convert  a  heresiarch  whose  fame  was 
European."     In    1599    Bruno    was    the    only    prisoner   in 


60  FOUR   HUXDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

charge   of    the    Roman   Inquisition   whose   incarceration 
commenced  in  1593. 

On  Thursday,  January  14,  1599,  Bruno  was  brought 
before  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Office,  when  eight 
heretical  propositions,  extracted  from  his  works,  were 
placed  before  him  for  recantation.  Another  summer  and 
autumn  roll  slowly  over  his  head,  and  on  Tuesday,  Decem- 
ber 21st,  he  is  again  brought  before  the  Congregation. 
On  this  occasion  Bruno  said,  "  he  neither  ought,  nor 
wished,  to  recant.  He  had  nothing  to  recant."  Thus 
passed  1599.  Three  weeks  of  the  new  year  had  gone  by 
and  Bruno  again  stood  before  his  inquisitors.  Once  more 
Bruno  refused  to  recant.  The  resolution  was  thereupon 
made  that  Bruno  be  delivered  over  to  the  secular  arm. 
This  was  done  on  Tuesday,  the  8th  of  February.  He  was 
brought  forth  to  die  on  Thursday,  the  17th  of  February. 
''  The  scene  must  have  been  remarkable,"  says  the  histo- 
rian. "The  year  1600  was  a  jubilee  year.  There  were 
then  in  Rome  not  less  than  fifty  cardinals.  The  streets 
were  crowded  with  pilgrims.  In  every  direction  might  be 
seen  troops  of  strangers  dressed  in  the  different  costumes 
of  their  own  country,  wending  their  way  from  one  church 
to  another,  imploring  pardon  for  their  sins.  There  was 
ringing  of  bells,  marching  of  processions,  singing  of  peni- 
tential psalms,  oflfering  of  vows  and  prayers  at  different 
shrines  from  morning  till  night."  "  While  it  might  have 
seemed,"  says  Berti,  "  that  all  hearts  ought  to  have  been 
inclined  to  mercy,  and  attracted  lovingly  to  the  gentle  re- 
deemer of  humanity,  the  poor  philosopher  of  Nola,  pre- 
ceded and  followed  by  crowds  of  people,  accompanied  by 
priests  carrying  crucifixes,  and  escorted  by  soldiers,  was 
wending  his  way  to  the  Campo  di  Flora,  to  die  for  free- 
dom and  the  riglits  of  conscience.  As  the  lonely  thinker 
—  the  disciple  and  worshiper  of  the  infinite — passed 
through  the  streets,  clothed  in  the  san-benito,  but  with 
head   erect,  and  haughty,   fearless  glance,  what  thoughts 


ALEXANDER  VON  HUMBOLDT  (p.  450). 


THILOSOPHY:   BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  61 

must  have  passed  through  his  mind.  The  feeling  of  utter 
isolation  could  not  but  have  been  felt  by  him.  He  must 
have  found — it  was  the  conclusion  of  his  intellectual  ca- 
-reer,  the  inevitable  destiny,  too  often,  of  the  single-hearted 
truth  seeker — that  he  was  alone  in  his  researches,  in  his 
passionate  quest  for  truth. 

"  At  length  he  comes  to  the  fatal  spot  where  the  stake 
had  been  erected.  He  submits  himself  to  be  bound,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  the  fire  blazes  round  the  martyr.  But 
not  a  word  or  moan  escapes  the  Hrm-set  lips,  no  expres- 
sion of  suffering  or  weakness  passes  across  the  v/an  and 
pale,  but  still  handsome,  features.  One  single  gesture  of 
impatience  he  gives  way  to  when  his  tormentors  thrust 
the  crucifix  before  his  dying  gaze.  Then  he  averted  his 
eyes  with  a  threatening  glance. 

"Bruno  died.  His  impassioned  words  were  like 
thunder  bolts  and  lightning  shafts,  and  his  course  like 
that  of  a  comet.  Prometlieus-like,  he  brought  the  vital 
flame,  not  only  from  the  single  sun  of  our  own  S3'stem, 
but  from  the  numberless  orbs  scattered  through  space. 
His  perpetual  warfare  was  with  darkness  and  voluutarj* 
blindness.  The  eagles  and  birds  of  daylight  were  glad  in 
his  presence  ;  the  owls  and  bats  detested  him.  He  dis- 
appears from  earth  in  a  flame  of  fire,  giving  him  new  birth 
and  eternal  freedom. 

"  Bruno  was  one  of  those  gigantic  intellects,  those  myr- 
iad-minded men,  whose  multifarious  erudition,  eclectic 
methods,  and  many-sided  sympathies,  render  a  summary 
of  their  operations  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible.  Like 
a  survey  of  a  widely  extended  landscape,  or  an  enormous 
building,  the  conspectus  will  only  be  a  piecing,  more  or 
less  rude  and  imperfect,  of  separate  and  fragmentar}' 
points  of  view.  Employing  his  own  illustration  of  the 
infinite  powers  and  feelings  of  the  human  mind,  we  might 
almost  say  of  his  own  intellect  that  its  center  is  every- 
where, its  circumference   nowhere.     A  child  of    the  six- 


62  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

teeutb  century,  bis  speculatious  comprehend  and  his 
sj'mpathies  embrace  methods  of  thought,  current  in  an- 
cient times  on  the  one  hand,  and  in  our  own  day  on  the 
other.  The  immense  range  of  his  studies  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  there  is  hardly  an  author,  certainly  not  a 
subject  known  in  his  day,  to  which  he  does  not  seem  to 
have  paid  attention,  and  on  which  he  has  not  thrown  some 
light/' 

Bruno  did  not  reach  the  unqualified  Pantheism  of 
Spinoza.  Spinoza  affirmed  the  absolute  identity  of  the 
universe  with  God.  The  universe  was  God,  and  God  was 
the  universe.  The  universe  was  not  the  expression,  but 
the  very  being  of  God  himself. 

Draper  says  :  "  Bruno  may  be  considered  among  philo- 
sophical writers  as  intermediate  between  Averroes  and 
Spinoza.  The  latter  held  that  God  and  the  universe  are 
the  same  ;  that  all  events  happen  by  an  immutable  law  of 
nature,  by  an  unconquerable  necessity ;  that  God  is  the 
universe,  producing  a  series  of  necessary  movements  or 
acts  in  consequence  of  intrinsic,  unchangeable,  and  irresis- 
tible energy." 

Spinoza. 

Spinoza  was  born  at  Amsterdam,  Nov.  24,  1632.  At  an 
early  age  he  was  denounced  to  the  heads  of  the  Jewish 
synagogue  as  an  apostate  from  the  true  faith.  He  with- 
drew from  the  synagogue.  Dreading  the  force  of  his  ex- 
ample, the  synagogue  offered  him  an  annual  pension  of  a 
thousand  florins  if  he  would  only  consent  to  be  silent  and 
assist,  from  time  to  time,  in  the  ceremonies.  He  refused. 
Excommunication  was  pronounced.  "  Let  him  be  accursed 
by  day,  and  accursed  by  night,"  read  the  malediction. 
"  Let  none  hold  converse  with  him,  or  do  him  any  service, 
or  abide  under  the  same  roof  with  him."  It  will  be  seen 
that    the  Jewish  synagogue  could  damn  as  well  as   the 


PHILOSOPHY:  BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  §3 

pope.  Notwithstanding  all  their  own  sufferings,  the  or- 
thodox Jew^s  were  no  more  tolerant  than  their  enemies. 

Matthew  Arnold  says  the  excommunication  "  made  Spi- 
noza a  child  of  Europe,  and  not  of  Israel."  When  he 
heard  of  it  he  said,  "  Well  and  good,  but  this  shall  force 
me  to  nothing  I  should  not  have  been  ready  to  do  with- 
out it."  He  left  his  home  and  native  city.  He  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  philosophy.  He  endured  a  hard  and 
griping  kind  of  poverty.  The  heritage  which  at  his 
father's  death  fell  to  him,  he  resigned  to  his  sisters.  The 
pension  offered  him  if  he  would  dedicate  a  work  to  Louis 
XIV.  he  also  declined.  He  desired  to  be  absolutely  inde- 
pendent. His  ordinary  daily  diet  consisted  of  a  basin  of 
milk  porridge,  with  a  little  butter,  costing  about  three 
half  pence,  and  a  draught  of  beer  costing  an  additional 
penny. 

He  died  in  his  forty-fifth  year  in  the  full  vigor  and  ma- 
turity of  his  intellect.  Says  Schleiermacher  :  "  The  great 
spirit  of  the  world  penetrated  him  ;  the  infinite  was  his 
beginning  and  his  end  ;  the  universe  his  only  and  eternal 
love.  He  was  filled  with  religion  and  religious  feeling ; 
and  therefore  it  is  that  he  stands  alone,  unapproachable  ; 
the  master  in  his  art,  without  adherents,  and  without  even 
citizenship." 

To  the  common  mind  there  is,  practically,  little  differ- 
ence between  Pantheism  and  Atheism  ;  whether  one  says, 
"  all  God,"  or  "  no  God."  The  distinction  is  intellectual, 
and  not  moral.  Both  are  absolutely  anti-orthodox.  Spi- 
noza, Bruno,  and  Averroes  were  called  Atheists,  although 
they  were  Pantheists,  and  Spinoza  has  been  called  the 
"  God-intoxicated "  one.  Buddhism  has  been  called  an 
Atheistic  religion,  although  it  is  Pantheistic. 

Modern  Pantheism,  like  Atheism,  is  the  bitter  foe  of 
church  and  priest.  It  utterly  abolishes  heaven  and  hell, 
total  depravity,  vicarious  atonement,  a  personal  God,  a 
personal   devil,   and  a  personal   immortality.     If  all    the 


64  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

universe  is  God,  then  tliere  is  no  need  of  any  special 
means  of  communication  with  liim — Pantheism  is  demo- 
cratic. There  is  neither  high  nor  low  in  Pantheism.  All 
are  equally  divine  — all  on  the  same  level — whatever  that 
level  may  be.  Tennnyson  has  beautifully  expressed  the 
idea  of  Pantheism  : 

"  Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 
I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies ; 
Hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand, 
Little  flower — but  if  I  could  understand 
What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 
I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is." 

Pantheism,  in  its  spirit,  is  certainly  Freethought.  It 
declares  for  human  worth  and  human  freedom.  The  ques- 
tion is  not,  Is  it  beautiful  ?  for  it  is  exceedingly  beautiful, 
but  is  it  true  ?     Is  the  universe  God  ? 

The  only  difference  between  Pantheism  and  Atheism  is 
in  the  use  of  the  word  God.  The  Atheist  affirms  that  all 
existence  is  one  ;  he  affirms  the  universality  of  law  ;  he 
affirm.'*  natural  morality  equally  with  the  Pantheist. 

Does  Pantheism  mean  anything  by  the  use  of  the  word 
God  ?     And,  if  so,  what  does  it  mean  ? 

The  God-idea  is  not  simple,  but  complex,  and  in  the 
ordinary  conception  there  are  included  many  human  qual- 
ities. But  throwing  away  as  far  as  possible  all  anthropo- 
morphic conceptions  we  must,  as  the  ultimate,  accept 
Swedenborg's  definition  of  God,  namely,  infinite  wisdom 
and  infinite  love.  It  seems  to  me  that  you  can  no  more 
throw  out  the  element  of  love  from  the  God-idea,  than 
the  element  of  intelligence.  Therefore,  when  one  calls 
the  universe  God,  he  not  only  gives  it  the  attribute  of 
thought,  but  also  of  love  ;  but  the  idea  of  love  brings  in 
the  idea  of  purpose.  It  is  teleological,  and  Pantheism 
naturally  sings  with  Teun3'Son  of 


PHILOSOPHY:  BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  65 

"  Some  far-oj6f,  divine  event, 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves." 

I  can  conceive  of  pure  thought  without  a  purpose — pure 
intelligence  expressing  itself  spontaneously,  recklessly, 
without  a  regard  of  consequences — but  it  cannot  be  so  with 
love.  If  this  universe  is  infinite  goodness,  then  there 
must  be  a  plan  in  it — a  choice — a  desire — ^a  hope — an 
effort — a  final  goal.  If  there  are  gods,  they  must  be  as 
Keats  describes  them  : 

"  With  God-like  exercise. 
Of  influence  benign  on  planets  pale, 
Of  admonitions  to  the  winds  and  seas, 
Of  peaceful  sway  above  men's  harvesting. 
And  all  those  acts  which  deity  supreme 
Doth  ease  its  heart  of  love  in." 

While  Atheism  affirms  law,  it  does  not  affirm  plan,  or 
final  purpose,  or  teleology.  And  that  is  why  it  does  not 
use  the  word  God.  Science  does  not  use  the  word  God. 
It  is  a  term  which  expresses  a  desire,  but  not  a  truth. 
We  may  hope  that  all  things  will  be  well,  but  we  do  not 
know  it,  and  we  never  can  know  it. 

Spinoza,  however,  excluded  the  attribute  of  love  from 
the  universe.  He  affirmed  only  two  attributes  of  God,  in- 
finite thought  and  infinite  extension. 

But  we  cannot  conceive  of  infinite  extension,  of  infinite 
time,  or  infinite  space.  We  say  "  infinite  time,"  "  infinite 
space,"  but  these  are  mere  words,  they  do  not  represent 
ideas.  Try  to  conceive  infinite  space.  You  cannot  do  it. 
You  can  add  conception  to  conception,  but  every  concep- 
tion is  a  finite  conception.  If,  in  one  mental  act,  you 
could  conceive  "  infinite  space,"  you  could  neither  add  to 
nor  diminish  that  conception,  but  you  can  add  to  or  di- 
minish every  conception  of  space  possible  to  the  human 
mind.      You   cannot  conceive  of  any  space  so  large  but 


66  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

what  YOU  can  conceiYe  of  a  larger.  We  haYe  not,  therefore, 
and  cannot  have,  any  idea  of  infinite  space,  and  cannot 
affirm  it  of  the  universe.     We  can  only  affirm  finite  spacp. 

How  much  less  can  we  affirm  thought  to  be  an  infinite, 
an  eternal  attribute  of  the  universe  or  God.  We  must 
admit  that  space  is  everywhere  in  our  experience,  but  not 
thought.  The  telescope  reveals  200,000,000  suns  in  enor- 
mous realms  of  space,  but  it  discovers  no  thought.  The 
spectroscope  reveals  the  same  colors,  the  same  elements, 
the  same  fire  in  these  millions  of  stars  as  in  earth,  but  it 
reveals  no  thought.  We  can  concieve  of  matter  without 
thought,  but  not  of  matter  without  space.  It  is  pure  as- 
sumption to  affirm  that  in  the  universe  is  infinite  thought. 
It  may  be  so ;  but  experience  declares  that  thought  only 
exists  in  certain  conditions.  It  is  simply  a  particular  pro- 
cess, and  not  the  universal  energy. 

Spinoza  originated  a  splendid,  but  vanishing,  system  of 
philosophy,  a  system,  however,  which  has  exerted  a  prodi- 
gious influence  upon  the  human  mind.  He  has  reared 
one  of  the  most  dazzling  intellectual  structures  in  the 
whole  history  of  human  thought,  and,  for  a  time,  it 
seemed  as  if  it  would  command  the  world.  However,  ''the 
majestic  struggle  with  the  mysteries  of  existence  failed, 
as  it  always  must  fail ;  but  the  struggle  demands  our 
warmest  approbation,  and  the  man  our  ardent  sympathy. 
Spinoza  stands  out  from  the  dim  past  like  a  tall  beacon, 
whose  shadow  is  thrown  athwart  the  sea,  and  whose  light 
will  serve  to  warn  the  wanderers  from  the  shoals  and 
rocks  on  which  hundreds  of  their  brethren  have  per- 
ished." 

A  braver,  a  nobler,  a  grander  man  than  Spinoza  never 
lived.  He  was  absolutely  unselfish.  He  was  thoroughly 
devoted  to  the  truth,  and  while  the  world  does  not  accept 
the  whole  of  his  magnificent  system,  it  does  accept  manj' 
a  priceless  treasure  of  wisdom.  Spinoza  did  not  pursue 
a  mere  phantom.     In  the  elaboration  of   his  philosophy 


AUGUSTE  COMTE  (p.   119). 


PEIILOSOPHY:   BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  67 

he  has  unfolded  a  knowledge  of  nature  and  man  which  is 
of  priceless  value. 

In  1670  he  put  forth,  anonymously,  a  "Treatise  on 
Theology  and  Politics,"  in  which  he  examined  and  criti- 
cised the  Hebrew  scriptures.  He  is  called  the  "  Father 
of  Biblical  Criticism."  From  his  learned,  investi- 
gating and  critical  spirit  has  flowed  those  scholarly  inter- 
pretations of  the  Bible  and  its  inspiration  which,  to-day, 
are  shaking  the  church  to  its  very  center.  The  biblical 
researches  into  the  depths  of  history,  thus  begun  by  Spi- 
noza, have  been  a  vast  influence  in  modern  development. 
As  Matthew  Arnold  has  well  stated  it,  the  Bible  is  no 
longer  "  dogma;  it  is  literature.   " 

Spinoza  gives  these  reasons  for  writing  the  book:  "I 
am  now  engaged  in  the  composition  of  my  treatise  on  the 
scriptures,  moved  to  undertake  the  work,  First,  By  the 
prejudices  of  theologians,  which,  I  feel  satisfied,  are  the 
grand  obstacles  to  the  general  study  of  philosophy. 
These  prejudices  I  therefore  expose,  and  do  what  I  can 
to  lessen  their  influence  on  the  minds  of  people  accessible 
to  reason.  Second,  By  my  desire  to  disabuse  the  world  of 
the  false  estimate  formed  of  me  when  I  am  charged  with 
Atheism.  Third,  By  the  wish  I  have  lo  assert  our  title 
to  free  philosophical  discussion,  and  to  say,  openly,  what 
we  think.  This  I  maintain  in  every  possible  way,  for  here 
it  is  too  much  interfered  with  by  the  authority  and  abus- 
iveness  of  the  vulgar." 

The  Ethics,  the  great  work  of  Spinoza,  was  not  pub- 
lished until  after  his  death.  It  has  swayed  and  illumi- 
nated the  minds  of  Lessing,  Jacobi,  Herder,  Goethe, 
Fichte,  Schelling,  Schiller,  Schleiermacher,  Feuerbaeh, 
Auerbach,  and  a  host  of  other  philosophers,  poets,  and 
novelists  in  Modern  Germany  and  throughout  Europe. 

In  Spinoza's  philosophy  the  conception  of  God  is  fun- 
damental. In  the  first  part  of  the  Ethics  he  gives  a  defi- 
nition of  God  as  the  absolutely  infinite  being  or  substance 


68  FOUR    IIUNDRKD    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGMT. 

— infinite  in  extension,  as  well  as  infinite  in  thought, 
eternal,  without  beginning  or  end,  self-existent,  uncaused, 
or,  to  use  the  expression  of  Spinoza,  causa  sui,  its  own 
cause,  or  cause  of  itself.  Tliis  conception  is  admirably 
and  clearly  set  forth.  In  the  second  part  the  philosopher 
treats  of  the  origin  and  nature  of  the  human  mind.  In 
the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  parts  the  source  and  nature  of 
the  human  passions  are  investigated,  their  power  defined, 
and  the  way  pointed  out  whereby  their  excessive  and, 
therefore,  hurtful  action  may  be  controlled  so  that  man 
may  be  enabled  to  live  in  accordance  with  the  dictates  of 
reason,  and  enjoy  that  supreme  felicity  which  the  practice 
of  virtue,  and  the  intellectual  love  of  God,  will  surely  give. 

Spinoza  is  almost  Shaksperean  in  his  knowledge  of 
human  nature,  and  in  this  lies  the  chief  value  of  his  won- 
derful work — its  description  of  man — not  his  conception 
of  God. 

Says  J.  A.  Eroude  :  "  After  a  masterly  analysis  of  the 
tastes,  tendencies,  and  inclinations  of  our  mental  compo- 
sition, the  most  complete,  by  far,  which  has  been  made  by 
any  moral  philosopher,  Spinoza  arrives  at  those  princi- 
ples, under  which  unity  and  consistency  can  be  obtained, 
as  the  condition  upon  which  a  being,  so  composed,  can 
look  for  any  sort  of  happiness." 

Says  Dr.  Maudsley  :  "  Spinoza's  admirable  account  of 
the  passions  has  never  yet  been  surpassed,  and  certainly 
will  not  easily  be  surpassed." 

The  identity  of  Spinoza's  philosophy  with  modern, 
scientific,  Atheism  and  Agnosticism,  and  his  opposition  to 
theology,  is  seen  in  his  definition  of  good  and  evil. 

He  says :  "  Perfection  and  imperfection  are,  in  fact, 
merely  modes  of  thought,  that  is,  notions  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  form  by  comparing  individual  things  of  the 
same  genus,  or  species,  with  one  another ;  and  it  is  for 
this  reason  that  I  have  said  that,  by  reality  and  perfection^ 
I  understand  one  and  the  same  thing. 


PHILOSOPHY:  BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA.  69 

"  The  terms,  good  and  evil,  as  applied  to  things  con- 
sidered in  themselves,  do  not  indicate  anything  positive  in 
their  nature.  For  one  and  the  same  thing  may  be,  at  tlie 
same  time,  both  good  and  evil,  or  it  may  be  indifferent. 
Lively  music,  for  example,  may  be  good  to  a  melancholy 
person,  bad  to  one  who  mourns,  and  neither  good  nor  bad 
to  one  who  is  deaf.  By  good,  therefore,  I  shall  understand 
that  which  we  know  for  certain  is  a  means  of  approach- 
ing, more  and  more  closely,  to  the  exemplar  we  wish  to 
hold  up ;  and  b}^  evil,  that  which  we  know  for  certain  to 
be  a  hindrance  to  the  attainment  of  our  exemplar.  Fur- 
thermore, we  shall  speak  of  men  as  being  more  or  less 
perfect  and  imperfect  in  the  degree  that  they  approach 
more  or  less  near  to  our  exemplar.  Lastly,  as  I  have  said, 
I  shall  understand  by  perfection,  reality  in  general,  in 
other  words,  the  essence  of  each  particular  thing  in  so  far 
as  it  exists  and  acts  in  certain  ways,  and  luithout  reference 
to  its  duration.  For  no  particular  thing  can  "be  said  to  be 
more  perfect  by  reason  of  its  continuing  a  longer  time  in 
existence  than  another. 

'•'  By  good  I  understand  that  which  we  know  for  certain 
to  be  useful  to  us. 

"  By  evil,  I  understand  that  which  we  know  for  certain 
to  be  a  hindrance  to  our  enjoying  something  good. 

"  A  passion  is  hurtful  only  in  so  far  as  it  prevents  the 
mind  from  thinking." 

We  can  sometimes  understand  a  philosopher's  ideas 
better  through  the  attacks  of  his  enemies  than  by  any 
elucidation  of  our  own,  and  the  following  dogmatic  de- 
crees of  the  Vatican  Council  in  1870,  directed  mainly 
against  the  doctrines  of  Spinoza,  together  with  the  teach- 
ings of  modern  science,  will  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  Panthe- 
ism which  has  dominated  modern  thought,  and  of  which 
the  church  is  in  fear  : 

"  Canon  I. — 3.     If  anyone  shall  say  that  the  substance 


70  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

and  essence  of  God,  and  of  all  things,  is  one  and  the  same, 
let  him  be  anathema. 

"4.  If  an3'-one  shall  say  that  finite  things,  both  corpo- 
real and  spiritual,  have  emanated  from  the  divine  sub- 
stance ;  or  that  the  divine  essence,  by  the  manifestation 
and  evolution  of  itself,  becomes  all  things  ;  or,  lastly,  that 
God  is  a  universal  or  indefinite  being,  which,  by  determin- 
ing itself,  constitutes  the  universality  of  things,  distinct 
according  to  general  species  and  individuals,  let  him  be 
anathema. 

"  5.  If  anyone  confess  not  that  the  world,  and  all  tilings 
wliich  are  contained  in  it,  both  spiritual  and  material,  have 
been  in  their  whole  substance  created  out  of  nothing  ;  or 
shall  say  that  God  created,  not  by  his  will  free  from  all 
necessity,  but  by  a  necessity  equal  to  the  necessity 
whereby  he  loves  himself ;  or  shall  deny  that  the  world 
was  made  for  the  glory  of  God,  let  him  be  anathema. 

"  Canon  IV. — 2.  If  anyone  shall  say  that  human  sciences 
are  to  be  so  freely  treated  that  their  assertions,  although 
opposed  to  revealed  religion,  are  to  be  held  as  true,  and 
cannot  be  condemned  by  the  church,  let  him  be 
anathema. 

"  3.  If  anyone  shall  assert  it  to  be  possible  that  some- 
times, according  to  the  progress  of  science,  a  sense  be 
given  to  doctrines  propounded  by  the  church  different 
from  that  which  the  church  has  understood  and  under- 
stands, let  him  be  anathema." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  "  God-intoxicated  "  phi- 
losopher is  as  much  under  the  maledictions  of  the  church 
as  the  modern  Agnostic  and  Atheist.  The  church  knows 
that  the  triumphant  Pantheism  of  Bruno  and  Spinoza 
would  sweep  its  towers  and  steeples  and  pulpits  forever 
from  existence. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

PoMPONAZzi,   Telesio,    Campanella,  and  Vanini. 

It  is  well,  iu  connection  with  Bruno  and  Spinozf^,  to 
consider  the  minor  philosophers  of  this  great  transition 
age  ;  those  who  represent  the  streams  of  human  thought 
which  finally  flow  into  the  ocean  expanse  of  Bruno  and 
Spinoza,  or  lind  fuller  fruition  in  the  supreme  pliilosopby 
of  Descartes ;  men  who  have  nobly  helped  the  human 
race  to  liberty  and  knowledge,  but  are  not  its  vast  repre- 
sentative geniuses.  We  can  better  understand  Bruno  and 
Spinoza  and  Descartes  when  we  understand  these  men, 
for  they  were  tlie  forerunners  and  aiders  of  these  princely 
leaders;  they  helped  to  blazon  tiie  way;  to  cut  the  patli 
of  human  progress  in  lonely  and  desolate  martyrdom  and 
self-sacrificing  toil.  They  labored  in  the  dawn,  but 
through  them  has  come  the  magnificence  of  the  present 
day.  Let  not  oblivion  close  over  them,  nor  let  the  curses 
of  the  church  hide  their  immortal  virtues.  Though  they 
reached  not  all  the  hights  of  human  glory,  they  flashed 
many  a  brilliant  ray.  They  were  pioneers  iu  a  tangled 
maze,  and  children  of  their  age  did  not  possess  the  skill 
and  wisdom  of  modern  times,  but  nevertheless  they  were 
in  the  van — Freethinkers  in  spirit,  though  not  always  in 
the  line  of  scientific  advance — hedged  in  by  limitations 
which  they  could  scarcely  pass  beyond,  since  they  were  men 
of  radiant  talent,  rather  than  of  transcendent  genius.  It 
is  not  simply  for  what  they  did,  but  for  what  they  tried 
to  do,  that  we  honor  their  memorv.     In  the  luster  of  to- 


72  FOUR    HUNDRED   YKARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

(lay  the  results  of  their  toil  pale  into  insignificance,  and 
yet  they  began  that  which  is  so  infinitely  beyond  their 
vision.     They  builded  better  than  they  knew. 

POMPONAZZI. 

Pomponazzi  is  the  philosopher  of  the  Italian  Renais- 
sance, a  movement  that  must  be  considered  as  both  philo- 
sophical and  literary.  It  was  not  simply  an  age  of  freer 
and  nobler  expression  of  man's  imaginative  being — it  was 
also  an  opening  into  new  vistas  of  thought.  It  was  not 
simpl}'  the  beginning  of  modern  poetry,  but  the  begin- 
ning of  modern  science  ;  and  to  understand  the  vastness 
of  that  movement  we  must  not  only  peruse  the  works  of 
Dante,  Petrarch,  Boccaccio,  Pulci,  and  Ariosto,  but  Mach- 
iavelli  in  politics,  Guicciardini  in  history,  and  Pompo- 
nazzi in  ])hilosophy. 

Pomponazzi  takes  us  l)ack  before  Columbus,  and,  by  a 
consiileration  of  his  fervid  and  active  life,  we  discover  the 
immense  agitations  of  that  age  of  which  Columbus  is  but 
the  fruit.  It  is  an  unworthy  conception  of  those  times  to 
regard  Columbus  as  an  exceptional  man ;  that  he  did 
what  he  did  by  the  force  of  an  extiaordiuary  genius. 
Columbus  dill  not  lift  himself  above  his  age.  His  aere 
pushed  liim  on,  and  if  Columbus  had  not  obeyed  the  im- 
pulse, somebodv  else  certainly  would.  The  discovery  of 
America  was  in  the  air,  for  the  mind  of  man  at  that  time 
and  anteriorly  was  intensely,  was  volcanically  active. 

The  discussions  of  Abelard  in  the  thirteenth  century 
were  tremendous  mind  awakeners.  They  were  like  the 
.surges  of  the  sea.  They  stirred  people  profoundly,  and  set 
tliom  to  thinking  in  new  channels.  What  vigor  and  ani- 
luation  is  there  displayed!  The  whole  scene  is  instinct 
with  full,  fresh,  and  free  intellectual  life.  Even  the  tur- 
bulence of  the  students  is  only  an  expression  of  mental 
excitation.  There  never  was  such  a  brilliant  school  of 
philosophy.     It  was  like  a  ])lay.     It  was  a  battle  royal 


GOETHE  (p.  333). 


POMPONAZZI,  TELESIO,  CAMPANELLA,  AND  VANINI.         73 

between  knights  armed  with  syllogisms  and  spears  of 
logic.  It  was  an  encounter  of  wit,  of  sarcasm ;  and  the 
spectators  cheered  to  the  echo.  A  certaiu  writer  says: 
"  Compare  such  a  scene  with  the  dull  routine  of  an  Eng- 
lish [or  Amei'icanj  university  lecture-room  in  our  own 
days,  and  who  would  not  prefer  the  life  and  freedom 
of  Paris  in  the  thirteeuth  century  to  the  staid  and  respecta- 
ble but  hopelessly  apathetic  proceedings  of  a  college  lec- 
ture of  our  own  day?  Moreover,  what  a  reflection  upon  our 
boasted  advance  in  liberty  and  civilization — the  remark,  I 
may  say,  does  not  apply  to  German  universities,  which  have 
never  given  up  their  prerogative  of  free  trade  in  teaching — 
that  if  a  modern  Abelard  or  Pomponazzi  were  to  appear 
in  one  of  our  great  seats  of  learning  he  could  not  find  a 
room  in  which  to  deliver  his  lectures." 

Pomponazzi  at  Padua,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  was 
the  successor  of  Abelard  as  a  great  philosophical  debater 
and  agitator,  and  one  who  dared  to  dispute  accepted 
authorities. 

Pomponazzi  was  born  in  1462  in  the  town  of  Mantua. 
He  was  a  student  of  philosophy  and  medicine  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Padua.  In  the  year  1487  he  took  his  degree. 
When  only  twenty-six  years  of  age  he  was  established  as 
extraordinary  professor  in  the  university — a  sufficient  tes- 
timony to  the  precocity  of  his  intellect.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom in  the  Italian  universities  at  that  time  to  have  public 
disputations  between  professors  holding  different  views, 
and  these  tournaments  excited  great  interest  among  the 
people.  They  were  popular  and  fashiouable  iu  spite  of 
ecclesiastical  frowns.  They  seem  to  have  been  connected 
with  the  municipal  rights  and  privileges  of  the  free  town, 
and  were  not,  and  perhaps  could  not  be,  legally  forbidden 
by  the  theological  inquisitor. 

To  understand  the  ferment,  the  curiosity,  the  interest 
of  the  populace  in  these  debates,  and  as  a  picture  of  tliat 
restless  age  in  which  Columbus  lived,  it  is  well  to  epitomize 


74  FOUR   HUNDRED   YKARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  vivid  description  of  one  of  these  scenes,  by  the  histo- 
rian : 

"We  may  imagine  ourselves  in  Padua  on  a  summer's 
day  of  the  year  1488,  time  8  a.m.  The  narrow  streets  of 
the  old  town  are  crowded  with  citizens  and  students,  who 
not  only  fill  the  arcades,  but,  to  a  considerable  extent,  the 
middle  of  the  roadways.  Among  the  students  are  to  be 
seen  men  of  various  ages,  from  the  beardless  youth  of  six- 
teen to  the  man  of  thirty-five  or  forty  years.  Hardly 
less  varied  are  their  nationalities.  Here  a  group  of  Eng- 
lislimen,  conspicuous  by  costume,  language,  and  physiog- 
nomy, is  followed  by  another  of  Frenchmen,  with  their 
national  dress  and  characteristics.  Spaniards  and  Ger- 
mans, Hungarians  and  Bohemians,  not  to  mention  natives 
of  smaller  European  states,  are  discernible  among  the 
crowd.  Occasionally  a  university  professor  passes  in 
broad-sleeved  gown  and  long  train.  All  seem  hastening  in 
the  same  direction.  Whither  are  they  going  ?  To  the  Pal- 
ace of  Reason  to  see  the  combat — a  discussion  between  the 
renowned  Achillini  and  young  Pompouazzi  on  the  profound 
and  interesting  question  of  the  simplicity  or  multiplicity  of 
the  intellect.  We  enter  with  the  crowd  into  the  great  hall, 
the  enormous  proportions  of  which  still  astonish  the  vis- 
itor to  Padua.  The  hall,  notwithstanding  its  size,  is 
crowded  with  students  and  citizens,  and  the  hubbub  is 
almost  deafening,  arising  mainly  from  vehement  and  volu- 
ble discussions  as  to  the  merits  of  the  two  professors, 
intermingled  with  somewhat  free  expression  of  opinion  on 
current  political  events.  Never  could  one  have  imagined 
that  among  such  a  crowd  an  interest  so  passionate  could 
have  been  evoked  by  questions  so  speculative  and  meta- 
physical The  commotion  is  subdued  by  the  entry  of  the 
rival  champions,  accompanied  by  the  rector  and  a  few  of 
the  ofl&cials  of  the  university.  This  is  the  signal  for  an 
outburst  of  vociferous  applause;  partisans  on  either  side 
clamorously  shout  the  name  of  their  favorite.     We  turn 


POMPONAZZr,  TELESIO,  CAMPANELLA.   AND  VANINI.  75 

our  attention  to  the  heroes  of  the  fray,  who  are  taking 
their  assigned  positions  in  the  center  of  the  hall.  Achil- 
lini  is  a  striking  looking  man  of  about  thirty  years  of  age. 
He  is  rather  tall,  and  stout  in  proportion,  though  a  student's 
stoop  of  the  shoulders  detracts  somewhat  from  his  hight. 
He  possesses  an  intellectual  countenance,  which  in  repose 
seems  placid  and  reflective,  with  large,  dreamy-looking 
eyes.  He  walks  to  his  desk  with  a  careless,  slouching 
gait.  His  professor's  gown  is  torn  in  several  places,  and 
is  remarkable  by  its  narrow  sleeves  and  general  scanty 
proportions.  Instead  of  forming  a  train  behind  him  it 
scarcely  reaches  below  his  knees — evidently  a  man  regard- 
less of  personal  appearance.  His  adversary,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  almost  a  dwarf,  with  a  powerful  looking  face,  a 
broad  forehead,  a  liooked  nose,  which  imparts  a  somewhat 
Jewish  cast  to  his  features  ;  small,  piercing  black  eyes, 
which,  as  lie  turns  here  and  there,  give  him  a  peculiar  ex- 
pression of  restless  vivacity.  His  thin  lips  are  almost 
continually  curled  into  a  satirical  smile.  He  has  scarce 
any  hair  on  his  face,  so  there  is  nothing  to  hide  its  sudden 
and  perpetual  change  of  expression. 

"  The  preparations  for  the  combat  are  characteristic  of 
the  men.  Achillini  has  on  the  desk  before  him  a  row  of 
ponderous  folios  which  an  assistant,  a  favorite  disciple,  is 
marshalling  in  due  order.  Pomponazzi  has  nothing  but  a 
few  papers  containing,  apparently,  references  and  notes. 
At  last  the  moment  arrives.  An  usher  proclaims  silence. 
The  rector  announces  the  subject  to  be  debated  and  the 
wordy  battle  begins.  Achillini  with  loud  and  rather  coarse 
voice,  but  with  great  deliberation  of  manner,  lays  down  in 
a  short  speech  the  proposition  he  intends  to  defend,  '  The 
intellect  is  simple,  uniform,  indecomposable.  This  clearly 
is  the  opinion  of  Aristotle  as  testified  by  Averroes,  his 
greatest  commentator.'  A  storm  of  applause  greets  the 
speaker,  but  still  greater  cheering  arises  when  Pompo- 
nazzi stands  forward  at  his  desk  and  throws  his  restless. 


7(5 
e 


FOUR   HLTNDRKD    YKARS   OF    FRFETHOUGIIT. 


af'er  glauce  over  the  noisy  crowd.  Iii  a  tone  of  voice  full, 
loud,  and  clear,  which  makes  itself  heard  in  every  part  of 
the  hall,  he  takes  exception  to  Achilliui's  argument.  The 
intellect  is  not  simple,  but  multiple,  and  this,  he  will 
prove,  is  Aristotle's  real  opinion,  etc. 

"Achillini  is  evidently  a  man  of  immense  erudition  and 
he  seeks  to  overwhelm  his  adversary  with  some  formida- 
ble and  crushing  dictum,  or  to  ensnare  him  in  the  meshes 
of  an  involved  and  insidious  argument.  He  is  utterly 
foiled  by  the  caution  and  vigilance  of  his  foe.  Pomponazzi 
is  too  wary  to  be  impaled  on  the  horns  of  a  dilemma,  or 
cauglit  in  a  dialectical  trap.  He  is  prompt  to  turn  the 
tables  on  his  powerful  but  somewhat  unwieldy  antagonist. 
Each  of  his  witty  sallies  or  comic  arguments  is  hailed 
with  boisterous  laughter  and  applause,  in  which  even 
Ach mini's  partisans  are  compelled  to  join.  It  is  an  un- 
equal combat,  like  that  between  a  whale  and  a  sword-fish, 
or  between  the  ponderous  Dominie  Sampson  and  the  face- 
tious Pleydell." 

These  literary  duels  of  the  century  of  Columbus  are 
significant  of  the  increasing  divergence  between  ancient 
and  modern  thought.  Achillini  tj^pifies  scholasticism — 
formal,  ponderous,  elaborate,  unelastic.  Pomponazzi 
represents  modern  thought — keen,  eager,  restless,  viva- 
cious, caring  little  for  the  traditional  authorities  and  much 
for  tlie  clear,  simple  dictates  of  unfettered  Iniman  reason. 
The  fact  that  such  a  debate  as  this  was  possible  is  a  nota- 
ble indication  of  the  sweep  of  thought  in  Italy  and 
throughout  the  world.  A  centurj'  later,  Bruno  engaged 
in  debates  of  the  same  nature,  and  proved  himself  a  for- 
midable antagonist. 

Pomponazzi  continued  his  professional  labors  until 
1509.  In  that  year,  owing  to  the  disasters  which  fol- 
lowed upon  the  League  of  Cambray  and  the  policy 
of  Pope  Julius  II.,  the  University  of  Padua  was  closed  and 
its   professors  and  students  scattered    throughout  Italv. 


POMPONAZZI,  TELESIO,  CAMPANELLA,  AND  VANINI.         77 

Pompouazzi  found  a  temporary  refuge  in  Ferrara.  From 
Ferrara,  in  1512,  he  moved  to  the  university  of  Bologna, 
which  was  destined  to  become  the  seat  of  his  greatest  lit- 
erary activity  as  well  as  his  abode  during  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  To  the  magistracy  of  Bologna  and  their  sym- 
pathy for  intellectual  liberty  and  progress  Pomponazzi 
was  indebted  for  much  kindness  and  support  during  the 
most  critical  period  of  his  life. 

In  1516  he  published  his  famous  treatise  on  the  "  Im- 
mortality of  the  Soul,"  the  foundation  both  of  his  charac- 
ter as  a  Freethinker  and  his  fame  as  a  philosopher. 

"  In  this  work,"  says  Fiorentino,  "  he  reveals  himself 
as  an  original  thinker." 

At  this  time  Aristotle  was  no  longer  outside  the  pale 
of  Christianity.  Tacitly  and  unofficially  he  had  been  re- 
ceived into  the  church.  His  works  had  been  authorita- 
tively reconciled  with  its  dogmas.  This  had  been  effected 
"by  Thomas  Aquinas  and  Albertus  Magnus,  the  most 
gigantic  intellects  among  the  schoolmen.  Doubts  about 
Aristotle,  therefore,  were  closely  akin  to  doubts  about  the 
Ohristian  dogmas.  Pomponazzi  dared  to  doubt  even 
Aristotle. 

The  question  of  Immortality  was  an  all-important 
question.  Rome  had  discovered  that  the  "  future  world  " 
was  the  most  valuable  appendage  pertaining  to  the 
church.  "  It  was,"  says  the  historian,  "  the  El  Dorado 
whence  it  was  enabled  to  draw  the  greater  portion  of  its 
enormous  revenues.  Immortality,  the  reward  or  rather 
the  necessary  outcome  of  virtue  and  goodness,  according 
to  Christianity,  had  become  a  marketable  commodity,  to 
be  sold  on  the  one  hand  and  bought  on  the  other,  on  as 
favorable  terms  as  buyer  or  seller  could  obtain.  The  re- 
wards of  the  unseen  world  were  treated  just  as  a  Euro- 
pean government  in  our  own  day  sells  farms  and  settle- 
ments in  a  distant  colony.  This  excessive  and  interested 
■"  other-worldliness"  required,  men    thought,  to    have  its 


78  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

foundations  closely  examined.  Hence  arose  numberless 
inquiries  as  to  the  nature  of  the  soul,  its  relation  to  the 
physical  organization,  what  reasonable  grounds  existed 
for  predicating  its  immortality,  etc.  For  some  time  this 
formed  the  main  topic  of  lectures  in  all  the  Italian  univer- 
sities. We  are  told  that  whenever  a  new  professor  at  any 
of  these  seats  of  learning  prepared  to  address  his  hearers 
for  the  first  time,  no  matter  what  the  topic  which  he  had 
appointed  for  the  purpose,  he  was  met  by  the  clamorous 
demand,  'Tell  us  about  the  soul.'  On  minds  so  excited 
the  treatise  of  Pomponazzi  operated  like  a  spark  on  a  pre- 
pared train." 

Pomponazzi  takes  the  ground,  almost,  of  pure  Material- 
ism. The  dependence  of  the  intellect  upon  matter  was 
necessary,  according  to  his  philosophy,  for  four  principal 
reasons. 

1.  Because  matter  undetermined  and  regarded  as  a 
potentiality  is  the  genetic  principle  of  all  forms. 

2.  Because  matter  defined  and  determined  as  an  organic 
body  is  the  sine  qtia  non  of  the  existence  of  the  soul,  as  its 
true  form. 

3.  Because  there  is  no  plurality  of  substantial  forms  in 
man,  but  a  unity  of  form  and  nature. 

4.  Because  the  necessity  of  considering  the  universal 
in  tlie  particular,  the  idea  in  the  imagined  picture,  the  in- 
telligible in  the  sensible,  proves  that  the  functions  of  the 
intellect,  in  tliemselves  spiritual,  cannot  be  exercised  with- 
out the  organization. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  argument  amounts  to  a  denial  of 
immortality  as  held  by  the  Christian  church,  that  is,  it  is 
a  denial  of  natural  immortality.  Pomponazzi,  however, 
admits  a  possible  immortality,  dependent,  not  upon  man's 
nature,  but  upon  circumstances.  He  opposes  the  Panthe- 
ism of  Averroes,  but  at  the  same  time  declares  his  belief 
in  a  divine  or  abstract  intelligence,  which  has  no  need  of 
organism  or  matter  of  any  kind.     In  the  human  soul  there 


SHELLEY  (p.  314). 


POMPONAZZI,  TELESIO,  CAMPANELLA.  AND  VANINI.         79 

is  something  of  this  abstract  intelligence,  and  therefore, 
while  the  soul  is  inherently  mortal,  by  peculiarity  of  func- 
tion or  circumstances,  it  might  be  immortal,  for  instance, 
by  the  miraculous  resurrection  of  Jesus.  The  doctrine 
of  Pomponazzi  is  somewhat  akin  to  that  of  the  modern 
Adventist ;  man  is  not  b}'  nature  immortal,  but  he  may  be- 
come immortal  by  an  act  of  faith. 

On  grounds  of  ps3^cliology  Pomponazzi  absolutely 
denies  immortality,  which,  of  course,  was  a  bold  and  dar- 
ing affirmation,  for  the  power  of  the  church  is  based  on 
the  natural  immortality  of  man,  not  on  his  accidental  im- 
mortality. The  doctrine  of  Pomponazzi  abolished  at  once 
hell  and  purgator}^  and  left  only  a  possible  paradise  for 
an  indefinite  few. 

As  the  result  of  his  Materialistic  philosoph}',  Pompo- 
nazzi is  the  first  writer  within  the  pale  of  the  church  who 
maintains  the  principle  of  disinterested  and  unconditional 
morality,  and  in  this  lies  the  radical  value  of  his  work. 
In  this  he  is  a  true  Freethinker.  He  says:  "  The  essential 
reward  of  virtue  is  virtue  itself ;  the  punishment  of  the 
vicious  is  vice,  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  wretched 
and  unhappy.  Whether  the  soul  be  mortal  or  immortal, 
death  must  be  despised ;  and  by  no  means  must  virtue  be 
departed  from,  no  matter  what  happens  after  death." 

Pomponazzi  faced  the  portentous  fact  that  the  doc- 
trine of  immortality  had  not  been  a  moral  power  in  the 
world — that  the  future  rewards  and  punishments  of  the 
church  had  become  utterly  ineffectual  as  preservatives  of, 
or  stimulants  to,  morality  among  its  chief  ministers,  as 
well  as  in  the  very  citadel  of  Christendom  itself.  In  1520 
he  published  a  noteworthy  treatise  on  "The  Causes  of 
Marvelous  Effects  in  Nature."  He  takes  essentially  the 
position  of  Hume.  "  It  would  be  ridiculous  and  absurd," 
he  says,  "to  despise  what  is  visible  and  natural,  in  order 
to  have  recourse  to  an  invisible  cause,  the  reality  of  which 
is  not  guaranteed  to  us  by  any  solid  reality."     He  asserts 


80  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  supremacy  of  reasou.  One  cannot  will  his  belief,  and 
faith  therefore  is  not  a  moral  act.  "  Given  the  premises, 
the  consequence  follows,  and  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  dis- 
sent from  the  conclusion.  We  may  do  without  reasoning 
alto^i^ether  ;  but  we  cannot  grant  the  antecedent  and  deny 
the  consequent." 

He  also  asserts  the  doctrine  of  Human  Liberty.  He 
makes  it  the  absolute  source  and  condition  of  all  moral- 
ity. 

Pomponazzi  was  thoroughly  sincere.  He  grappled 
with  the  problems  of  the  universe  with  a  zeal  which  was 
almost  appalling.  Speaking  of  his  attempts  to  reconcile 
God  with  human  liberty,  and  the  evils  of  the  world,  he 
cries  out,  "  These  are  the  things  which  oppress  and  em- 
barrass me,  which  take  away  my  sleep  and  almost  my 
senses ;  so  that  I  am  a  true  illustration  of  the  fable  of 
Prometheus,  whom,  for  trying  to  steal  secretly  the  fire 
from  heaven,  Jupiter  bound  to  a  Scythian  rock,  and  his 
heart  became  food  for  a  vulture  which  gnawed  continually 
upon  it.  Prometheus  is  the  true  philosopher  who,  because 
he  will  know  the  secrets  of  God,  is  devoured  by  perpet- 
ual cares  and  cogitations.  He  is  incapacitated  from  thirst, 
hunger,  sleep,  or  from  satisfying  the  most  ordinary  needs 
of  human  life ;  he  is  derided  by  all,  is  regarded  as  a  fool 
and  heretic  ;  he  is  persecuted  by  inquisitors  ;  he  becomes 
the  laughing-stock  to  the  multitude.  These,  forsooth,  are 
the  gains  of  the  philosophers.     This  is  their  wages." 

Pomponazzi's  place  in  the  Italian  Renaissance,  says 
Owen,  "  is  as  an  exponent  of  its  profounder  and  more 
deeply-seated  forces.  He  represents  the  craving  of  the 
human  mind  for  freedom.  This  is  the  phase  of  the  Re- 
naissance which  gives  it  its  permanent  value,  and  which 
constitutes  the  main  ground  of  its  kinship  with  modern 
thought.  In  this  respect  there  is  a  considerable  differ- 
ence between  Petrarch  and  Pomponazzi.  Petrarch  may 
be  said  to  include  every  phase  of  the  Renaissance,  not  only 


POMPONAZZr,  TELESIO,  CAMPANELLA,  AND  YANINI.         gl 

its  free  tendencies  as  a  new  effort  of  thought,  but  its  high- 
est expression  as  a  yearning  after  ideal  beauty.  But  we 
should  not  refuse  to  Pomponazzi  his  due  share  in  the  sum 
total  of  those  forces  which  make  up  the  composite  whole 
which  we  call  tlie  Renaissance." 

While  Pomponazzi  was  peacefully  lecturing  at  Padua, 
Florence  was  under  the  vehement  spell  of  Savonarola. 
Luther  had  already  commeDced  his  campaign  against  the 
papacy.  Rumors  and  portents  of  imminent  convulsions 
were  everywhere  prevalent.  These  nascent  forces,  des- 
tined to  change  the  face  of  Europe,  seemed  to  pass  un- 
heeded by  Pomponazzi.  "  His  wdiole  existence,"  says  M. 
Frank,  ''  was  taken  up  by  his  books,  his  teaching,  and  his 
studious  contemplation,  so  that  one  might  say  of  him,  as 
of  Spiuoza,  '  he  was  less  a  man  than  a  thought.'  He  died 
on  the  18th  of  May,  1525." 

Professor  Fiorentino  draws  a  noble  parallel,  and  thus 
describes  the  last  hours  of  the  philosopher  :  "  Socrates, 
on  the  approach  of  death — a  martyr  for  the  truth — did 
not  flee  from  his  fate.  He  did  not  wish  to  escape  from 
the  prison  in  which  he  was  confined.  Undisturbed,  and 
in  all  serenity,  he  fixed  his  attention  on  Future  Life.  A 
most  beautiful  woman  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  and 
appointed  him  a  place  in  one  of  the  fortunate  islands. 
*  Three  days  hence,  Socrates,'  she  said  to  him,  '  you  will 
arrive  at  fertile  Phthia.'  Hence  Socrates  resisted  all  the 
entreaties  of  Krito,  and  contemplated  with  firmness  the 
poisonous  draught,  and  even  death  itself ;  and  he  talked 
with  Phsedo,  with  Cebes,  and  with  Simmias,  as  with  men 
from  whom  he  would  be  parted  only  a  short  time,  and 
with  whom  there  would  afterwards  be  a  common  meeting 
in  a  place  more  beautiful  and  serene.  The  aureole  of 
martyrdom,  the  anticipation  of  a  blissful  futurity,  soothed 
the  bitterness  of  parting,  and  gave  the  dying  Socrates  a 
foretaste  of  the  felicity  which  he  expected — the  reward  re- 
served for  his  constant  virtue. 


i4-e"T'5?> 


82  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

"  Let  us  now  look  at  another  picture.  Pomponazzi,  worn 
out  by  years,  harassed  by  sickness,  extended  on  the  bed 
of  pain,  without  the  splendor  of  martyrdom,  fought  out 
the  battle  with  his  enemy  unseen,  tardy,  irresistible.  Un- 
sustained  by  the  hope  of  the  future,  he  placed  before  him 
only  austere  virtue,  without  reward  and  without  hope,  as 
the  true  and  final  end  of  the  human  race.  Out  of  sympa- 
thy with  the  beliefs  of  his  relifijion,  and  with  the  traditions 
of  so  many  centuries;  mocked  by  contemporaries  and  in 
danger  of  the  stake,  he  had  no  future  blessedness  to 
which  to  turn.  He  was  not  cheered  b}'  the  smile  of  the 
beahtiful  woman  who  invited  Socrates  to  Phthia.  He 
was  soothed  neither  by  Homeric  fantasies  nor  by  the  more 
spi  ritual,  but  not  less  interested,  promises  of  the  Chris- 
tian Paradise  ;  and  notwithstanding  all  this  he  was  not 
disturbed  by  his  imminent  death.  It  behooved  him,  he 
said,  to  prefer  duty  to  life.  He  sacrificed  everything, 
affections,  pleasure,  knowledge,  and  the  future,  to  rigid 
virtue."  Was  not  this  a  magnanimous  and  sublime  intel- 
lect ? 

It  may  be  wondered  why  so  bold  and  radical  a  thinker 
escaped  the  Inquisition.  He  did  so  mainly  by  that  intel- 
lectual maneuver  termed  "  the  double  truth,"  or  "  twofold 
truth."  This,  at  that  time,  was,  perhaps,  the  only  method 
of  escape  for  the  philosophers  who  dared  to  differ  from 
the  Christian  dogmas.  It  was  quite  a  popular  method 
with  those  who  wanted  to  think,  and  yet  keep  their  heads 
upon  their  shoulders,  and  it  is  quite  popular  to-day  with 
those  who  desire  to  hold  Liberal  opinions  and,  at  the 
same  time,  enjoy  fat  salaries  in  the  pulpit.  It  was  a  sort 
of  necessary  makeshift  for  Pomponazzi,  Bruno,  Galileo, 
and  others,  but  to-day  it  is  simply  moral  cowardice. 

The  doctrine  of  the  "  twofold  truth  "  is  that  there  are 
two  ways  of  finding  the  truth — faith  and  reason — emotion 
and  intellect — theology  and  philosophy.  These  two  ways 
ma}',  at  times,  clash,  they  may  even  be  contradictory,  but 


POMPONAZZI,  TELESIO.  CAMPANELLA,  AND  YANINI.         §3 

nevertheless  both  are  true.  It  is  not  in  the  province  of 
the  human  mind  to  reconcile  them,  because  of  the  little- 
ness of  human  knowledge,  but  it  is  assumed  that  if  hu- 
man knowledge  was  sufficiently  great  it  could  reconcile 
them  however  opposite  they  might  seem  to  be.  Under 
this  assumption  one,  as  a  theologian,  might  believe  what, 
as  a  philosopher,  he  would  be  compelled  to  deny.  So 
Pomponazzi  said,"  I  do  not  deny  immortality  as  a  Chris- 
tian, I  only  deny  as  a  philosopher.  What  I  think  as  a 
philosopher  has  nothing  to  do  with  m}'  faith  as  a  theolo- 
gian. Theology  and  philosophy  occupy  two  differeut 
spheres,  they  are  different  worlds  to  the  human  conscious- 
ness. They  may  agree  or  disagree.  That  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  truth  or  falsity  of  either.  Philosophy  is 
veritable  on  its  own  grounds,  and  so  is  theology  on  its 
grounds,  and  the  conflict  between  them  need  not  disturb 
one.  There  is  no  necessity  for  harmony,  since  truth  is  so 
infinite  that  both  may  be  equally  right." 

As  a  Christian  Pomponazzi  professed  to  accept  the 
miracles  of  Jesus,  which  as  a  philosopher  he  was  com- 
pelled to  reject.  By  this  distinction  between  what  one 
believes  as  a  Christian  and  knows  as  a  philosopher,  many 
a  radical  thinker  has  escaped  martyrdom. 

Let  us  not  condemn  Pomponazzi  for  intellectual  dis- 
honesty, for  Galileo,  Bruno,  ainl  Vanini  availed  themselves 
of  the  same  distinction.  Kant  and  Lessing  also,  John 
Stuart  Mill,  even,  declared  that,  in  another  part  of  the 
univeise,  two  and  two  might  not  make  four,  and  thus  al- 
lows the  foundation  principle  of  the  "  twofold  truth," 
namely,  that  we  really  don't  know  anything,  and  there- 
fore theology  may  be  just  as  true  as  philosophy.  Mansel, 
in  his  Bampton  lectures  before  a  modern  audience, 
affirmed  that  God's  morality  might  be  different  from  men's 
moi'ality,  and  so  our  highest  conceptions  of  virtue  might 
not  apply  to  God  at  all ;  and  Faraday  said,  "  I  do  not 
think  it  at  all  necessary  to  tie  the  study  of  the   natural 


84  FOUR   llUiSIDRKl)    YKARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

sciences  and  religion  together  ;  and  so  in  my  intercourse 
with  my  fellow  creatures  that  which  is  religion,  and  that 
which  is  philosophy,  have  ever  been  two  distinct  things." 
Of  course,  Free  thought  and  science  absolutely  repu- 
diate "  twofold  truth."  Truth  is  one,  man  is  one,  and 
there  is  only  one  way  to  find  out  the  truth,  only  one  way 
to  reach  knowledge,  and  that  is  the  scientific  way.  Faith, 
emotion,  revelation,  dogma  have  never  given  this  world 
one  particle  of  truth.  We  may  forgive  Pomponazzi, 
Bruno,  Galileo,  for  resorting  to  this  intellectual  legerde- 
main, for  they  were  compelled  to  by  the  fierce  fanaticism 
of  their  time,  and  even  these  men,  when  the  real  issue 
came,  abandoned  the  subterfuge,  and  stood  before  the 
world  simply  as  philosophers,  and  suffered  martyrdom. 
But  I  can  scarcely,  in  this  century,  forgive  a  thinker  who 
resorts  to  the  "  twofold  truth  "  to  save  his  salary  or  his 
popularity,  or  for  the  sake  of  mental  ease.  What  a  shame 
for  Faraday  to  make  sucli  a  declaration  as  he  did !  It  is 
like  the  cowardice  of  a  soldier  in  the  front  of  battle. 

Telesio. 

During  the  life-time  of  Pomponazzi,  Telesio  was  born 
(1509),  and  while  we  might  say  the  former  was  the  fore- 
runner of  Descartes,  the  latter  was  the  forerunner  of  Ba- 
con. He  was  hostile  to  both  Plato  and  Aristotle,  or  rather 
to  these  as  accepted  by  the  schoolmen.  He  insisted  upon 
uatui-e  rather  than  dialectics,  upon  observation,  experi- 
ment, induction. 

He  said,  "The  construction  of  the  world,  and  the  mag- 
nitude and  nature  of  the  bodies  in  it,  is  not  to  be  sought 
after  by  reasoning  as  men  in  former  times  have  done  ;  but 
to  be  perceived  by  sense,  and  to  be  ascertained  from  the 
things  themselves.  We  use  our  sense  to  follow  nature, 
which  is  ever  at  harmony  with  herself,  and  is  ever  the 
same  in  her  operations." 

Telesio  was  mainly  a  natural  philosopher  and  Freer 


MARY  WOLLSIOXECRAFT  (p.  486). 


POMPONAZZI,  TELESIO,  CAMPANELLA,  AND  VANINI.         85 

thinker.  He  was  opposed  to  dogmatic  authority.  He  in- 
curred the  hatred  of  the  monks  and  theologians.  He 
died  in  1596.  His  works  were  pLiced  on  the  Index  Ex- 
purgatorius,  an  honor  of  whicli  he  is  well  deserving.  He 
gave  noble  hints  of  modern  science. 

Campanella. 

Campanella  was  born  in  1568,  at  Stilo,  in  Calabria.  In 
his  fifteenth  year  he  entered  the  order  of  Dominicans. 
He  soon  became  desirous,  not  only  of  reading  Aristotle, 
but  the  book  of  nature.  An  accident  drew  his  attention 
to  the  works  of  Telesio.  He  was  delighted  with  its  free- 
dom of  speech  and  appeal  to  reason  and  experience, 
rather  than  authority.  His  first  efibrt  was  a  defense  of 
Telesio  in  1591.  The  boldness  of  his  attacks  brought 
him  into  disfavor  with  the  clergy.  He  left  Naples  and 
proceeded  to  Rome.  For  seven  years  he  led  a  wandering 
life  through  Padua,  Bologna,  Venice,  and  other  towns, 
everywhere  attracting  attention  by  the  brilliancy  of  his 
talents.  He  returned  to  his  native  place  in  1598.  In  tbe 
following  year  he  was  arrested  and  committed  to  priscMi. 
He  had  joined  himself  to  those  who  desired  to  free  Na- 
ples from  Spanish  tyranny,  and  had  excited  them  by  his 
fiery  eloquence  and  independence  of  spirit.  The  unfort- 
unate philosopher  remained  in  captivity  for  twenty-seven 
years.  He  composed  sonnets,  and  prepared  a  complete 
system  of  philosophy  which  was  published  at  a  later  date. 
In  1626  he  was  set  at  liberty.  He  came  to  Paris  in  1634. 
He  died  on  May  26,  1639. 

The  philosophy  of  Campanella  was  Cartesian  and  Ba- 
conian. He  says,  "  Our  knowledge  begins  in  doubt.  We 
know  neither  the  past  nor  the  future.  The  first  proposi- 
tion is,  that  I  myself  think ;  the  certainty  of  self- 
consciousness  is  the  primary  truth. 

"  The  sciences  are  not  to  be  constructed  from  defini- 
tions by  deduction,  but  proceed  by  induction  to  definition." 


86  i'OUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

His  view  of  God  is  somewhat  like  that  of  Bruno,  Pan- 
theistic. "  God,"  he  says,  "is  the  ultimate  unit;  his  three 
manifestations  may  be  called  wisdom,  power,  and  love. 
All  things  are  of  the  same  nature  ;  otherwise  there  could 
be  no  mutual  action.  The  soul  of  man  is  in  nature  cor- 
poreal, but  IS  immortal,  being  endowed  with  a  striving 
after  happiness  never  attained  in  this  life. 

In  politics  Campanella  was  an  extreme  reformer.  In 
his  work,  "  The  City  of  the  Sun,"  he  sketches  an  ideal 
state  in  which  the  principles  of  communism  are  fully  car- 
ried out. 

Campanella  was  a  brave,  restless,  indomitable,  and  truth- 
seeking  spirit — a  lover  of  humanity,  a  defender  of  liberty, 
a  student  of  nature,  an  honest  man,  a  brilliant  thinker,  and 
an  original  philosopher. 

Vanini. 

Vanini  has  won  imperishable  renown  by  his  pathetic 
martyrdom  at  thirty-four  years  of  age,  and  though  he 
does  not  soar  to  the  loftiest  hights  of  the  empyrean  with 
Bruno,  he  was  one  of  the  most  fascinating,  learned,  elo- 
quent, and  gifted  men  of  his  time,  and  worthy  of  all 
honor  for  his  splendid  life  and  heroic  death. 

Vanini  was  born  at  Taurisano,  in  the  south-east  ex- 
tremity of  Italy,  in  1585.  He  early  manifested  an  extra- 
ordinary aptitude  for  study  and  investigation,  which  in- 
duced his  father,  on  the  completion  of  his  elementary 
education,  to  send  him  to  Naples  to  study  theology  and 
philosophy.  Vanini  attributes  to  the  writings  of  Bacon- 
thorp  and  Pompouazzi  a  principal  share  in  the  formation 
of  his  intellectual  conclusions.  He  continued  his  studies 
until  he  graduated  as  doctor  in  1606,  when  he  was  only 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  At  some  time  or  other  he  took 
the  vows  of  a  Carmelite  friar ;  and  in  one  place  he  de- 
scribes himself  as  preaching,  as  well  as  having  taken 
priestly  orders.     He  went   from   Naples   to  Padua.     His 


POMPONAZZr,  TELESIO,  CAMPANELLA,  AND  VANINI.         87 

passionate  ardor  for  study,  he  says,  rendered  the  priva- 
tions of  poverty,  and  even  the  inclemency  of  winter,  com- 
paratively unfelt.  He  devoted  himself  mainly  to  physical 
science  and  philosophy,  and  regarded  the  methods  and 
teachings  of  the  schoolmen  with  supreme  contempt.  From 
1606  to  1615,  when  he  published  his  llrst  work,  we  have 
only  incidental  and  scattered  allusions  as  to  the  mode  in 
which  he  passed  his  time.  Conforming,  like  Bruno,  to 
the  custom  of  errant-scholarsbip  which  then  prevailed,  he 
wandered  from  one  country  to  another,  taking  up  his 
abode,  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period,  in  most  of  the  cap- 
itals and  university  towns  of  Europe.  He  spent  two  years 
in-  England,  and  suffered  imprisonment  for  the  space  of 
nearly  two  months. 

In  1615,  at  Lyons,  he  published  the  Amj^lutlieater ;  in 
1616  was  issued  the  Dialogues,  after  which  he  took  his  ill- 
fated  journey  to  Toulouse.  These  are  the  only  works  of 
his  now  extant,  out  of  many  others.  He  was  a  very  in- 
dustrious writer;  but  his  books,  most  of  them,  were  ut- 
terly destroyed  by  order  of  the  church. 

Vanini  was  not  an  Atheist,  although  he  was  condemned 
as  one.  His  first  Avork  closes  with  the  following  ode  of 
praise  and  aspiration.  He  addresses  the  Supreme  Being, 
as  Bruno  would  : 

"  Of  all  existing  things  Thou  art  both  source  and  ending ; 

Of  Thyself  art  fountain,  origin,  commencement ; 

Of  Thyself  as  well  art  end  and  termination  ; 

Yet  equally  without  both  ending  and  beginning." 

It  is  by  tlie  JDiaJogiies,  however,  that  Vanini  ^is  judged 
by  posterity,  and  hi.^  real  position  as  a  pliilosopher  ascer- 
tained, but  it  is  pretty  difficult,  even  in  these  Dialogues,  to 
discover  the  actual  opinions  of  the  philosopher.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  Dialogues  were  not  written  by  Vanini 
himself,  but  by  his  disciples.     They  are  a  collection   of 


38  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

discursive  conversations  embodying  the  master's  opin- 
ions on  those  points  of  physical  knowledge  on  which 
his  disciples  asked  for  information.  They  were,  prob- 
ably, written  down  from  memory.  Vanini  gave  his  sanc- 
tion to  the  transaction,  as  the  anthors  hoped  he  would, 
and  thus  approved  the  essential  correctness  of  the  record. 
In  this  book  we  have  Vanini's  most  secret  thoughts — 
what  he  poured  forth  to  a  few  chosen  disciples — but  there 
is  no  systematic  declai'atioa  of  his  pliilosophy,  and  only 
those  fully  cognizant  of  his  general  line  of  thought  could 
clearly  understand  his  discourse. 

While  in  his  first  work  Vanini  is  a  theologian,  in  the 
second  and  far  greater  work  he  is  a  student  of  medicine 
and  of  natural  philosophy.  He  treats  as  of  secondary 
importance  all  tliose  questions  which  pertain  to  ecclesi- 
astical dogmas.  His  aim  is  to  unravel,  a«  far  as  he  can, 
the  secrets  of  nature.  He  treats  of  the  firmament  and 
the  atmosphere  ;  of  water  and  earth  ;  of  the  generation  of 
animals ;  and  of  the  religion  of  the  Gentiles.  Vanini's 
idea  seemed  to  be  as  expressed  in  Bacon's  words,  "What- 
ever deserved  to  exist,  deserved  to  be  known,"  and  some 
parts  of  his  Diahx/nes  to-day  would  be  regarded  as  too 
obscene  for  publication  ;  but  Vanini,  Telesio,  and  physi- 
cists of  that  age,  thought  it  not  only  right,  but  useful,  to 
explore  every  department  of  nature.  Vaumi  was  one 
whose  eager  curiosity  and  passionate  love  of  liberty  made 
almost  every  kind  of  restraint  intolerable.  God  and  nat- 
ure only  excepted,  he  acknowledged  himself  as  subject  to 
no  law.  As  to  Christianity,  he  avoids  the  issue  by  avow- 
ing what  doctrines  and  opinions  lie  would  maintain  if  he 
were  not  a  Christian,  that  is,  he  resorts  to  the  "  twofold 
truth"  of  Pomponazzi.  Still  there  was  in  Vanini  an  in- 
dependence of  character  which  made  lum  regardli^ss  of 
popular  opinion.  The  calmness  with  which  he  met  his 
fate  shows  that  he  was  not  destitute  of  the  solid  qualities 
of  intellectual   manhood.     He   had  no  sciuple    in   contra- 


POMPONAZZT,  TELESIO,  CAMPAXELLA,  AND  VANINI.  S9 

dieting  the  authorities  of  the  past,  even  Aristotle  himself, 
when  his  dictum  appeared  opposed  to  reason  and  experi- 
ence. 

In  Vanini,  as  in  Bruno,  there  was  a  genuine  love  of 
nature,  of  natural  sights  and  sounds  and  scenery.  It  is  a 
pure,  spontaneous  enjoyment.  There  is  the  freshness  of 
the  summer's  morning,  the  music  of  the  birds,  the  per- 
fume of  the  roses ;  the  fruit  trees  in  the  orchard,  where 
master  and  pupil  walk  together,  and  groves  and  gardens 
overlooking  the  terraced  streets  of  the  town  ;  while  at  the 
foot  of  the  declivity,  and  as  far  beyond  as  the  eye  can 
reach,  roll  the  blue  waves  of  the  Mediterranean. 

In  1617  Vanini  went  to  Toulouse,  whei'e  he  enjoyed  an 
undisturbed  existence  for  two  years.  ToAvard  the  end  of 
1618  the  storm  began  to  gather  about  his  path,  which,  in 
the  following  year,  finally  overwhelmed  him  in  its  mad 
fury.  He  was  apprehended  on  the  2d  of  August,  1618, 
and  suffered  on  the  9tli  of  February  the  following  year. 
The  process  against  him  lasted  six  months.  There  are 
no  details  of  the  transaction.  The  chief  evidence  against 
him  was  oral.  The  Dialogues  were  not  put  in  evidence 
against  him,  except  that  in  them  he  had  impiously  dared 
to  style  nature  as  the  Queen  of  the  Universe. 

The  historian  gives  the  following  picture  of  his  trial : 

"  The  prisoner  is  brought  in  manacled  and  guarded  by 
jailers.  Vanini  advances  slowly  to  the  bar.  He  is,  in  all 
respects,  a  striking  looking  man  ;  tall,  rather  thin,  with  a 
student  stoop  of  the  shoulders,  a  face  of  unusual  intelli- 
gence, of  which  the  most  noticeable  features  are  a  long, 
slightly  curved  nose,  and  large,  brilliant  eyes,  which  he 
flashes  around  him  with  pretty  much  the  expression  of  a 
caged  lion.  He  has  auburn  hair,  and  the  olive  tint  of  his 
skin  betrays  his  Spanish  ancestry.  Altogether  a  model  of 
restless,  vivacious  intelligence,  as  his  judges  are  of 
dogged,  immobile  stolidity. 

"  Vanini   is  questioned  as  to  his  belief  in  God.     In  re- 


90  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREBTHOUGHT. 

ply  lie  picks  up  a  piece  of  straw  from  the  ground  near 
him,  and  exclaims, '  This  straw  compels  me  to  believe  there 
is  a  God.  Corn  cast  into  the  soil  seems,  at  first,  to  lan- 
guish and  die.  Presently,  as  if  from  corruption,  it  begins 
to  whiten,  then  it  becomes  green  and  starts  from  the 
ground,  it  grows  visibly,  it  is  nourished  with  the  morning 
dew,  it  is  strengthened  by  the  rain  which  it  receives,  it 
arms  itself  with  pointed  spicule  to  keep  away  the  birds, 
it  grows  in  the  form  of  a  stalk,  and  puts  forth  leaves  ; 
presently  it  becomes  yellow,  droops  its  head,  languishes, 
and  dies.  We  thresh  it,  and,  the  grain  being  separated 
from  tlje  straw,  the  former  serves  for  the  nourishment  of 
man,  the  latter  for  the  nourishment  of  animals  created  for 
the  use  of  man.'  " 

Before  these  gloomy  judges  thus  spoke  a  thinker  of  a 
new  type — the  augury  of  a  future  whose  dawn  was  just 
becoming  discernible  on  the  horizon — a  man  who  studied 
nature.  Clearly  the  interval  between  the  judges  on  the 
bench,  and  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  though  locally  meas- 
urable by  a  few  yards,  was,  in  point  of  time,  to  be  meted 
only  by  centuries. 

Vanini  was  condemned  to  die  on  the  9th  of  February, 
1619,  and  the  sentence  was  carried  into  execution  the  same 
day.  'Nothing,"  says  Cousin,  "could  save  him;  neither 
his  youth,  nor  his  learning,  nor  his  eloquence." 

This  unfortunate  martyr  to  philosophy  and  Free- 
thought  was  drawn  on  a  hurdle  through  the  streets  of 
Toulouse.  His  behavior,  like  that  of  Bruno,  was  marked 
by  the  utmost  fortitude.  On  coming  forth  from  prison 
he  exclaimed,  "  Let  us  go  joyfully  to  die  as  becomes  a 
philosopher."  Vanini  is  bound  securely  to  the  stake.  The 
executioner  then  requests  him  to  put  forth  his  tongue  in 
order  that  the  sentence  of  its  amputation  might  be  car- 
ried out.  Vanini  refuses ;  not,  perhaps,  that  his  human 
feeling  shrank  from  the  torture,  though  this  surely  would 
be  only  natural,  but  he  would  not  by  any  act  of  his  sane- 


HARRIET    MARTINEAU  (p.  487). 


POMPONAZZr,  TELKSIO.  CAMPANKLLA,    AXD   VANINI  91 

tion  the  iniquitous  proceedings  of  which  he  was  made  a 
victim.  Alas !  his  refusal  avails  not.  His  mouth  is  for- 
cibly wrenched  open,  the  shrinking  tongue  is  seized  witli 
iron  pincers  and  drawn  so  far  forward  that  the  execution- 
er's knife  can  do  its  work.  The  stream  of  blood  which 
followed  the  brutal  operation  was  accompanied  by  a  loud 
and  violent  shriek  of  pain.  After  this  the  poor  martyr  to 
Freethought  had  not  long  to  live.  When  he  was  dead  by 
strangling,  his  body  was  consumed  to  ashes  by  the  fire 
prepared  for  the  purpose  at  the  stake. 

"O  tyranny,  at  once  both  odious  and  impotent!"  cries 
Cousin.  "  Do  you  think  that  it  is  with  pincers  you  can 
tear  the  human  mind  from  error.  And  do  you  not  see 
that  the  flames  which  you  set  blazing  by  exciting  the  hor- 
ror of  all  generous  minds  protect  and  propagate  the  doc- 
trines you  persecute  ?" 

Thus  perished  Vanini  in  the  prime  of  youth  and  manly 
beauty,  under  circumstances  of  treachery  and  barbarity 
not  easy  to  be  paralleled.  His  enemies,  who  scattered  his 
ashes  to  the  wind,  did  their  utmost  to  exterminate  his 
writings,  with  such  success  that  his  works  have  now  be- 
come exceedingly  rare. 

Says  Owen:  "The  spirit  of  Freethought  of  Bruno  and 
Vanini  rose  like  a  phoenix  from  the  embers  of  the  murder- 
ous stake-fires.  Yanini  was  one  of  the  last  instances  in 
modern  Europe  of  a  thinker  of  some  note  being  put  to 
death  for  free  philosophical  speculation.  The  sun  of 
science  was  already  above  the  horizon.  While  his  dis- 
figured and  mangled  corpse  was  being  consumed  at  Tou- 
louse, Bacon,  in  a  freer  atmosphere,  had  completed  a  new 
system  of  philosophy  and  natural  inquiry,  much  of  which 
coincides  in  form  and  substance  with  Vanini's  Dialogues. 
Galileo  had  set  on  foot  a  method  of  direct  observation 
and  experiment  still  more  irreconcilable  with  the  claims 
of  ecclesiasticism,  and  Descartes  was  preparing  the  way 
for   the    skeptical    philosophy   which    was   destined,   with 


92  FOr'R  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

that  of  Bacon  and  others,  to  revolutionize  the  thought  of 
Europe.  Henceforth  mental  freedom  of  every  kind  be- 
gan to  flourish  and  increase. 

"  The  memory  of  Vanini,  like  that  of  Bruno,  is  now 
being  cherished  by  his  countrymen.  With  the  recovery 
of  her  long-lost  liberty,  Italy  is  turning  her  materual  re- 
gards and  affectionate  regrets  to  the  memories  of  those 
noble  sons,  pioneers  of  European  Freethought,  to  whom 
she  gave  birth  in  the  fourteenth  and  two  following  cent- 
uries, but  who,  as  children  of  a  slave-mother,  were  driven 
from  their  homes,  and  compelled  to  seek  a  precarious  sub- 
sistence, and  often  to  find  death,  in  foreign  lands.  The 
attachment  of  these  poor  wanderers  to  their  native  country 
was  second  only  to  their  passion  for  liberty  and  truth. 
Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  Bruno,  it  lured  them,  like  a 
wrecker's  light,  to  their  destruction.  Vanini  dwells  again 
and  again  in  his  writings  on  the  beloved  Taurisano  of  his 
birth  ;  he  recounts  the  incidents  of  his  early  childhood, 
the  stories  told  him  by  his  mother ;  the  people,  and  the 
events  of  his  youthful  and  happier  life  ;  the  woods  and 
valleys  of  '  that  fairest  of  all  lands,'  '  that  precious  stone 
in  the  ring  of  the  globe,'  as  he  enthusiastically  calls  his 
native  province.  And  now  the  country  he  so  fervently 
loved,  after  two  centuries  and  a  half,  has  begun  to  recipro- 
cate that  affection.  On  the  24th  of  September,  1868,  a 
bust  of  Yanini  was  placed  in  the  district  hall  of  Lecce, 
the  chief  town  of  Taurisano.  The  house  in  which  lie  first 
saw  the  light  is  still  carefully  preserved,  and  now  T;iuri- 
sano  has  no  higher  boast,  and  no  more  valued  historical 
possession,  than  that  she  was  the  birth-place  of  Julius 
Caesar  Vanini." 

Of  Bruno,  of  Vanini,  we  can  say,  as  Tennyson  sings 
of  knowledge  itself  : 

"  She  sets  her  forward  countenance, 
And  leaps  into  the  future  chance." 


CHA.PTER  VIII. 

The  Critical  Philosophy — Descartes,  Locke,  Hume,  Kant, 
Hamilton,  and  Comte. 

In  the  eyes  of  Bruuo  and  Spinoza  the  highest  aim  of 
Philosophy  was  to  discover  unity,  the  one  in  alh 

Kant  gives  a  different  definition  to  Philosophy,  and,  I 
think,  a  wiser  one.  The  business  of  Philosoph}-,  says 
Kant,  is  to  answer  three  questions :  What  can  I  know  ? 
What  ought  I  to  do  ?  and,   For  what  may  I  hope  ? 

"But  it  is  pretty  plain,"  says  Huxley,  "that  these 
three  resolve  themselves  in  the  long  run  into  the  first. 
For  rational  expectation  and  moral  action  are  alike  based 
upon  beliefs  ;  and  a  belief  is  void  of  justification  unless  its 
subject-matter  lies  within  the  boundaries  of  possible 
knowledge,  and  unless  its  evidence  satisfies  the  conditions 
which  experience  imposes  as  the  guarantee  of  credibility." 

What  Can  we  know?  therefore,  is  the  question  of  all 
questions  which  philosophy  sets  itself  to  answer  and 
wherein  Philosophy  is  distinguished  from  Science. 

lu  another  place  Kant  gives  utterance  to  one  of  the 
wisest  and  most  pregnant  thoughts  in  regard  to  the  true 
sphere  of  Philosophy,  and  in  which  he  expresses  the  spirit 
of  Freethought  itself : 

"  The  greatest  and  perhaps  the  sole  use  of  all  phi- 
losophy of  pure  reason  is,  after  all,  merely  negative,  since 
it  serves  not  as  an  organon  for  the  enlargement  of  knowl- 
edge., but  as  a  discipline  for  its  delimitation  ;  and  instead 


94  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP  FREETHOUGHT. 

of  discovering  truth  lias  only  the  modest  merit  of  preventing 
error.'' 

When  Philosophy  is  thus  modest  it  is  of  real  service, 
and  absolutely  necessary  to  human  progress.  It  is  not 
the  province  of  Philosophy  to  soar  beyond  the  stars,  to 
discover  the  secret  of  all  things,  to  unfold  the  absolute 
unity,  but  to  sit  in  wise  humility  by  the  side  of  vigorous 
Science  and  prevent  her  from  falling  into  error,  to  define 
the  limits  of  science  so  that  human  energy  can  be  pre- 
eminently useful.  Science  attains  truth.  Philosophy  pre- 
vents error.  I  do  not  know  of  any  better  distinction  between 
the  two,  so  far  as  intellectual  progress  is  concerned. 

"  They  "  (the  sciences),  says  Huxley,  "furnish  us  with 
the  results  of  the  mental  operations  which  constitute 
thinking,  while  Philosophy,  in  the  stricter  sense  of  the 
term,  inquires  into  the  foundation  of  the  first  principles 
which  those  operations  assume  or  imply." 

Such  is  the  philosophy  of  Descartes  and  his  successors 
as  contrasted  with  the  philosophy  of  Bruno  and  Spinoza. 
It  is  the  all-triumphant  philosophy  of  to-day,  before  which 
even  the  star  of  Hegel  must  pale  its  ineffectual  fire. 

•     Descartes.— 1596-1650. 

The  object  of  Descartes  was  certainty.  How  can  we 
be  certain?     That  was  the  supreme  question. 

In  order  to  answer  this  question,  in  order  to  arrive  at 
certaintj',  Descartes  was  the  Arch-Infidel,  the  arch-doubter 
of  the  human  race.  He  doubted  until  it  was  no  longer 
possible  to  doubt.  He  could  not  doubt  that  he  doubted. 
Thence  he  said,   "I  think,  therefore  I  am." 

Doubt  is  the  path  to  all  knowledge,  affirms  Descartes. 
We  must  doubt  in  order  to  be  sure  of  anything,  for  it  is 
by  doubt  only  that  we  can  examine.  We  travel  through 
doubt  to  certainty  and  there  is  no  other  road.  We  must 
doubt  even  the  truth  in  order  to  know  the  truth.     This  prin- 


DESCARTES.  95 

ciple  of  doubt  in  science  is  directly  opposite  to  the  principle 
of  religion.  Religion  says,  Believe  ;  do  not  question,  do 
not  deny.  To  do  so  is  a  mortal  sin.  In  announcing  his 
method,  therefore,  Descartes  annf)nijcpd  opposition  to  the 
creeds  of  the  past.  There  must  be  a  re-examination,  a 
sifting  of  all  that  the  world  had  hitherto  believed.  In 
accepting  the  method  of  Descartes  we  do  not  necessarily 
accept  his  results,  although  he  added  wonderfully  to  the 
treasures  of  human  knowledge  ;  for  doubt  is  not  a  tempo- 
rary expedient.  It  must  be  constant!}"  applied.  The 
truth  of  yesterday  must  be  demonstrated  anew  to-day. 
There  is  no  permanent  stamp  for  truth.  It  must  be 
continually  fresh-coined.  Truth  cannot  be  crystallized.  It 
must  be  flowing.  Truth  is  not  to  be  gray-haired  ;  it  is  to 
be  ever  young.  No  truth  can  be  so  old  as  to  be  accepted 
on  faith.  It  must  always  give  its  credentials.  It  must 
always  be  ready  for  proof.  It  must  eternally  confront  the 
interrogation  point. 

The  supreme  question  of  Philosophy,  What  can  we 
know?  can  only  be  answered  in  the  way  that  Descartes 
endeavored  to  answer  it — by  doubt.  By  doubt  is  not 
meant  universal  skepticism  like  that  of  Pyrro,  but  what 
Hume  terms  "mitigated  skepticism,"  that  is,  skepticism 
with  a  well-defined  purpose — skepticism  as  a  means,  not 
as  an  end.  As  we  sail  the  pathless  ocean  in  order  to 
reach  golden  shores,  so  we  enter  upon  the  sea  of  doubt  in 
order  that  every  continent  of  truth  may  be  discovered. 
This  is  the  true  Freethought  philosophy,  and  it  could  not 
have  had  a  more  illustrious  advocate  than  Descartes,  nor 
could  anyone  give  a  more  brilliant  example  of  its  capa- 
bilities. 

The  four  following  rules  of  Descartes  are  well  worthy  of 
consideration  by  every  searcher  after  truth,  and  admirably 
state  the  essential  features  of  his  system  of  philosophy. 

"  1.  Never  to  accept  anything  as  true  but  what  is  evi- 
dently so ;  to  admit  nothing  but  what   so  clearly  and  dis- 


96  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

tiuctly  presents  itself  as  true  that  there  can  be  no  reason 
to  doubt  it. 

"2.  To  divide  every  question  into  as  many  separate 
parts  as  possible,  that,  each  part  being  more  easily  con- 
ceived, the  whole  may  be  more  intelligible. 

"  3.  To  conduct  the  examination  with  order,  beginning 
by  that  of  objects  the  most  simple,  and,  therefore,  the 
easiest  to  be  known,  and  ascending,  little  by  little,  up  to 
knowledge  the  most  complex. 

"4.  To  make  such  exact  calculations,  and  such  circum- 
spections, as  to  be  confident  that  nothing  essential  has 
been  omitted." 

Buckle  says  of  the  merits  of  Descartes  that  he  "  was 
the  first  who  successfully  applied  algebra  to  geometrj^ ; 
that  he  pointed  out  tlie  important  law  of  the  sines  ;  that 
in  an  age  in  which  optical  instruments  were  extremely 
imperfect,  he  discovered  the  changes  to  which  light  is 
subjected  in  the  eye  by  the  crystalline  lens  ;  that  he  di- 
rected attention  to  the  consequences  resulting  from  the 
weight  of  the  atmosphere,  and  that  he  detected  the  causes 
of  the  rainbow." 

"  Descartes,"  says  Saintes,  "  throwing  off  the  swaddling- 
clothes  of  scholasticism,  resolved  to  owe  to  himself  alone 
the  acquisition  of  the  truth  which  he  so  earnestly  desired 
to  possess.  For  what  else  is  the  methodical  doubt  which 
he  established  as  the  starting-point  of  his  philosophy, 
than  an  energetic  protest  of  the  human  mind  against  all 
external  authority?" 

Hegel  describes  Descartes  as  the  founder  of  modern 
philosophy,  whose  influence  upon  his  own  age  and  modern 
limes  it  is  impossible  to  exaggerate. 

Bradlaugh  writes  of  him :  "  It  is  certain  that  Des- 
cartes gave  a  sharp  spur  to  European  thought,  and 
mightily  hastened  the  progress  of  heresy." 


FRANCES   WRIGHT   (p.  487). 


LOCKE.  97 

Thomas  Hobbes.— 1588-1679. 

In  the  same  Hue  with  Descartes  was  Thomas  Hobbes, 
"  the  subtlest  dialectician  of  his  time."  He  was  one  of 
the  earliest  English  advocates  of  the  materialistic  limita- 
tion of  the  mind  ;  he  denies  tlie  possibility  of  any  knowl- 
edge other  than  that  resulting  from  sensation.  "What- 
ever we  imagine,"  he  says,  "  is  finite.  Therefore  there  is 
no  idea,  no  conception,  of  anything  we  call  infinite." 

He  professed,  however,  to  admit  the  authority  of  the 
magistrate  and  the  scriptures  to  override  argument.  Per- 
haps that  was  the  reason  why  he  was  protected  from  his 
clerical  antagonists  b}^  the  favor  of  Charles  II.,  who  had 
a  portrait  of  the  philosopher  hung  on  the  walls  of  his 
private  room  at  Whitehall.  In  this  connection  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  Hobbes  was  the  first  to  declare  the 
doctrine  of  "  equal  rights,"  which  was  so  pregnantly  em- 
phasized in  after  times  by  the  splendid  eloquence  of 
Rousseau.  Hobbes  was  a  Freethinker,  but  he  masked 
his  batteries  in  such  a  way  that  the  church  could  not  easily 
attack  him.  He  evidently  was  not  born  to  be  a  martyr. 
He  wrote  somewhat  in  cipher;  but  the  church  felt  and 
resented  the  keenness  of  his  logic,  and  in  his  apparent 
submission  to  the  "powers  that  be,"  realized  the  icono- 
clastic blow  of  a  determined  thinker. 

Locke.— 1632-1704. 

John  Locke,  born  1632,  carried  forward  the  skeptical 
philosophy  of  Descartes.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that 
Spinoza  was  born  the  same  year,  almost  the  opposite  of 
Locke  in  his  philosophical  purpose.  Spinoza  endeavored 
to  transcend  the  limits  of  human  knowledge  ;  by  pure 
genius  to  build  an  intellectual  temple  far  bevond  the 
boundaries  of  experience — to  solve  the  problem  of  the  uni- 
verse by  a  transcendent  effort  of  the  will ;  while  the  whole 
purpose  of  Locke  was  to  emphasize  the  inability  of  man 
to  do  what  Spinoza  was  gigantically  laboring  to  do. 


98  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

The  critical  philosophy  of  Locke  cannot  be  better 
stated  than  in  his  own  words,  and  wiser  words  were  never 
written  : 

"If,  by  this  inquiry  into  the  nature  of  the  understand- 
ing, I  can  discover  the  powers  thereof,  how  far  they  reach, 
to  what  things  they  are  in  any  degree  proportionate,  and 
where  they  fail  us,  I  suppose  it  may  be  of  use  to  prevail 
with   the  busy  mind  of  man  to  be  more  cautious  in  med- 
dling with  those  things  exceeding  its  comprehension  ;  to 
stop  when  it  is  at  the  utmost  end  of  its  tether;  and  to  sit 
down  in  quiet  ignorance  of  those  things  which,  upon  exam- 
ination, prove  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  our  capacities. 
"We  should  not  then  be  so  forward,  out  of  an  affectation  of 
•universal  knowledge,  to  raise  questions,  and  perplex  our- 
selves and  others  with  disputes  about  things  to  which  our 
understandings  are  not  suited,  and  of  which  we   cannot 
frame  in  our  minds  any  clear  and  distinct  perception,  or 
whereof  (as  it  has,  perhaps,  too  often  happened)  we  have 
not  an}'  notion  at  all.     Men  may  find  matter  sufficient  to 
busy  their  hands  with  variety,  delight,  and  satisfaction,  if 
they  will  not  boldly  quarrel  with   their  own    constitution, 
and  throw  away  the  blessings  their  hands  are  filled  Avith, 
because    they  are    not  big    enough    to   grasp   everything. 
We  shall  not  have  much  to  complain  of  the  narrowness  of 
our  minds,  if  we  will   employ  them  about  what   may  be  of 
use  to  us  ;  for  of  that  they  are  very  capable  ;  and  it  will 
be  an  unpardonable  as  well  as  a  cbildish  peevishness,  if 
we  undervalue  the  advantages  of  our  knowledge,  and  neg- 
lect to  improve  it  to  the  ends  for  which  it  was  given  us, 
because  there  are  some  things  that  are  out  of  the  reach  of 
it.     It  will  be  no  excuse  to  an  idle  and  untoward  servant, 
who  would  not  attend  to  his  business  by  candlelight,  to 
plead  that  he  had  not  broad  sunshine.     The  caudle  that 
is  set  up  in  us  shines  bright  enough  for  all  our  purposes. 
Our  business  here  is  not  to  know  all  things,  but  those 
which  concern  our  conduct," 


'   HUME.  99 

No  wonder  that  the  clergymen  were  opposed  to  Locke. 
In  this  statement  he  undermines  theology,  for  if  the  hu- 
man mind  is  thus  limited,  it  cannot  affirm  anything  con- 
cerning God.  Locke's  argument  against  ''innate  ideas"  is 
unanswerable,  and  the  chief  reliance  of  faith  is  over- 
thrown. If  the  idea  of  God  is  not  innate,  how  is  it  possible 
to  discover  him  by  experience,  since  experience  is  always 
limited  ?  If  all  ideas  originate  in  sensation  and  reflection, 
as  Locke  says,  must  not  all  those  ideas  be  finite  ?  The 
stream  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  source.  Sensation  and 
reflection  cannot  produce  an  infinite  idea.  As  well  say 
that  the  earth  could  produce  a  sun,  that  a  part  can  equal 
the  whole,  or  that  two  and  two  are  more  than  four. 
Locke  did  not  see  and  acknowledge  the  full  sweep  of  his 
philosophy,  but,  in  conjunction  with  Descartes,  he  made 
way  for  the  keener  insight  of  David  Hume. 

Hume.— 1711-1776. 

In  Hume  we  reach  one  of  the  loftiest  intellectual 
liights  of  man,  where  there  are  no  mists  and  fogs.  Clear 
sunshine  is  all  over  the  landscape.  It  is  a  pleasure  to 
view  human  history  from  such  an  elevated  and  noble  posi- 
tion. I  do  not  know  of  anyone  who  has  exercised  a 
greater  influence  upon  philosophy.  Modern  science  is 
much  more  indebted  to  Hume  than  to  Bacon.  What  we 
can  know  was  more  clearly  answered  by  Hume  than  by 
any  preceding  writer.  He  studied  nature  and  the  human 
mind  at  first  hand.  He  was  an  original  investigator,  and 
he  was  courageous.  The  only  point  on  which  he  bowed 
to  popular  opinion  was  in  the  profession  of  a  vague  and 
faint  Deism.  While  he  affirmed  the  impossibility  of 
proving  the  existence  of  substantial  mind,  he  did  seem  to 
affirm  the  validity  of  the  argument  from  design.  But  this 
was  simply  a  ripple.  The  overwhelming  stream  of  his 
argument  was  to  pure  Atheism,  but  he  never  admitted 
this  logical  result. 


100  FOUR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

But  the  value  of  Hume  is  not  in  the  personal  results 
of  bis  philosophy,  but  in  its  direction.  He  did  not  map 
out  the  human  mind  with  thorough  accuracy,  but  he 
showed  how  it  was  to  be  done.  He  got  rid  of  an  immense 
amount  of  rubbish.  He  made  a  revolutionary  statement 
as  to  the  course  of  human  inquiry.  Having  stated  his 
principles,  he  says  : 

"  Wiien  we  run  over  our  libraries,  persuaded  of  these 
principles,  what  havoc  must  we  make !  If  we  take  in  our 
hand  any  volume  of  divinity  or  school  of  metaphysics,  let 
us  ask  this  question  :  Does  it  contain  any  abstract  reason- 
ing conceruiug  quantit}' and  number?  No.  Does  it  con- 
tain any  experimental  reasooiug  concerning  matter  of  fact 
and  existence  ?  No.  Commit  it,  then,  to  the  flames,  for 
it  can  contain  nothing  but  sophistry  and  illusion." 

Wiiat  volumes,  according  to  this,  we  have  the  blessed 
privilege  of  burning  up — volumes  of  theology,  volumes  of 
metaphysics,  that  do  the  world  no  particle  of  good !  What 
a  clearing  away  there  is  to  the  pathway  of  human  knowl- 
edge !  How  much  time  is  saved,  how  much  vexation  and 
weariness  of  spirit ! 

Hume's  argument  against  miracles  has  been  so  thor- 
oughly triumphant  that  we  might  say  that  from  his  day 
miracles  have  been  practically  abandoned. 

The  original  definition  of  a  miracle  is  :  A  violation  of 
the  fixed  laws  of  nature  in  order  to  prove  a  divine  revela- 
tion. 

But  Hume  has  demonstrated  be3^ond  question  that 
there  cannot  be  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature,  so  far 
as  human  experience  is  concerned,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
demonstrate  such  a  violation,  for  the  fixed  laws  of  nature 
are  declared  by  universal  human  experience  itself.  It  is 
impossible  for  a  violation  of  the  law  to  have  such  experi- 
mental evidence  ;  and,  as  we  must  judge  by  evidence,  we 
must  necessarily  reject  the  miracle,  for  the  weight  of  evi- 
dence is  always  enormously  against  it.     If,  in  favor  of  the 


HUME.  101 

miracle,  you  have  the  universal  testimony  of  mankind,  then 
the  miracle  is  no  longer  a  miracle,  according  to  the  defini- 
tion, but  a  fixed  law  of  nature.  The  very  evidence  that 
miglit  prove  the  miracle  must  destroy  its  miraculous 
quality.  Universality  of  evidence,  which  would  be  neces- 
sary to  prove  the  actual  occurrence  of  a  "  miracle,"  would 
at  the  same  time  prove  that  the  miracle  was  a  part  of  the 
course  of  nature  itself. 

Huxley,  on  this  point,  says :  "  The  definition  of  a 
miracle  as  a  '  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature,'  is  in  reality 
an  employment  of  language  which  on  the  face  of  the 
matter  cannot  be  justified.  For  'nature'  means  neither 
more  nor  less  than  that  which  is  ;  the  sum  of  the  phe- 
nomena presented  to  our  experience  ;  the  totality  of 
events,  past,  present,  and  to  come.  Every  event  must  be 
taken  as  a  part  of  nature  until  proof  to  the  contrary  is  sup- 
plied. And  such  proof  is  from  the  nature  of  the  case 
impossible." 

The  old  definition  of  a  miracle,  therefore,  has  been 
abandoned.  No  theologian  to-day  calls  a  miracle  a  "  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature."  A  miracle  uow-a-days  is  "an 
extremely  wonderful  event." 

Extremely  wonderful  as  an  event  may  be,  it  is  still 
a  part  of  nature  and,  therefore,  cannot  demonstrate  a 
""  divine  revelation."  Its  validity  as  proof  is  gone,  for  it 
remains  that  the  "'miracle,"  whatever  it  is,  is  the  result  of 
previous  natural  conditions.  It  might  be  true,  as  Huxley 
says,  that  five  thousand  might  be  fed  with  five  loaves  and 
a  few  small  fishes,  and  twelve  baskets  full  be  left ;  if  we 
grant  that,  whatever  is  distinctly  conceivable  by  the  human 
mind  is  possible.  But  what  would  be  the  result?  It 
would  not  prove  the  divinity  of  Jesus,  that  he  was  a  god, 
or  supernatural  being.  It  would  only  show  that  he  had 
a  peculiar  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature.  It  would 
prove  no  move  than  a  sleight-of-hand  trick.  It  might 
amaze    the    multitude,    but,   scientifically,    it   would   only 


10^  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

show  that  there  were  more  possibilities  in  nature  than  our 
experience  has  hitherto  justified.  The  performance  \vould 
not  prove  the  truth  of  a  single  saying  of  Jesus,  or  justify 
his  claim  to  the  messiahship.  It  would  not  prove  that 
Jesus  was  a  wise  or  learned  man  on  any  other  point  than 
that  particular  event.  If  a  scientific  man,  like  Huxley  or 
Tyndall,  were  present  on  such  an  occasion,  he  would 
simply  "  set  to  work  to  investigate  the  conditions  under 
which  so  highly  unexpected  an  occurrence  took  place,  and 
thereby  enlarge  his  experience  and  modify  his  hitherto 
unduly  narrow  conceptions  of  nature."  But  he  would  not 
think  for  a  moment  of  ascribing  divinity  to  Jesus  any 
more  than  to  Hermann  or  Edison. 

If  the  old  definition  is  retained,  it  is  impossible  to 
prove  a  miracle.  If  the  new  definition  is  admitted,  then 
the  '■  miracle  "  loses  all  logical  value  to  the  theologian,  for 
it  proves  nothing  on  his  side  of  the  question. 

Every  way,  therefore,  Hume  has  demolished  the  argu- 
ment from  miracles ;  he  has  conferred  an  inestimable 
service  upon  humanity,  and  scored  a  permanent  victory 
for  Freethought. 

Of  course,  if  a  miracle  is  "  an  extremely  wonderful 
event,"  it  must  have  a  vast  amount  of  evidence  in  its 
support.     On  this  point  Hume  says  : 

"  There  is  not  to  be  found  in  all  history  any  miracle 
attested  by  a  sufficient  number  of  men  of  such  unques- 
tioned goodness,  education,  and  learning  as  to  secure  us 
against  all  delusion  in  themselves ;  of  such  undoubted 
integrity  as  to  place  them  beyond  all  suspicion  of  any 
design  to  deceive  others ;  of  such  credit  and  reputation  in 
the  eyes  of  mankind  as  to  have  a  great  deal  to  lose  in  case 
of  their  being  detected  in  any  falsehood  ;  and  at  the  same 
time  attesting  facts  performed  in  such  a  public  manner, 
and  in  so  celebrated  a  part  of  the  world  as  to  render  the 
detection  unavoidable.  All  of  which  circumstances  are  re- 
quisite to  give  us  a  full  assurance  of  the  testimony  of  men.'* 


STEPHEN    GIRARD  (p.  741). 


HUME.  103 

lu  his  "Natural  History  of  Religion"  Hume  takes  the 
ground  that  religion  and  theology  do  not  originate  from 
man's  intellectual  nature,  but  from  his  "  hopes  and  fears," 
and,  therefore,  religion  is  not  universal  and  necessary,  but 
arises  out  of  the  sentimental  conditions  of  humanity.  He 
says : 

"  The  first  ideas  of  religion  arose  not  from  a  contem- 
plation of  the  works  of  nature,  but  from  a  concern  with 
regard  to  the  events  of  life,  and  from  the  incessant  hopes 
and  fears  which  actuate  the  human  mind.  In  order  to 
carrj'  men's  attention  beyond  the  present  course  of 
things,  or  lead  them  into  any  inference  concerning  in- 
visible intelligent  powers,  they  must  be  actuated  by  some 
passion  which  prompts  their  thought  and  reflection,  some 
motive  which  urges  their  first  inquiry.  But  what  passion 
shall  we  have  recourse  to  for  explaining  an  eftect  of  such 
mighty  consequence  ?  Not  speculative  curiosity  merely, 
or  the  pure  love  of  truth.  That  motive  would  be  too 
refined  for  such  gross  natures,  a  subject  too  large  and 
comprehensive  for  their  narrow  capacities.  No  passions, 
therefore,  can  be  supposed  to  work  on  such  barbarians, 
but  the  ordiuar}'  affections  of  human  life,  the  anxious 
concern  for  happiness,  etc.  Agitated  by  hopes  and  fears 
of  this  nature,  men  scrutinize  with  a  trembling  curiosity 
the  course  of  future  causes,  and  examine  the  various  and 
contrary  events  of  human  life.  And  in  this  disordered 
scene,  with  eyes  still  more  disordered  and  astonished,  they 
see  the  firsb  obscure  traces  of  divinity." 

Never  was  the  history  of  religion  so  clearly  and  truth- 
fully stated.  It  originates  with  man's  hopes  and  fears, 
and  not  from  his  desire  for  truth.  Man  believes  in  God 
for  the  preservation  of  his  happiness,  and  not  from  any 
intellectual  demand. 

And  those  who  think  that  high  and  refined  Theism  has 
no  such  origin,  that  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  these  primi- 
tive barbaric  feelings,  will  find  that  Monotheism,  and  the 


104  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

sublimest  qualities  ascribed  to  God,  are  not  the  result  of 
pure  intellectual  processes,  but  really  an  evolution  through 
the  hopes  and  fears  of  men  from  the  "first  obscure  traces 
of  divinity,"  and  Theism,  therefore,  is  tainted  with  the 
original  disease.  In  fact,  Monotheism,  instead  of  being 
the  result  of  man's  mental  advance,  is  but  the  logic  of  his 
most  slavish  propensities.  The  more  perfection  we 
ascribe  to  deity,  the  more  he  becomes  the  expression  of 
intense  selfishness.  Hume's  masterly  reasoning  must 
make  the  Theist  squirm.      He  says : 

"  It  may  readily  happen  in  an  idolatrous  nation  that, 
though  men  admit  the  existence  of  several  limited  deities, 
yet  there  is  some  one  God  whom  in  a  particular  manner 
tljey  make  the  object  of  their  worship  and  adoration. 
They  may  either  suppose  that,  in  the  distribution  of 
power  and  territory  among  the  gods,  their  nation  was  sub- 
jected to  the  jurisdiction  of  that  particular  deity  ;  or, 
reducing  heavenly  objects  to  the  model  of  things  below, 
they  may  represent  one  god  as  the  prince  or  supreme  mag- 
istrate of  the  rest,  who,  though  of  the  same  nature,  rules 
them  with  an  authority  like  that  which  an  earthly  sove- 
reign exerts  over  his  subjects  and  vassals.  Whether  this 
God,  therefore,  be  considered  as  their  peculiar  patron  or 
as  the  general  sovereign  of  heaven,  his  votaries  will 
endeavor  by  every  art  to  insinuate  themselves  into  his 
favor ;  and.  supposing  him  to  be  pleased  like  themselves 
with  praise  and  flattery,  there  is  no  eulog}' or  exaggeration 
which  will  be  spared  in  their  addresses  to  him.  In  pro- 
portion as  men's  fears  or  distresses  become  more  urgent 
they  still  invent  new  strains  of  adulation ;  and  even  he 
who  outdoes  his  predecessor  in  swelling  the  titles  of  his 
divinity  is  sure  to  be  outdone  by  his  successor  in  newer 
and  more  pompous  epithets  of  praise.  Thus  they  proceed 
till  at  last  they  arrive  at  infinity  itself,  beyond  which  there 
is  no  further  progress.     They  are  guided  to  this   notion 


HUMK.  105 

not  b}'  reason,  but  by  the  adulation  and  fears  of  the  most 
vulgar  superstitions." 

The  highest  attributes  of  deity  are  the  result  of  base 
human  flattery.  The  tribal  god  becomes  the  universal 
god,  not  by  the  enlightened  intellect  of  his  subjects,  but  by 
their  subserviency.  Monotheism  is  siraplj^  the  art  of  the 
courtier,  and  not  the  flower  of  philosophy.  Those  who 
read  the  history  of  the  Jews  in  the  light  of  modern  scholar- 
ship will  see  an  illustration  of  this,  and  the  Psalms  will 
not  be  regarded  as  the  expression  of  mental  elevation,  but 
the  eloquence  of  an  obsequious  royalist. 

Hume  accepted  and  rigorously  applied  the  idealism  of 
Berkeley  and  demonstrated  that  if  we  cannot  prove  the 
existence  of  matter,  neither  can  we  prove  the  existence  of 
mind  or  soul.  The  reasoning  is  unanswerable.  We  only 
know  physical  phenomena.  We  do  not  know  the  sub- 
stratum of  the  phenomena.  No  more  do  we  know  the  sub- 
stratum of  mental  phenomena.  One  good  thing  Berkeley 
did  under  the  sharp  guidance  of  Hume — if  he  knocked 
out  "matter"  he  also  knocked  out  "soul."  Matter  may 
recover  from  the  blow.  It  has  considerable  persistence, 
in  spite  of  metaph^'sics,  but  the  "  soul  "  is  permanently 
demolished  so  far  as  science  is  concerned.  The  con- 
clusion of  the  whole  question  is  that  physical  phenomena 
constitute  matter  and  mental  phenomena  constitute 
mind.  Hume's  reasoning  Avas  fully  adopted  by  Kant,  that 
"  in  the  case  of  the  soul,  as  in  that  of  the  body,  the  idea  of 
substance  is  a  mere  fiction  of  the  imagination."  Says 
Kant :  "  Our  internal  intuition  shows  no  permanent  exist- 
ence, for  the  ego  is  only  the  consciousness  of  my  thinking." 

Hume,  every  way,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
characters  in  modern  times.  He  is  almost  an  ideal  phi- 
losopher. "His  temper,"  says  Adam  Smith,  "  seemed  to 
be  more  happily  balanced  than  that,  perhaps,  of  any  other 
man  I  have  ever  known.  The  extreme  gentleness  of  his 
nature  never  weakened  either  the  firmness   of  his  mind 


106  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

or  the  steadiness  of  liis  resolution.  Gayety  of  temper,  so 
agreeable  in  society,  was  in  him  certainly  attended  with 
the  most  severe  application,  the  most  extensive  learning, 
the  greatest  depth  of  thought,  and  a  capacity  in  every 
respect  the  most  comprehensive.  Upon  the  whole,  I  have 
always  considered  him  in  his  life  time  and  since  his  death 
as  approaching  as  nearly  to  the  idea  of  a  perfectly  wise 
and  virtuous  man  as  perhaps  the  nature  of  human  frailty 
will  permit." 

I  cannot  help  quoting  from  one  of  Hume's  letters,  it 
gives  such  a  charming  and  beautiful  picture  of  the  home 
life  of  the  philosopher  ;  so  iconoclastic,  so  terrible,  destroy- 
ing time-honored  theories,  and  yet  so  delightfully  con- 
tented : 

"  I  shall  exult  and  triumph  to  you  a  little  that  I  have 
now  at  last — being  turned  off  forty,  to  my  own  honor,  to 
that  of  learning,  and  to  that  of  the  present  age — arrived 
at  the  dignity  of  being  a  householder. 

"About  seven  months  ago  I  got  a  house  of  my  own, 
and  completed  a  regular  family,  consisting  of  a  head,  viz., 
myself,  and  two  inferior  members,  a  maid  and  a  cat.  My 
sister  has  since  joined  me  and  keeps  me  company.  With 
frugality,  I  can  reach,  I  find,  cleanliness,  warmth,  light, 
plenty,  and  contentment.  What  would  you  have  more? 
Independence  ?  I  have  it  in  a  supreme  degree.  Honor  ? 
That  is  not  altogether  wanting.  Grace  ?  That  will  come 
in  time.  A  wife?  That  is  none  of  the  indispensable 
requisites  of  life.  Books  ?  That  is  one  of  them,  and  I 
have  more  than  I  can  use.  In  short,  I  cannot  find  any 
pleasure  of  consequence  which  I  am  not  possessed  of  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree  ;  and,  without  any  great  effort  of 
philosophy,  I  may  be  easy  and  satisfied." 

Kant  —1724-1804 

Kant,  the  great  successor  of  Hume  in  the  brilliant  line 
of  the   critical   and   really   constructive   philosophy,  was 


KANT.  107 

peculiarly  devoted  to  his  work.  "  He  lived  to  a  great 
age,"  says  Madame  de  Stael,  "  and  never  once  quitted  the 
snows  of  murky  Konigsberg.  There  he  passed  a  calm 
and  happy  existence,  meditating,  professing,  and  writing. 
He  had  mastered  all  the  sciences.  He  had  studied  lan- 
guages and  cultivated  literature.  He  lived  and  died  the 
tj-pe  of  the  German  professor  ;  he  rose,  smoked,  drank  his 
coffee,  wrote,  lectured,  took  his  daily  walk,  always  at  pre- 
cisely the  same  hour.  The  cathedral  clock,  it  is  said,  was 
not  more  punctual  in  its  movements  than  Immanuel  Kant. 
He  never,  in  the  course  of  his  long  life,  traveled  above 
seven  miles  from  his  native  city." 

In  his  "  Critique  of  Pure  Reason,"  Kant  developed,  in 
his  own  original  way,  the  skeptical  philosophy  of  Des- 
cartes, Locke,  and  Hume.  In  answering  the  question : 
What  can  we  know?  he  added  greatly  to  the  answer  given 
by  Hume.  lu  the  simple,  undecomposable  materials  of 
thought  Hume  included  only  impressions,  and  ideas 
(copies  of  impressions  by  memory).  Kant  adds  to  these, 
relations,  so  that  in  the  original  contents  of  the  mind  are 
impressions,  ideas,  and  relations ;  and  thus,  as  Huxley 
remarks,  Kant  has  made  one  of  the  greatest  advances  ever 
effected  in  philosophy  ;  but  the  basis  of  Kant's  philosophy 
is  exactly  the  same  as  that  of  Hume,  "If  the  details  of 
Kant's  criticism  differ  from  those  of  Hume,  they  coincide 
with  them  in  their  main  result,  which  is  the  limitation  of 
all  knowledge  of  reality  to  the  world  of  phenomena  revealed 
to  us  by  experience." 

The  ultimates  of  human  thought  are  matter,  force,  and 
relation.  lielation  is  neither  matter  nor  force,  and  yet  it 
is  as  much  of  a  reality  as  either  of  these.  There  is  no 
matter  or  force  without  relation.  Relation  is  as  funda- 
mental as  sensation,  not  inferred  from  sensation,  but  im- 
mediately known  with  sensation. 

Kant  swept  God  and  Immortality  forever  from  the 
domain  of  human  knowledge.     He  says  : 


108  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUaHT. 

"After  we  Lave  satisfied  ourselves  of  the  vanity  of  all 
the  ambitious  attempts  of  reason  to  fly  beyond  the  bounds 
of  experience,  enouf^h  remains  of  practical  value  to  con- 
tent us.  It  is  true  that  no  one  knoivs  that  God  and  a 
future  life  exist,  for  if  he  possesses  such  knowledge  lie  is 
just  the  man  for  whom  I  have  long  been  seeking.  All 
knowledge  (touching  an  object  of  mere  reason)  can  be 
communicated,  and,  therefore,  I  might  hope  to  see  my  own 
knowledge  increased  to  this  prodigious  extent  by  his 
instruction."  Further  on,  Kant  says  that  philosopliy  and 
common  sense  are  one.  ''  I  will  not  here  speak  of  the 
service  whicli  philosoph}'  has  rendered  to  human  reason 
by  the  laborious  efforts  of  its  criticism.  But  do  you  ask 
that  the  knowledge  which  interests  all  men  shall  transcend 
the  common  understanding  and  be  discovered  for  you  only 
by  philosophers?  The  very  thing  which  you  make  a 
reproach  is  the  best  confirmation  of  tlie  justice  of  previous 
conclusions,  since  it  shows  that  which  could  not  at  first 
have  been  anticipated ;  namely,  that  in  those  matters 
whicli  concern  all  men  alike  nature  is  not  guilty  of  dis- 
tributing her  gifts  with  partiality  ;  and  that  the  highest 
philosophy,  in  dealing  with  the  most  important  concerns 
of  humanity,  is  able  to  take  us  no  further  than  the  guidance 
which  she  affords  to  the  commonest  understanding." 

It  is  a  great  gain  to  know  that  the  highest  Pliilosoph}', 
after  all,  is  but  systematized  common  sense. 

Of  course,  Kant  is  compelled,  in  order  to  mollify  the 
orthodox  party,  to  make  God  and  Immortality  "  moral 
certainties,"  while  they  are  no  longer  intellectual  cer- 
tainties ;  not  objective  moral  certainties,  however,  but  sub- 
jective moral  certainties,  for  Kant  confesses,  naively :  "I 
must  not  even  say,  it  is  morally  certain  that  there  is  a 
God,  and  so  on  ;  but,  I  am  morall}^  certain,  and  so  on." 

What  Kant  means  is  this :  Though  3'ou  cannot  prove 
tlie  existence  of  God,  or  the  immortalit}^  of  the  soul,  yet, 
as  tlie  belief  in  these  is  very   useful  for  moral  purposes. 


VICTOR  HUGO  (p.  440). 


KANT.  109 

you  may  assume,  that  is,  for  moral  purposes  you  may, 
nay,  should,  believe  that  fiction  of  the  imagination  is 
true.  Kant  did  not  show  much  common  sense  in  this. 
Certainly,  if  morality  must  be  founded  on  an  assumption, 
it  must  be  a  very  poor  thing.  If  Kant  had  seen  more  of 
the  Avorld,  if  he  had  traveled  more  than  seven  miles  from 
Konigsberg,  and  studied  human  nature,  he  would  have 
discovered  that  man's  morality  is  not  founded  upon  an 
assumed  belief,  but  upon  real  knowledge.  According  to 
Kant,  we  must  lie  in  order  to  be  true ;  we  must  be  hypo- 
crites in  order  to  be  just ;  we  must  cheat  ourselves  in 
order  to  be  honest  with  others  ;  we  must  pla}^  fast  and 
loose  with  reason  in  order  to  enforce  the  moral  law  upon 
ourselves.  Kant  is  an  intellectual  giant,  but  he  shows 
what  a  fool  the  greatest  man  may  be  when  he  undertakes 
to  compromise  with  orthodoxy. 

I  think,  after  all,  that  Hume's  idea  of  morality  is  much 
better  than  that  of  Kant.  Hume  dismisses  entirely  the 
belief  in  God  and  immortality,  and  says  :  "  Virtue  is  an 
end,  and  is  desirable  on  its  own  account  without  fee  or 
reward  ;"  and  then,  in  one  of  his  most  eloquent  passages,  he 
declares  :  "  What  philosophical  truths  can  be  more  advan- 
tageous to  society  than  these  here  delivered,  which  repre- 
sent virtue  in  all  her  genuine  and  most  engaging  charms, 
and  make  us  approach  her  with  ease,  familiarity,  and 
affection?  The  dismal  dress  falls  off,  with  which  many 
divines  and  some  philosophers  have  covered  her ;  and 
nothing  appears  but  gentleness,  humanity,  beneficence, 
affability  ;  nay,  even  at  proper  intervals,  play,  frolic,  and 
gaiety.  She  talks  not  of  useless  austerities  and  rigors, 
suffering  and  self-denial.  She  declares  that  her  sole  pur- 
pose is  to  make  her  votaries,  and  all  mankind  during 
every  period  of  their  existence,  if  possible,  cheerful  and 
happy,  nor  does  she  ever  willingly  part  with  any  pleasure 
but  in  the  hopes  of  ample  compensation  in  some  other 
period  of  their  lives.    The  sole  trouble   she  demands  is 


110  FOUR  hundrp:d  years  of  freethought. 

that  of  just  calculation  and  a  steady  preference  of  the 
greater  happiness.  And  if  any  austere  pretenders  ap- 
proach her — enemies  to  joy  and  pleasure — she  either 
rejects  them  as  hypocrites  or  deceivers,  or,  if  she  admits 
them  to  her  train,  they  are  ranked,  however,  among  the 
least  favored  of  her  votaries." 

Kant  certainly  did  not  improve  upon  genial  David 
Hume  as  a  moral  teacher.  Even  the  Presbyterian  Scotch 
named  a  street  after  him,  St.  David's  street,  and  this  is 
one  of  the  best  saints  in  all  the  calendar. 

Hamilton. 

The  clouds  were  not  altogether  swept  away  by  Kant's 
incisive  logic,  since  he  allowed  the  "  moral  dispositions  " 
to  somewhat  mar  his  judgment. 

It  required  the  brilliant  metaphysics  of  Hamilton  to 
clear  the  atmosphere  entirely.  I  do  not  know  anyone  who 
has  done  a  finer  service  to  Freethought  than  this  great 
writer,  although  he  was  an  orthodox  believer  and  has  been 
a  master  influence  in  modern  religious  thought.  Nothing 
has  so  troubled  and  perplexed  the  human  mind  as  the 
words  "  infinite  "  and  "  absolute."  It  has  been  supposed 
that  they  contained  some  meaning,  though  nobody  knew 
what.  Hamilton  has  demonstrated,  beyond  question,  that 
they  simply  mean  nothing.  They  are  the  negations  of 
thought,  that  is,  no  thought.  Everything  in  the  sphere  of 
thought  must  be  finite,  limited,  and  conditioned.  It  is 
impossible  to  conceive  anything  else,  or  anything  beyond. 
We  talk  of  "infinite  space,"  and  "infinite  time,"  as  if  they 
were  real  conceptions,  but  they  are  not.  As  before  shown. 
if  we  concieve,  think,  imagine,  or  picture  space,  it  must  be 
finite  space;  if  time,  it  must  be  finite  time.  There  is  no 
such  thing  to  the  human  mind  as  infinite  space  or  infinite 
time.  Let  one  try  to  think  these,  and  he  cannot  do  it. 
Now,  if,  according  to  Descartes,  there  can  be  no  truth  to 
the    human  mind  except  what  is   distinctly   conceivable, 


HAMILTON. 


Ill 


then  infinite  space  and  infinite  time  are  not  truths,  for 
they  are  not  distinctly  conceivable.  If  all  knowledge 
arises  from  experience,  there  can  be  no  possible  knowl- 
edeje  of  the  "infinite,"  for  it  cannot  be  experienced.  We 
cannot  experience  the  infinite  in  part,  for  the  infinite  can 
not  be  divided  into  parts.  It  is  an  absolute  unity.  That 
wiiich  is  divisible  is  finite. 

The  relativity  of  knowledge,  as  affirmed  and  demon- 
strated by  Hamilton,  is  one  of  the  most  fruitful  postulates 
of  modern  science.  It  takes  a  great  fog  from  the  human 
mind.  The  whole  history  of  philosophy  is  a  history  of 
the  havoc  made  by  these  two  terms,  "infinite"  and 
"absolute."  They  have  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron.  None 
dared  to  deny.  It  was  an  enthronement  of  words  without 
ideas.  Descartes,  Locke,  Hume,  and  Kant  submitted,  to 
a  certain  extent,  to  the  tyranny  of  the  word  "  God."  They 
allowed  there  might  be  something  in  it.  Indeed,  Des- 
cartes built  up  an  elaborate  argument  for  the  existence  of 
God,  on  the  basis  of  the  idea  oif  infinite  perfection,  which, 
he  says,  is  in  the  mind  of  man.  As  infinite  perfection  can 
not  be  infinite  perfection  without  existence,  therefore  this 
idea  of  infinite  perfection  must  represent  reality.  How- 
ever, there  is  no  idea  of  infinite  perfection  in  the  mind, 
and  Descartes'  argument  is  worthless.  Every  philosophy 
which  is  based  on  any  afiirmation  of  the  actual  presence 
in  the  human  mind  of  ideas  corresponding  to  the  words 
"  infinite "  and  "  absolute"  is  a  false  philosophy.  All 
such  philosophies  have  come  and  gone  like  mists  in  the 
sky.  They  have  expanded  until  they  have  covered  the 
whole  heavens  with  glorious  colors,  but  they  have  faded 
away.  Hegel  made  the  last  and  most  alluring  attempt  to 
build  these  magnificent  castles  in  the  air,  and  for  awhile 
he  commanded  Europe  and  exercised  a  wonderful  in- 
fluence. He  has  done  more  than  any  other  to  preserve  a 
religion  for  thinkers.  He  certainly  has  constructed  a 
palatial  philosophy.     It  opens  into  enchanting,  luminous, 


112  FOUR   HUNDRED    YKARS    OF    FRKETHOUGHT. 

and  far-away  perspectives.  The  mind  can  wander  in  it, 
and  find  no  end  to  the  dazzling  sceneries.  If  it  were  onh' 
built  upon  fact,  what  a  preeminent  structure  it  would  be ! 
How  the  imagination  could  revel  in  it,  and  winged  hope 
never  cease  its  flight,  and  the  heart  be  filled  with  the 
divine  fervor  of  a  Bruno  or  Spinoza !  But  the  system  of 
Hegel  is  not  built  on  fact.  It  does  not  originate  with  fact, 
but  with  pure  thought  itself.  Thought  is  the  beginning 
and  the  end,  and  the  universe  is  the  "  ever-becoming " 
God,  of  which  humanity  is  the  noblest  consciousness.  The 
"secret  of  Hegel"  is  not  worth  striving  after,  for,  when 
discovered,  it  will  not  add  one  iota  to  human  knowledge. 
Alexander  Smith  sings  the  master  strain  of  Hegelian- 
ism,  when  the  poet  declares  that  he  will  begin  his  mighty 
theme 

"  Far  in  God, 
When  all  the  ages,  and  all  suns  and  worlds, 
And  souls  of  men  and  angels,  lay  in  Him, 
Like  unborn  forests  in  an  acorn  cup  ; 

With  the  soliloquy  with  which  God  broke 

The  silence  of  the  dead  eternities, 

At  which  most  ancient  words,  O  beautiful  ! 

With  showery  tresses  like  a  child  from  sleep, 

Uprose  the  splendid  mooned,  and  jeweled  night;" 

And  close  the  measureless  epic, 

"  With  God  and  silence, 
When  this  great  universe  subsides  in  God, 
Even  as  a  moment's  foam  subsides  again 
Upon  the  wave  that  bears  it." 

The  "  Philosophy  of  the  Conditioned  "  is  the  true  phi- 
losophy of  modern  days.  We  no  longer  consider  the 
infinite.  We  are  no  longer  baffled  by  mysteries,  for  we  no 
longer  consider  mysteries,  but  facts.     Why  trouble  about 


HAMILTON.  113 

mysteries  ?  Whatever  is  experienced  is  not  a  mystery — it 
is  a  fact. 

Hamilton,  in  tlie  following,  clearly  states  the  philosophy 
of  the  inlinite,  which  he  himself  so  thoroughly  repudiated, 
and  which  science  itself  must  repudiate,  although  such 
glorious  names  are  its  sponsors  : 

"Kant  pronounced  the  philosophy  of  rationalism  (that 
is,  ideal  rationalism,  exercise  of  the  reason  simply,  without 
the  union  of  reason  with  experience,  which  latter  is  scien- 
tific rationalism)  to  be  a  mere  fabric  of  delusion.  He 
declared  that  a  science  of  existence  was  beyond  the  com- 
pass of  our  faculties ;  that  pure  reason,  as  purely  sub- 
jective and  conscious  of  nothing  but  itself,  was,  therefore, 
unable  to  evince  the  truth  of  ought  beyond  the  phenomena 
of  its  personal  modifications.  But  scarcely  had  Kant  ac- 
complished the  recognition  of  this  important  principle, 
than  from  the  very  disciples  of  his  school  there  arose  phi- 
losophers who,  despising  the  contracted  limits  and  humble 
results  of  observation,  reestablished  a  bolder  and  more 
uncompromising  rationalism  than  any  that  had  ever  pre- 
viously obtained  for  their  country  the  character  of  phi- 
losophic visionaries — 

'  Minds  mad  with  reasoning,  and  on  fancies  fed.' 

Founded  by  Fichte,  but  evolved  by  Schelling,  this  doctrine 
regards  experience  as  unworthy  of  the  name  of  science ; 
because,  as  only  of  the  phenomenal,  the  transitory,  the 
dependent,  it  is  only  that  which,  having  no  reality  in 
itself,  cannot  be  established  as  a  valid  basis  of  certainty 
and  knowledge.  Philosophy,  therefore,  must  either  be 
abandoned,  or  we  must  be  able  to  seize  the  One,  the  Abso- 
lute, the  Unconditioned,  immediately  and  in  itself.  And 
this  they  profess  to  do  by  a  kind  of  intellectual  vision.  In 
this  act,  reason,  soaring  not  only  above  the  world  of  sense, 
but  beyond  the  sphere  of  personal  consciousness,  boldly 
places   itself   at  tlie   very  center    of  absolute   being,   with 


114  FOUR    IIITNDRKD    YKARS   OB'   FREKTHOUGHT. 

wliicli  it  claims  to  be,  in  fact,  identified  ;  and,  thence  sur- 
veying existence  in  itself,  and  in  its  relations,  nuveils  to 
us  the  nature  of  the  deity,  and  explains,  from  first  to  last» 
the  derivation  of  all  created  things." 

Tiie  following  is  a  luminous  statement,  as  far  as  it  is 
possible  to  give  one,  of  this  transcendental  phiU)s()pliy, 
which,  happily,  to-day,  is  fast  disappearing  from  even 
the  German  mind  : 

"  In  every  act  of  consciousness  we  distinguisli  a  self, 
or  ego,  and  something  different  from  self,  a  non-e(jo,  eacli 
limited  and  modified  by  the  otlier.  These,  together,  con- 
stitute the  finite  element.  But,  at  the  same  instant,  when 
we  are  conscious  of  these  existences,  plural,  relative,  and 
contingent,  we  are  conscious,  likewise,  of  a  superior  unity 
in  which  they  are  contained  and  by  which  they  are  ex- 
plained—a unity  absolute  as  they  are  conditioned,  sub- 
stantive as  they  are  phenomenal,  and  an  infinite  cause  as 
they  are  finite  causes.  This  unity  is  God.  The  fact  of 
consciousness  is  thus  a  complex  phenomenon,  comprehend- 
ing three  several  terms — first,  the  idea  of  the  ego  and  non^ 
ego  as  finite  ;  second,  the  idea  of  something  else  as  infinite  ; 
third,  the  idea  of  the  relation  of  the  finite  element  to  the 
infinite.  These  elements  are  revealed  in  themselves  and 
in  their  mutual  connection  in  every  act  of  primitive  or 
spontaneous  consciousness." 

The  essential  spirit  of  intolerance  and  persecution, 
which  is  in  every  religious  philosophy,  and  which  will 
result  in  horror  and  bloodshed,  is  also  stated  by  Hamil- 
ton as  existing  in  this  philosophy,  thus  : 

"As,  in  this  spontaneous  intuition  of  reason,  there  is 
nothing  voluntary,  and,  therefore,  nothing  personal ;  and 
as  the  truths  which  intelligence  here  discovers  come  not 
from  ourselves,  ive  are  entitled^  up  to  a  certain  point,  to  impose 
these  truths  on  others  as  revelations  from  on  high." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  sword,  the  fire  and  fagot, 
are  in  this  transcendental  philosophy,  the  ideal  rational- 


RALPH  "WALDO  EMERSON  (p.  473). 


HAMILTON.  115 

ism,  which  so  disdainfully  avoids  the  ground  of  common 
experience  and  soars  to  God. 

It  is  a  fact  that  Cousin,  the  last  great  representative  of 
this  school,  formulated  into  ecclesiasticism,  endeavored 
to  justify,  partially,  the  execution  of  Yanini,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  an  Atheist  and  an  immoral  man.  He  labored 
to  blacken  the  reputation  of  the  martyr  in  order  to  save 
the  "defenders  of  God." 

Hamilton  compactly  states  the  issue  : 

"  Philosophical  opinions  may  be  reduced  to  four  :  First, 
the  unconditioned  is  incognizable  and  inconceivable  ;  its 
notion  being  only  negative  of  the  conditioned,  which  last 
can  only  be  positively  known  as  conceived.  Second,  it 
(the  infinite)  is  not  an  object  of  knowledge,  but  its  notion 
as  a  regulative  (moral)  principle  of  the  mind  itself  is  more 
than  a  mere  negation  of  the  conditioned.  Third,  it  (the 
infinite)  is  cognizable,  but  not  conceivable  ;  it  can  be  known 
by  a  sinking  back  into  identity  with  the  infinite-absolute, 
but  it  is  incomprehensible  by  consciousness  and  reflection, 
svhich  are  only  of  the  relative  and  different.  Fourth,  it  is 
cognizable  and  conceivable  by  consciousness  and  reflection, 
which  are  under  relation,  difference,  and  plurality." 

"  The  first  of  these  opinions,"  says  Hamilton,  "we 
regard  as  true  ;  the  second  is  held  by  Kant,  the  third  by 
Schelling,  and  the  last  by  Cousin. 

''  In  our  opinion,"  says  Hamilton,  "the  mind  can  con- 
ceive, and  consequently  can  know,  only  the  limited  and  the 
conditionally  limited.  Tiie  unconditionally  unlimited,  or 
the  injinite,  the  unconditionally  limited,  or  the  absolute, 
cannot  possibly  be  construed  to  the  mind  ;  the}-  can  be 
conceived  only  by  a  thinking  away  from,  or  abstraction  of, 
those  very  conditions  uneler  which  thought  itself  is 
realized;  consequently,  the  notion  of  the  imconditioned  is 
only  negative — negative  of  the  conceivable  itself.  For 
example :  on  the  one  hand  we  can  positively  conceive 
neither  an  absolute  whole,  that  is,  a  whole  so  great  that 


116  FOUR  HUNDRED   TEARS  OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

we  cannot  conceive  it  as  a  relative  part  of  a  still  greater 
whole  ;  nor  an  absolute  part,  that  is,  a  part  so  small  that  we 
cannot  also  conceive  it  as  a  relative  whole,  divisible  into 
smaller  parts.  On  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  positively 
represent,  or  realize,  or  construe  to  the  mind,  an  infinite 
whole,  for  this  could  only  be  done  by  the  infinite  syn- 
thesis in  thought  of  finite  wholes,  which  would  itself 
require  an  infinite  time  for  its  accomplishment ;  nor,  for 
the  same  reason,  can  we  follow  out  in  thought  au  infinite 
divisibility  of  parts.  The  result  is  the  same,  whether  we 
apply  the  process  to  limitation  in  space,  in  time,  or  in 
degree.  The  infinite,  the  absolute,  are  thus  equally  incon- 
ceivable to  us. 

"  Thought  necessarily  supposes  condition.  To  think 
is  to  condition.  For,  as  the  greyhound  cannot  outstrip  its 
shadow,  nor  the  eagle  outsoar  the  atmosphere  in  which  he 
floats  and  by  which  alone  he  is  supported ;  so  the  mind 
cannot  transcend  that  sphere  of  limitation  within  and 
through  which  exclusively  the  possibility  of  thought  is 
realized.  All  that  we  know  is  only  known  as  '  won  from 
the  void  and  formless  infinite,' 

"  Thought  cannot  transcend  consciousness  ;  conscious- 
ness is  only  possible  under  the  antithesis  of  a  subject  and 
object  of  thought,  known  only  in  correlation,  and  mutually 
limiting  each  other  ;  while,  independently  of  this,  all  that 
we  know  either  of  subject  or  object,  either  of  mind  or 
matter,  is  only  a  knowledge  in  each  of  the  particular  or 
phenomenal.  We  admit  that  the  consequence  of  this  doc- 
trine iS;  that  philosophy,  if  viewed  as  more  than  a  science 
of  the  conditioned,  is  impossible.  Departing  from  the 
particular,  we  admit  that  we  can  never,  in  our  highest 
generalizations,  rise  above  the  finite. 

"  Time  is  only  the  image,  or  concept,  of  a  certain  correla- 
tion of  existences — of  existence,  therefore,  as  conditioned. 
It  is  thus  itself  only  a  form  of  the  conditioned. 

"  Is  the  absolute  conceivable  in  time  ?     We  can  easily 


HAMILTON.  117 

represent  to  ourselves  time  under  anj  relative  limitation  of 
commencement  and  termination  ;  but  we  are  conscious  to 
ourselves  of  notbinoj  more  clearly  than  that  it  would  be 
equally  possible  to  think  without  thought,  as  to  construe 
to  the  mind  an  absolute  commencement,  or  an  absolute 
termimation  of  time — that  is,  a  beginning  and  an  end 
beyond  which  time  is  conceived  as  not  existent.  Goad 
imagination  to  the  utmost,  it  still  sinks  paralyzed  within 
the  bounds  of  time,  and  time  survives  as  the  condition  of 
the  thought  itself  in  which  we  annihilate  the  universe. 

"  Is  the  infinite  more  comprehensible  ?  Can  we  imagine 
time  as  unconditionally  unlimited  ?  We  cannot  con- 
ceive the  infinite  r&gress  of  time  ;  for  such  a  notion  could 
only  be  realized  by  the  infinite  addition  in  thought  of 
finite  times,  and  such  an  addition  would  itself  require  an 
eternity  for  its  accomplishment.  If  we  dream  of  affecting 
this,  we  only  deceive  ourselves  by  substituting  the  indefinite 
for  the  infinite,  than  which  no  two  notions  can  be  more 
opposed.  The  negation  of  the  commencement  of  time 
involves,  likewise,  the  affirmation  that  an  infinite  time  has 
at  every  moment  already  run  ;  that  is,  it  implies  the  con- 
tradiction that  an  infinite  has  been  completed.  For  the 
same  reason  we  are  unable  to  conceive  an  infinite  progress 
of  time.  While  the  infinite  regress  and  infinite  progress, 
taken  together,  involve  the  triple  contradiction  of  an 
infinite  concluded,  of  an  infinite  commencing,  and  of 
two  infinites  not  exclusive  of  each  other. 

"  Space,  like  time,  is  only  the  intuition,  or  the  concept, 
of  a  certain  correlation  of  existence,  of  existence,  therefore, 
as  conditioned.  It  is  thus  itself  only  a  form  of  the  conditioned. 
But  apart  from  this,  thought  is  equally  powerless  in 
realizing  a  notion,  either  of  the  absolute  totality,  or  of  the 
infinite  immensity  of  space.  And,  while  space  and  time,  as 
wholes,  can  thus  neither  be  conceived  as  absolutely 
limited,  nor  as  infinitelv  unlimited,  so  their  parts  can  be 
represented  to  the  human  mind,  neither  as  absolutely  indi- 


118  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

visible,  nor  as  divisible  to  infinity.  The  universe  cannot  be 
imagined  as  a  whole  which  may  not  also  be  imagined  as  a 
part ;  nor  an  atom  be  imagined  as  a  part  which  may  not 
also  be  imagined  as  a  whole, 

"  The  unconditioned,  therefore,  is  not  a  positive  con- 
cept, nor  has  it  ever  a  real  or  intrinsic  unity,  for  it  only 
combines  the  absolute  and  the  infinite,  in  themselves  con- 
tradictory of  each  other,  into  a  unity  relative  to  us,  by  the 
negative  bond  of  their  inconceivability." 

Stephen  Pearl  Andrews,  one  of  the  keenest  metaphysi- 
cians of  modern  times,  has  made  a  distinction  which  is 
quite  helpful,  between  the  absolute  infinite  and  the  rela- 
tive infinite.  The  relative  infinite  is  a  kind  of  contra- 
diction in  terms,  yet  still  it  conveys  something  to  the 
human  mind.  The  absolute  infinite  is  that  which  is  so 
great  that  it  cannot  be  made  greater.  That  is  the  use  of 
the  term  as  applied  to  God.  But  the  moment  we  try  to 
think  God,  we  must  think  of  him  as  less  than  infinite,  for 
we  cannot  think  of  any  being  so  great  but  that  we  must 
still  think  of  a  greater.  Suppose,  for  instance,  we  say 
that  the  universe  is  infinite,  that  is,  that  the  number  of 
worlds  is  so  great  that  the  number  cannot  be  increased. 
If  you  say  the  number  of  worlds  can  be  increased,  that 
number  must  be  finite.  Grant  the  number  to  be  abso- 
lutely infinite.  It  must  then  be  admitted  that  every  world 
is  composed  of  billions  of  particles,  and  the  number  of  par- 
ticles of  course  must  be  infinite.  We  are  at  once  con- 
fronted by  the  absurdity  of  one  infinite  number  being  a 
billion  times  greater  than  another  infinite  number,  and 
yet  by  the  assumption  both  numbers  are  so  great  that  they 
cannot  be  increased.  We  can  only  escape  the  absurdity 
by  saying  that  the  number  of  worlds  is  relatively  infinite, 
that  is,  so  great  that  we  cannot  count  them.  Time  and 
space  are  relatively  infinite  in  the  sense  that  we  cannot 
conceive  the  beginning  or  the  ending  of  either,  but  in  this 
case  it  is  not  the  strength  of  thought,  but  its  impotence, 


COMTE.  119 

that  is  manifest.  It  is  a  confession  of  inability  to  think, 
not  an  affirmation  of  positive  knowledge. 

In  this  sense  the  word  "  infinite  "  is  applied  to  time, 
space,  and  the  universe,  but  it  will  be  easily  seen  this  use 
of  the  word  expresses  the  want  of  a  conception,  not  the 
presence  of  it. 

"  Infinite  "  and  "  absolute  "  in  the  theological  sense 
are,  therefore,  entirely  without  meaning,  and  must  be  for- 
ever abandoned  by  science. 

Kant  threw  the  words  "  God  "  and  "  immortality  "  into 
the  limbo  of  faith,  and  Hamilton  has  tumbled  the  words 
"  infinite  "  and  "  absolute  "  after  them,  and  there  they  lie 
in  undistinguished  confusion.  They  are  not  even  ghosts 
or  shadows — they  are  simply  nothing. 

COMTE. 

So  the  way  is  made  for  Positive  Philosophy,  which  is 
the  true  and  final  answer  to  the  question,  What  can  we 
know?  We  can  know  phenomena  only,  and  the  correla- 
tions of  phenomena.  The  universe  is  simply  the  known 
and  the  unknown.  The  unknown  is  simply  unknown. 
We  cannot  describe  it  in  any  way,  and,  as  Frederic  Harri- 
son says,  we  do  not  even  begin  it  with  a  capital.  The 
boundaries  of  the  known  continually  advance,  but  the  un- 
known is  always  the  unknown.  We  cannot  name  it  " God," 
"immortality,"  "  thing -in -itself,"  "  noumenon,"  ''sub- 
stratum," "  soul."  "  the  infinite,"  "  the  absolute,"  or  even 
"  the  unknowable."  The  known  is  only  phenomena,  but 
real  phenomena,  and  the  manifestation  of  the  universe  as 
it  is. 

I  accept  Positive  Philosophy,  not  as  a  philosophy 
founded  by  Comte,  but  as  the  grand  result  of  the  labors  of 
Descartes,  Locke,  Hume,  Kant,  and  Hamilton,  in  their  en- 
deavors to  define  human  knowledge.  The  words  Positive 
Philosophy  express  that  result  better  than  any  others,  and 


120  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

why  not  accept  them,  even  though  we  do  not  accept  alto- 
gether the  conclusions  of  Oomte  himself  ?  This  philoso- 
pher has  exerted  a  profound  and  mighty  influence  upon 
his  age.  He  was  a  thinker  of  extraordinary  ability  and 
magnificent  enthusiasm.  Certainly  no  one  has  better 
stated  the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge.  His  philoso- 
phy will  sufi"er  many  modifications  in  the  onward  march  of 
science,  but  in  that  march  theology  and  metaphysics  will 
be  forever  discarded.  Science  will  deal  with  what  is  pos- 
itive, and  not  with  dreams  or  fancies,  and  that  is  a  splen- 
did triumph  for  Freethought. 

Comte's  attempt  to  establish  a  religion  of  humanity — 
a  religion  minus  theology,  with  the  regalia  and  ceremo- 
nies of  the  papal  church — was  a  colossal  blunder.  It  is  a 
dismal  failure.  You  cannot  build  religion  on  reason, 
common  sense,  or  any  intellectual  or  moral  grounds,  as 
Hume  has  clearly  shown. 

One  of  the  founders  of  a  new  religion,  "  Theophilan- 
throp3","  the  religion  which  Paine  professed,  complained 
to  Talleyrand  that  it  made  but  little  headwaj^  among  the 
people.  Talleyrand  replied :  "  It  is  no  easy  matter  to  in- 
troduce a  new  religion.  But  there  is  one  thing  I  would 
advise  j'ou  to  do,  and  then  perhaps  you  might  succeed. 
Go  and  be  crucified,  then  be  buried,  and  then  rise  again 
on  the  third  day  ;  and  then  work  miracles,  raise  the  dead, 
heal  all  manner  of  disease  and  cast  out  devils,  and  then  it 
is  possible  you  ma}^  accomplish  your  end."  This  was  Tal- 
leyrand's shrewd  way  of  saying  that  religion  was  a  hum- 
bug ;  that  it  must  be  founded  on  a  lie. 

The  conflict  between  science  and  religion  always  has 
-existed  and  always  will  exist.  Comte  should  have  ban- 
ished religion  equally  with  theology  and  metaphysics. 

It  is  folly  to  talk  about  worshiping  humanity,  or  any- 
thing else.  We  should  not  cultivate  a  feeling  of  worship. 
"We  should  not  bow  or  pray.  Self-respect  forbids  this. 
]Eecognize  everyone  as  your  equal.     Honor  the  truly  great. 


HENBY    1).  THOREAU  (p.  473). 


COMTE.  121 

but  don't  make  them  gods,  for  the  best  of  them  are  no 
better  than  they  shoukl  be. 

Comte's  "  grand  man  "  is  simply  a  fiction  of  the  imag- 
ination. It  does  not  exist.  There  is  some  anah)gy  be- 
tween society  and  the  hviman  body,  but  that  is  alL  Hu- 
manity is  not  like  a  vast  organism.  We  are  not  like  cells 
in  a  stupendous  body.  We  are  individuals,  and  supreme 
in  our  individuality,  and  as  individuals  we  possess  rights. 
There  is  no  higher  existence  in  quality  than  individual  ex- 
istence. We  are  not  to  be  absorbed  in  a  figment  called 
humanity,  any  more  than  in  a  figment  called  God.  All  the 
millions  of  human  beings  massed  together  cannot  make 
an  existence  superior  in  kind  to  individual  existence, 
and  it  often  happens  that  one  man  is  wiser  than  all  the 
rest  of  the  world  put  together.  Comte's  "grand  man" 
seems  a  pure  metaphysical  conception  like  the  "  enti- 
ties "  of  the  schoolmen.  Humanity  is  a  combination  of 
individuals,  but  that  combination  does  not  create  a 
"supreme  being."  Comte's  abolition  of  "rights"  and 
substitution  of  "  duties "  as  fundamental  is  not  for 
morality  or  for  liberty.  Eights  are  fundamental,  and 
duties  are  based  upon  our  rights;  and  if  we  have  no 
rights,  then  we  have  no  duties.  The  sentiment  of  self 
is  as  original  as  the  sentiment  of  humanity.  We  are 
not  to  be  altogether  altruistic.  We  must  be  egoistic. 
Live  for  others  is  not  the  true  maxim,  but  live  for  all 
being,  yourself  included.  The  sentiment  of  humanity 
should  not  displace  the  sentiment  of  self,  any  more  than 
the  sentiment  of  self  should  displace  the  sentiment  of  hu- 
manity. 

I  have  thus  noted  the  mistakes  and  failures  of  Comte, 
which  have  lessened  the  value  of  his  work,  but  what  he 
has  done  still  remains  among  the  greatest  achievements  of 
the  century.  He  has  been  a  prodigious  power,  and  the 
old  superstitions  have  received  no  deadlier  blow  than 
from  this  brave  thinker. 


122  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  a  unity  and  correla- 
tion of  the  sciences — a  true  order  ;  and  though  Comte  may 
not  have  succeeded  in  stating  the  true  order,  yet  his  efforts 
to  do  so,  and  liis  affirmation  of  the  unity,  have  been  of 
great  service. 

Mr.  Lewes  eh)quently  says :"  It  constructs  a  series 
which  makes  all  the  separate  sciences  organic  parts  of  one 
science;  and  it  enables  the  several  phih)sophies  to  yield  a 
doctrine,  which  is  what  no  other  doctrine  has  ever  been, 
coextensive  with  human  knowledge  and  homogeneous 
throughout  its  whole  extent.  This  then  is  the  Positive 
Philosophy;  the  extension  to  all  investigation  of  those 
methods  which  have  been  proved  successful  in  the  physi- 
cal sciences.  The  limitations  of  human  knowledge  maybe 
irksome  to  some  impatient  spirits  ;  but  philosophy  pre- 
tending to  no  wider  sweep  than  that  of  human  faculty,  and 
contented  with  the  certainties  of  experience,  declares  the 
search  after  first  and  final  causes,  to  be  a  profitless  pur- 
suit." 

In  directing  attention  to  sociology  and  to  the  laws  of 
human  nrogress,  in  declaring  that  there  are  such  laws,  and 
that  tLere  is  a  science  of  society,  Comte  has  pushed  for- 
ward human  investigation  in  a  most  noble  and  beneficial 
direction. 

Comte's  "  great  fundamental  law  of  human  intelligence," 
the  law  of  the  three  stages,  is  certainly  a  very  illuminat- 
ing criticism  of  human  history.  It  is  in  the  main  correct, 
though  by  no  means  applicable  to  the  growth  of  all  the 
sciences.  But  mankind  in  the  search  after  truth  lias  really 
passed  through  these  three  stages,  though  I  do  not  see 
that  in  the  nature  of  things  it  should  always  be  in  this 
fashion.  It  has  been  so  as  a  matter  of  fact,  and  Comte's 
•'law"  is  a  statement  of  history,  but  not  a  fundamental 
law  of  perpetual  operation,  like  the  law  of  evolution  as 
given  by  Herbert  Spencer. 

The  law  of  the  three  stages  is  thus  stated  by  Comte  •. 


COMTE.  123 

"  Each  of  our  leading  conceptions,  each  branch  of  our 
knowledge,  passes  successively  through  three  different 
theoretical  conditions — the  theological  or  fictitious  ;  the 
metaphysical  or  abstract,  and  the  scientific  or  positive. 
In  the  theological,  men  suppose  all  phenomena  to  be 
produced  by  the  immediate  action  of  supernatural  beings, 
and  the  perfection  of  this  stage  is  reached  wlien  all  these 
supposed  beings  are  merged  into  one,  that  is.  Monotheism. 
In  the  metaphysical  stage  the  mind  substitutes  for  per- 
sonal beings,  abstract  forces,  or  laws,  which  are  part  of  the 
entity  or  nature  of  matter,  and  this  stage  is  matured  when 
mankind  have  substituted  one  final  entity  (nature)  for  the 
various  minor  entities  at  first  supposed. 

"  In  the  final,  the  positive  stage,  the  mind  has  given 
over  the  vain  search  after  absolute  notions,  the  origin  and 
destination  of  the  universe,  and  the  causes  of  phenomena, ' 
and  applies  itself  to  the  study  of  their  laws,  that  is.  their 
invariable  relations  of  succession  and  resemblance. 
Reasoning  and  observation,  duly  combined,  are  the  means 
of  this  knowledge.  What  is  now  understood  when  we 
speak  of  an  explanation  of  facts,  is  simply  the  establish- 
ment of  a  connection  between  a  single  phenomenon  and 
some  general  (unreduced)  facts,  the  number  of  which  con- 
tinually diminishes  with  the  progress  of  science.  The 
ultimate  perfection  of  the  positive  system  would  be  (if 
such  perfection  could  be  hoped  for)  to  represent  all  phe- 
nomena as  particular  aspects  of  a  single  general  fact." 

This  is  a  luminous  philosophy  of  history.  It  is 
an  admirable  explanation  of  the  way  things  have  been 
and  of  the  goal  to  be  reached. 

No  doubt  Comte  will  be  vastly  modified  by  such 
thinkers  as  Spencer,  Mill,  and  Huxley.  For  instance, 
Comte  l]as  overlooked  too  much  the  value  of  psychology, 
and,  as  Mill  says,  it  should  be  classified  as  an  independent 
abstract  science.  It  appears  that  Comte,  in  his  opposition 
to  metaphysics,  did  not  sufficiently  distinguish  between 


124  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGIIT. 

true  and  false  metaphysics.  If  we  take  tlie  word  "  meta- 
physics "  in  its  original  sense,  then  all  metaphysics  is 
false  ;  but  historically  the  word  has  been  used  in  two 
senses — used  in  the  sense  that  there  can  be  knowledge 
without  experience,  that  is,  without  physical  sensation ; 
that  we  can  start  from  ideas  and  not  from  facts  ;  that  from 
notions  in  the  mind  we  can  deduce  truth  without  con- 
sultation with  the  material  world  about  us ;  that  we  can 
neglect  phenomena  altogether,  and  study  pure  being 
through  intuition.  Metaphysics  in  this  sense — the  meta- 
physics of  the  schoolmen — is  entirely  false  and  unworthy 
of  the  attention  of  science.  The  metaphysical  stage, 
equally  with  the  theological  age,  is  unscientific,  and 
"  entities  "  are  as  much  to  be  abolished  as  the  "  gods." 

But  it  must  be  conceded  that  there  are  mental  j^he- 
nomena  apart  from  physical  phenomena,  and  that  physical 
phenomena  do  not  altogether  explain  mental  phe- 
nomena. As  Huxley  states  it  :  "I  cannot  conceive  how 
the  phenomena  of  consciousness,  as  such  and  apart  from 
the  physical  process  by  which  they  are  called  into  ex- 
istence, are  to  be  brought  within  the  bounds  of  physical 
science.  Let  us  suppose  the  process  of  physical  analysis 
pushed  so  far  that  one  could  view  the  last  links  of  the 
chain  of  molecules,  watch  their  movements  as  if  they  were 
billiard  balls,  weigh  them,  measure  them,  and  know  all 
that  is  physically  knowable  about  them.  Well,  even  in 
this  case  we  should  be  just  as  far  from  being  able  to  in- 
clude the  resulting  phenomenon  of  consciousness  within 
the  bounds  of  physical  science  as  we  are  at  present.  It 
would  remain  as  unlike  the  phenomena  we  know  under  the 
names  of  matter  and  motion  as  it  is  now." 

The  correlation  of  mental  phenomena,  therefore,  could 
not  come  under  the  name  "  physics."  It  has  come  under  the 
name  "  metaphysics  "  and  is  certainly  a  true  science,  as 
much  as  the  correlation  of  pliysical  phenomena.  In  this 
sense,  Hume,  and  Kant,  and  Hamilton  are  among  the  great- 


COMTE.  125 

est  metaphysicians,  and  as  metaphysicians  they  have  added 
incalculably  to  the  stores  of  human  knowledge.  Comte 
himself  was  a  metaphysician  in  this  sense,  for  it  must  be 
admitted  that  his  statement  of  positive  philosophy  is  a 
mental  conclusion  and  not  a  physical  phenomenon. 

However,  mental  phenomena  must  be  studied  in  con- 
nection with  the  physical  world.  A  true  psychology  must 
be  based  upon  a  true  physiology.  We  cannot  understand 
the  action  of  the  mind  unless  we  understand  the  action  of 
the  brain.  To  study  the  mind  apart  from  its  physical 
surroundings  is  again  a  "  false  metaphj^sics."  This,  no 
doubt,  is  what  Comte  meant,  since  Lewes  declares  that  the 
science  of  psychology  is  included  in  biology.  In  a  certain 
sense  it  is,  and  in  a  certain  sense  it  is  not.  As  Huxley 
again  says,  with  scientific  exactness :  "  I  doubt  not  our 
poor,  long-armed,  and  short-legged  friend,  the  ourang,  as 
he  sits  meditatively  munching  his  durion  fruit,  has  some- 
thing behind  that  sad,  Socratic  face  of  his  which  is  utterly 
*  beyond  the  bounds '  of  physical  science.  Physical 
science  may  know  all  about  his  clutching  the  fruit  and 
munching  it  and  digesting  it  and  how  the  physical  titilla- 
tion  of  his  palate  is  transmitted  to  some  microscopic  cells 
of  the  gray  matter  of  his  brain.  But  the  feelings  of  sweet- 
ness and  satisfaction  which  for  a  moment  hang  out  their 
signal  lights  in  his  melancholy  eyes,  are  as  utterly  outside 
the  bounds  of  physics  as  is  the  'fine  frenzy'  of  a  human 
rhapsodist." 

It  is  evident  that  Comte  would  have  been  more  correct 
in  his  classification  if  he  had  included  psychology  and 
logic  also  in  the  independent  abstract  sciences. 

While  the  "grand  man"  and  humanity  as  an  "organ- 
ism "  must  be  entirely  rejected,  yet  the  true  value  of 
humanity  as  a  mediator  between  man,  the  individual,  and 
nature  must  not  be  overlooked  ;  and  Avhile  in  form  we  deny 
Comte,  in  spirit  we  accept  him,  as  he  has  been  unfolded 
in  a  very  able  manner  by  T.  B.  Wakeman,  who,  I  think, 


126  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  ?REETHOUGHT. 

has  given  a  better  interpretation  to  Comte  than  any  other 
writer.  He  has  certainly  stripped  Comte's  religion  of  its 
provincial  and  imperial  elements,  and  made  it,  as  far  as 
possible,  cosmopolitan  and  democratic.  No  man,  however 
great  his  genius,  can  understand  nature  by  the  solitary 
exercise  of  his  faculties.  Co-operation  is  as  necessary  in  the 
intellectual  world  as  in  the  industrial.  It  is  not  through 
man,  as  a  single  being,  but  through  humanity,  the 
universal  being  (not  organism),  that  the  greatness  of  nature 
is  revealed,  and  that  we  know  and  use  her  power.  Gen- 
erations have  toiled  for  us.  The  whole  human  race  is 
constantly  endowing  us  with  truth.  Millions  are  helping 
to  build  the  cosmos  in  which  we  dwell.  Civilization  is 
the  result  of  immense  combinations  all  over  the  world.  It 
is  not  the  individual  alone,  but  the  individual  plus 
humanity,  the  one  through  the  many,  that  gems  the  earth 
with  harvest  fields,  chains  the  lightning,  and  counts  the 
multitude  of  stars.  In  this  sense,  humanity  is  an  amazing 
power,  and  with  this  interpretation  there  is  something- 
most  nobly  inspiring  in  Comte's  conception,  as  described 
by  John  Stuart  Mill :  "  Humanity  ascends  into  the  un- 
known recesses  of  the  past,  embraces  the  manifold  present,, 

and  descends  into  the  indefinite  and  unforeseeable  future 

> 

forming  a  collective  existence  without  assignable  beginning 
or  end,  appealing  to  that  feeling  of  the  infinite  which  is 
deeply  rooted  in  human  nature  and  which  seems  neces- 
sary to  the  imposingness  of  all  our  highest  concep- 
tions." 

Comte,  by  his  magnificent  ideas,  has  created  what  has 
been  called  the  "enthusiasm  of  humanity,"  through  whicli 
human  progress  is  ennobled  with  music,  art,  and  poetry. 
Comte  endeavored  to  cultivate  majestic  and  enduring  sen- 
timents, along  with  clear  scientific  advancement,  and  in 
this  he  has  labored  in  the  true  direction,  although  his 
"  religion  "  and  its  methods  may  forever  disappear.  He 
has   been   a  great   intellectual  agitator.     As  Van   Buren 


G.  J.  HOLYOAKE  (p.   183). 


COMTE.  127 

Denslow  says  :  "  His  work  created  a  consternation  akin  to 
the  handwriting  on  the  wall  at  Belshazzar's  feast,  for  it 
said  to  theologians  and  metaphysicians  alike,  '  3Iene  mene 
tehel  upharsin.'  It  said  to  all  priesthoods  and  spiritual 
ministers,  'Your  occupation  was  necessary  for  a  time,  as 
was  slavery;  but  the  time  will  come  when  it  will  be 
equally  necessary  to  abolish  it.'  The  clergy  were  better 
prepared  for  argument  than  for  this  outlawry.  They  did 
not  relish  being  told  that  to  account  for  things  super- 
naturally  was  an  inseparable  attribute  of  the  infantile  stage 
of  the  liuraan  mind,  and  therein  all  theologies,  like  all 
fetich  worships  of  which  the}^  are  in  fact  a  part,  like  all 
mythologies,  like  all  scandals,  and,  indeed,  like  all  dogs, 
must  have  their  day  and  perish.  The  clergy  had  pretty 
nearly  made  man  a  product  of  theology.  They  were 
startled  to  fiud  theology  a  parasite  creeping  precariously 
upon  the  outer  skull  of  man.  They  had  placed  God  in  the 
center  of  the  intellectual  system,  and  bid  all  souls  derive 
from  it  their  light.  Comte  asserted  that  no  light  emanated 
from  this  so-called  God,  except  by  reflection  from  the 
larger  luminary — humanity." 

We  have  thus  traced  the  philosophical  progress  of  man 
since  the  days  of  Columbus.  Bruno  and  Spinoza,  in  tlie 
lii)e  of  transcendental  philosoph}^  were  the  advocates  of 
man's  freedom  and  nobility,  with  a  splendor  of  genius 
unsurpassed.  But  the  true  father  of  modern  philosophy 
is  Descartes,  and  from  him  flows  the  brilliant  line  of 
Locke,  Hume,  Kant,  Hamilton,  and  Comte.  What  an 
illustrious  pathway  this  has  been !  What  wealth  of 
thought  has  been  expended  in  order  to  answer  the  simple 
question,  "  What  can  we  know  ?"  It  took  from  Descartes 
(1596)  to  Comte  (1857)  to  fully  and  satisfactorily  answer 
that  question.  It  has  been  answered,  and,  accepting  Pos- 
itive philosophy,  not  as  what  Comte  was  the  first  to 
create,  but  as  the  result  of  the  labors  of  his  great  predeces- 
sors, of  which  himself  is  the  interpreter  and  advancer,  and 


128  1^0^^   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREBTHOUGHT. 

whose  statements  will  still  undergo  many  and  important 
modifications,  we  can  say,  with  Lewes  : 

"  Mr.  Spencer  is  unequivocally  a  Positive  philosopher, 
however  he  may  repudiate  being  considered  a  disciple  of 
Comte.  His  object  is  that  of  the  Positive  philosophy — 
namely,  the  organization  into  a  harmonious  doctrine  of  all 
the  highest  generalities  of  science,  by  the  application  of 
the  positive  method,  and  the  complete  displacement  of 
theology  and  metaphysics.  The  peculiar  character  he 
impresses  on  it  by  his  thorough  working  out  in  detail  of 
the  law  of  evolution  gives  a  special  value  to  his  system ; 
but  the  Positive  philosophy  will  absorb  all  his  dis- 
coveries, as  it  will  absorb  all  future  discoveries  made 
on  its  m.etliod  and  in  its  spirit,  rejecting  certain 
a  priori  and  teleological  tendencies  which  he  some- 
times manifests,  and  disregarding  his  failures  as  it  dis- 
regards the  failures  of  Comte  and  every  other  seeker." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Final  Scientific  Answer — Monism. 

The  last  remaining  cloud  to  be  swept  from  the  path- 
way of  modern  science  is  Spencer's  doctrine  of  the  un- 
knowable. This  doctrine  is  simply  a  revival  of  the  old 
dualistic  and  theological  conception  of  the  universe,  and 
is  opposed  to  the  scientific  and  monistic  conception. 

If  science  to-day  and  philosophy  affirm  anything,  it  is  the 
oneness  of  existence.  As  Comte  says,  this  is  the  goal  of 
science,  to  explain  the  multitude  of  facts  by  one  general 
fact.  It  is  the  object  of  science  to  correlate  all  phe- 
nomena— to  bind  them  into  unity. 

If  we  divide  existence  into  two  kinds,  one  knowable  and 
the  other  unknowable,  this  is  dualism.  It  absolutely 
splits  the  universe  asunder.  There  is  an  impassable  chasm 
between  existences,  and  the  inevitable  result  is  the  old 
dualism  again — reason  and  revelation,  science  and  faith — - 
science  for  the  knowable  and  faith  for  the  unknowable. 
Here  is  the  '*'  twofold  truth  "  of  Pomponazzi  and  the  old 
philosophers  in  modern  thought.  No  wonder  that  theo- 
logians have  welcomed  Spencer's  doctrine  of  the  unknow- 
able. It  saves  them.  It  gives  a  refuge  for  all  their 
fallacies,  a  boundless  domain  for  the  exercise  of  credulity. 
Since  reason  cannot  penetrate  it,  inspiration  from  God 
must  come  to  man's  aid  and  supplement  science. 

The  monistic  philosophy,  which  is  the  grand  result  of 
the  critical  and  positive  philosophy,  must  repudiate  the 
unknowable.     So  far  as  science  is  concerned,  all  existence 


130  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

is  identical,  aiul,  therefore,  all  existence  is  knowable,  that 
is,  intelligible.  If  not,  why  not?  Is  there  any  part  of 
nature  unintelligible  ? 

If  a  part  of  universal  being  is  unknowable,  how  does 
Spencer  or  anybody  else  know  it  ? 

When  we  assert  that  fundamental  existence  is  unknow- 
able, do  we  not  in  that  very  affirmation  declare  that  we  do 
know  something  about  it,  that  is,  we  know  that  it  is  un- 
knowable— a  most  tremendous  assumption  of  knowledge. 

This  doctrine  of  the  unknowable  explains  nothing,  any 
more  than  the  doctrine  of  God  explains,  and,  therefore,  is 
unscientific.  It  only  makes  a  muddle.  Spencer  frankly 
says  : 

"  I  hold  at  the  outset  and  continue  to  hold  that  the  in- 
scrutable existence  stands  towards  our  general  conceptions 
of  things  in  substantially  the  same  relation  as  does  the 
creative  power  asserted  by  theology,  and  when  theology 
has  dropped  the  last  of  the  anthropomorphic  traits  ascribed, 
the  foundation  beliefs  of  the  two  must  become  identical.'" 

Says  Frederic  Harrison  :  "  To  invoke  the  unknowable 
is  to  reopen  the  whole  range  of  metaphysics  ;  and  the 
entire  apparatus  of  theology  will  follow  through  the 
breach." 

Even  the  "  Christian  World  "  declares  that  "  the  words  of 
Spencer  might  have  been  used  by  Butler  or  Paley,  and  are 
the  fitting  and  natural  introduction  to  inspiration.''' 

Spencer  affirms  that  the  "  unknowable  "  is  the  "  infinite 
and  eternal  energy  "  from  which  all  things  proceed.  It  is 
the  "ultimate,"  the  "all-being." 

If  it  is  the  unknowable,  how  does  Spencer  know  that  it 
is  "  infinite  "  and  "  eternal,"  or  that  it  is  an  "  energy,"  or 
that  anything  "  proceeds"  from  it,  or  that  it  is  "  ultimate  ?" 
How  does  be  even  know  that  it  is  a  "  reality  ?  " 

Mr.  Wakeman  says  :  "  Spencer's  system,  by  his  doctrine 
of  the  unknowable,  becomes  a  duality  which  denies  that 
the  ego  is  a  correlate  of  the   known  and   knowable  Avorld. 


THE  FINAL  SCIENTIFIC   ANSWER— MONISM.  I3I 

His  philosophy,  therefore,  leaves  the  backbone  of  the 
world  of  causal  sequence  bioken  at  the  vital  point  where 
the  objective  and  the  svibjective  unite  in  humanit}-,  but  not 
in  any  unknowable.  That  is,  he  assumes  that  everything 
is  only  a  symbol  of  reality ;  that  every  phenomenon  is 
related  to  a  noumenon,  and  that  the  consciousness  of  man 
is  not  a  correlate  of  nerve  and  world-changes  ;  and  so 
between  the  world  and  man  lies  an  unaccountable  gulf 
with  an  open  gateway  through  which  the  clerical  and 
spiritual  '  mediums '  have  brought  back  the  whole  ghostly 
tribe  of  entities  and  spirits,  and  gods  and  devils,  to  torture 
and  rob  the  human  race  again.  The  trouble  is  that  Mr. 
Spencer,  in  assuming  an  '  infinite  and  eternal  energv ' 
back  of  '  all  things,'  an  absolutely  unknowable,  in- 
scrutable, unhuman  noumenon,  has  lost  his  grip  on  the  in- 
finite and  eternal  causal  concatenation  of  things.  He  has 
run  science  ashore  on  the  old  sand-  and  fogbank  of  super- 
stition. There  is  nothing  to  do  but  to  pull  ofi",  and  to 
change  our  course  under  the  true  lights  and  verifiable 
methods  of  the  correlation  of  'all  things.'  " 

The  definition  given  b}^  Spencer  to  Agnosticism  canncjt 
be  accepted  by  science.  "The  power  winch  the  univeist-i 
manifests  to  us  is  utterly  inscrutable."  Science  will  not 
affirm  that  anything  is  inscrutable.  To  do  so  is  suicidal. 
Science  will  never  give  \\.j)  the  eternal  struggle  to  know. 
To  know  what — a  part  of  things?  No,  but  all  things. 
That  is  the  goal,  and  nothing  else  will  satisfy  the  scientific 
mind.  It  is  theology  that  talks  of  the  "inscrutable,"  but 
not  science.  Theology  puts  up  the  bars  of  ignorance,  but 
not  a  true  philosoph}-.  Philosophy  nor  Freethought  ever 
says  :   "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther." 

Science  has  conquered  a  thousand  "  inscrutables  "  along 
the  path  of  progress  and  it  will  not  be  daunted  by  even 
the  "  inscrutable  "  of  Herbert  Spencer.  The  true  Agnostic 
will  never  be  so  "gnostic"  as  to  assert  that  anything  in 
this    universe     is    inscrutable.     Huxley   gives    the    right 


132  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

definition  of  Agnosticism  :  "Agnosticism  is  of  the  essence 
of  science,  whether  ancient  or  modern.  It  simply  means 
that  a  man  shall  not  say  he  knows  or  believes  that  which  he  has 
no  scientific  grounds  for  professing  to  know  or  believe.^' 

What  are  the  "  scientific  grounds "  for  knowing  or 
believing  that  anything  is  "  inscrutable?" 

Nature  is  not  a  dualitv.  It  is,  as  Humboldt  says,  a 
"  living  whole."  anil  if  intelligible  at  any  point,  why  not 
intelligible  throughout? 

Understand,  science  does  not  reject  '  a  relative  in- 
scrutable. For  instance,  it  may  be  impossible  for  human 
reason  and  experience  ever  to  decide  the  question,  "  Are 
other  worlds  inhabited  ?  "  This  is  "  unknowable,"  but  not 
in  the  Spencerian  sense,  for  it  is  granted  that  if  human 
experience  could  reach  these  other  worlds,  then  the  human 
reason  could  decide  the  question.  It  is  the  limitation  of 
experience  that  makes  "  unknowableness,"  not  the  limita- 
tion of  reason  itself.  It  is  because  we  have  not  the  facts, 
and  perhaps  may  never  obtain  the  facts,  that  makes  life  on 
other  planets  and  on  the  distant  stars  "  inscrutable  "  to  us. 
It  is  relatively  "  inscrutable,"  not  absolutely.  And  there 
are  tliousands  of  like  questions  we  cannot  decide,  simply 
because  we  cannot  get  at  the  facts. 

But  this  is  not  what  Spencer  means.  He  affirms  that 
no  amount  of  fact  or  intelligence  can  give  any  knowledge 
of  the  "inscrutable."  It  is  the  external  reality  about  us 
that  we  cannot  discover.  We  cannot  truly  know  it.  We 
are  always  wrapped  in  ignorance.  A  million  facts  would 
not  lessen  our  intellectual  darkness.  Not  one  ray  of  light 
will  ever  penetrate  our  benighted  minds.  Says  one  of  his 
disciples  : 

"  Our  entire  world  is  the  product  of  two  factors,  our 
consciousness,  and  an  objective  reality  which  in  itself  is  in- 
scrutable. We  may  from  the  connection  of  sensations  and 
ideas  within  us  ivfer  a. connection  of  things  outside  of  us. 
Bat  we  cannot  logically  infer  any  resemblance  between  the 


CHARLES   BRADLAUGH  (p.  427). 


THE  FINAL  SCIENTIFIC  ANSWER— MONISM.  I33 

internal  and  external  orders.  As  Spencer  says :  '  The 
utmost  possibility  for  us  is  an  interpretation  of  the  process 
of  things  as  it  presents  itself  to  our  limited  consciousness  > 
but  Jiow  this  process  is  related  to  the  actual  process,  ive  are 
unable  to  conceive,  much  less  to  knoio.'  " 

And  Dr.  Maudsley  says  : 

"  After  all,  the  world  which  we  apprehend  when  we  are 
awake  may  have  as  little  resemblance  or  relation  to  the 
external  world,  of  which  we  can  have  no  manner  of  appre- 
hension through  our  senses,  as  the  dream-ivorld  has  to  the 
luorld  with  luhich  our  senses  make  us  acquainted  ;  nay,  perhaps 
lesSf  since  there  is  some  resemblance  in  the  latter  case,  and  there 
may  be  none  ivhatever  in  the  former.  The  external  world, 
as  it  is  in  itself,  may  not  be  in  the  least  what  we  conceive 
it  through  our  form  of  perception  and  models  of  thought." 

Such,  of  course,  is  the  logic  of  the  "  unknowable."  We 
are  such  "  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of." 

Is  it  possible  that  any  such  profound  and  eternal 
ignorance  must  be  admitted  by  science  ?  All  that  we 
know  is  phenomena,  subjective  aud  objective.  This  is 
admitted  by  all;  but  to  assert,  as  Kant  and  Spencer  do, 
that  these  phenomena  are  merely  the  "  appearances "  of 
things,  "  symbols  "  of  the  reality,  but  not  the  reality  itself, 
is  simply  to  drive  one  into  the  limbo  of  theology.  The 
phenomena  we  experience  are  real  phenomena  ;  they  give 
us  a  real  knowledge  ;  they  are  nature  itself,  not  "  appear- 
ances "  of  nature  that  might  be  true  or  false,  as  Berkeley's 
"idealism"  asserts.  According  to  him,  we  do  not  know 
whether  we  know  anything  or  not.  Our  knowledge,  it  is 
granted,  may  go  but  a  little  way,  but  so  far  as  it  does  go  it 
gives  us  the  universe  as  it  is,  and  not  otherwise.  The 
issue  is  plain — either  phenomena  give  us  the  universe 
as  it  is,  or  they  give  us  the  universe  as  it  is  not.  But  what 
an  absurdit}'  to  say  that  the  phenomena  we  and  the  race 
constantly  experience,  and  which  experience  we  constantly 
act  upon  and  find  our  judgment  correct  in  millions  of  in- 


134  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

stances,  so  that  we  can  actually  predict  and  produce  phe- 
nomena and  discover  their  laws  and  use  them — what  an  ab- 
surdity to  say  that  phenomena  give  us  the  universe  as  it  is 
not !  We  are,  therefore,  compelled  to  assert  the  only  other 
alternative,  that  phenomena  give  us  the  universe  as  it  is  ; 
and  if  we  were  swept  out  of  existence,  the  universe  as  we 
know  it  would  remain  with  the  same  qualities,  and  if  any 
mind  came  into  existence  again  that  mind  would  see  the 
universe  as  we  see  it,  and  not  differently.  There  would 
not  be  another  universe  with  another  mind,  but  the  same 
objective  universe  as  now.  Draper  says  that  the  criterion 
of  truth  is  not  and  cannot  be  attained  by  any  one  man,  but 
by  the  combined  experience  of  millions  of  men  and  many 
generations.  If  I  were  absolutely  solitary  I  admit  that  I 
could  not  prove  the  objective  reality  of  the  universe,  or 
even  the  existence  of  myself,  and  I  might  then  accept  the 
"  transcendentalism  "  of  Kant  and  admit  that  I  was  sur- 
rounded by  "  appearances,"  but  fortunately  I  can  consult  the 
experiences  of  thousands  of  other  people  and  the  experi- 
ences of  the  race  itself,  and  I  can  collate  and  compare  these 
experiences  and  thus  discover  beyond  question  that  I  am  in 
a  real  universe,  surrounded  by  real  people,  and  that  I  do 
not  see  things  simply  as  they  appear,  but  as  they  are. 
Draper  has  given  a  splendid  hint  as  to  the  pathway  of 
truth,  that  it  is  not  by  individual  cogitation  simply,  but 
by  the  cmnbined  thinking  of  many  minds,  and  thus  the 
objective  reality  of  the  universe  is  demonstrated  in  and 
through  our  associations  witli  others.  We  interpret  our 
minds  through  the  minds  of  others,  and  as  we  must  recog- 
nize that  these  minds  are  objective  realities  and  not 
modes  of  our  own  consciousness,  so  we  must  recognize  the 
universe  as  an  objective  realit}',  and  the  veracity  of  the 
phenomena  which  we  perceive. 

This  is  common  sense,  and  the  vast  problems  of  exist- 
ence cannot  be  solved  in  any  other  way.     They  must  be 


THE  FINAL  SCIENTIFIC  ANSWER— MONISM.  I35 

Solved  by  universal  experience,  and  not  by  isolated  in- 
dividual experiences  only. 

What  is  knowledge  ?  is  differently  answered  by  "  ideal- 
ism "  and  science.  According  to  "  idealism,"  all  we  know 
are  our  thoughts,  our  modes  of  consciousness,  which  are 
the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  universe  to  us  ;  therefore 
to  think  is  to  know,  and  ignorance  is  simply  not  thinking. 
But  science,  which  affirms  that  we  observe  not  ourselves 
only,  but  an  external  universe,  and  that  in  knowing  our- 
selves we  know  the  not-ourselves  likewise — science  affirms 
that  knowledge  is  right  thinking  and  ignorance  is  wrong 
thinking  ;  and,  therefore,  our  thoughts  are  valueless  unless 
they  discover  and  arrange  real  facts  ;  and  with  self- 
observation  there  must  be  world-observation  and  the  ego 
must  be  correlated  with  the  outward  realities,  or  else  there 
is  not  valid  attainment. 

Science  affirms  reality,  that  the  phenomena  within  and 
without  are  not  "  symbols  "  of  some  unknown  and  unknow- 
able existence  from  which  we  are  forever  excluded  by  an  im- 
passable chasm,  but  phenomena  are  facts,  events,  changes, 
processes,  realities,  and  are  veritable  revealers  of  the 
world  in  which  we  live.  There  is  no  need  of  "  substratum  " 
to  phenomena,  or  "  thing  in  itself,"  or  "  noumenon ; "  if 
there  is  anything  in  these  terms  that  the  human  mind  can 
cognize,  then  they  are  in  the  phenomena  and  not  outside 
or  beneath  them.  The  whole  idealistic  philosophy  vanishes 
away  like  a  dream,  and  we  tread  the  firm  ground  and  are 
not  lost. 

Dr.  Abbott  states  the  case  clearly  between  "  idealism  " 
and  science  : 

"  Since  no  form  of  philosophy  has  ever  maintained 
that  the  individual  does  not  know  his  own  conscious  states, 
it  is  as  clear  as  day  that  the  only  distinctive  principle  of 
idealism  is  a  merely  negative  one,  and  lies  nowhere  but  in 
its  absolute  assertion  that  the.  individual  can  never  know  an 
external  world.     Further,  since  self-consciousness  or  self- 


136  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

knowledge  is  simply  self-observation,  and  since,  therefore, 
observation  alone  is  knowledge,  as  distinguished  from  infer- 
ence, assumption,  postulation,  deduction,  or  faith,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  whole  essence  of  idealism  is  summed  up  in 
the  short  but  perfectly  intelligible  statement — the  in- 
dividual ca,n  never  observe  an  external  ivorld.  The  whole 
activity  of  idealism  has  been  an  attempt,  forever  hopeless 
as  it  is,  to  reconcile  this  statement  with  universal  human 
knowledge. 

"  For  it  is  precisely  at  this  point  that  idealism  comes 
into  deadly  collision  with  science  and  the  scientific  metliod. 
The  whole  essence  of  science  is  summed  up  in  this  equally 
short  and  intelligible  statement — man,  both  individual  and 
generic,  can  and  does  observe  an  external  ivorld.  Idealism 
declares  that  such  observation  is  impossible,  and,  there- 
fore, cannot  be  actual.  Science  declares  that  such  obser- 
vation is  actual,  and,  therefore,  must  be  possible.  Idealism, 
culminating  in  the  Kantian  theory  of  knowledge,  declares 
that  man  has  no  faculty  by  which  he  can  observe  an  ex- 
ternal world,  and,  therefore,  knows  none.  Science,  cul- 
minating in  the  scientific  method,  declares  that  man 
already  knows  an  external  world,  and,  therefore,  must 
have  some  faculty  by  which  he  can  observe  it.  This  is 
the  exact  issue  between  the  two,  and  it  turns  on  the 
essential  nature  of  knowledge  and  ignorance.  Is  knowl- 
edge nothing  but  thought,  consciousness,  self-observation? 
Is  ignorance  nothing  but  a  mere  ceasing  to  think?  Or  is 
it  ceasing  to  think  according  to  known  facts  and  laws  of  a 
known  real  universe  ?  " 

If  phenomena  were  disconnected,  arbitrary,  uncor- 
related,  then  it  might  be  affirmed  that  phenomena  are  only 
"  appearances  "  and  not  realities,  and  in  that  case  truth 
would  be  impossible  to  the  human  mind,  but  the  sublime 
result  of  modern  philosophy  and  science,  in  the  doctrine 
of  Monism,  gives  through  phenomena  a  compact  body  of 


THE  FINAL  SCIENTIFIC  ANSWER— MONISM.  137 

knowledge  ;  phenomena  are  unified  ;  reality  is  attained,  and 
true  knowledge,  that  is,  right  thinking,  established. 

Monism  is  the  necessary  outcome  of  the  critical  and 
positive  philosophy,  and  the  last  answer  to  "  What  can 
"we  know  ? "  Knowledge,  we  might  say,  is  impossible 
without  correlation.  If  I  see  things,  but  do  not  see  the 
relations  of  things,  then  I  do  not  see  the  reality  of  things. 

Bradlaugh  says:  "Nature  is  with  me  the  same  as 
universe — the  same  as  existence.  I  mean  by  it  the 
totality  of  all  phenomena,  and  of  all  that  has  been,  is,  or 
may  be  necessary  for  the  happening  of  each  and  every 
phenomenon.  It  is,  from  the  ver}-  terms  of  j^he  definition, 
self-existent.  I  cannot  think  of  nature's  commencement, 
discontinuity,  or  creation.  I  am  unable  to  think  backward 
to  the  possibility  of  existence  not  having  been.  I  cannot 
think  forward  to  the  possibility  of  existence  ceasing  to  be. 
Origin  of  the  universe  is,  to  me,  absolutely  unthinkable. 
Sir  William  Hamilton  affirms  that  when  aware  of  a  new 
appearance  we  are  utterly  unable  to  conceive  there  has 
originated  any  new  existence  ;  that  we  are  iitterly  unable 
to  think  that  the  complement  of  existence  has  ever  been 
either  increased  or  diminished  ;  that  we  can  neither  con- 
ceive nothing  becoming  something,  or  something  becoming 
nothing. 

"  As  an  Atheist,  I  affirm  one  existence,  and  deny  the 
possibility  of  more  than  one  existence.  This  existence  I 
know  in  its  modes,  each  mode  being  distinguished  in 
thought  by  its  qualities.  By  '  mode  '  I  mean  each  cog- 
nized condition,  that  is,  each  phenomenon,  or  aggregation 
of  phenomena.  By  'quality '  I  mean  each  characteristic 
by  which,  in  the  act  of  thinking,  I  distinguish. 

"  "With  the  '  unknowable  '  conceded,  all  scientific  teach- 
ing would  be  illusive.  Every  scientist  teaches  without 
reference  to  the  '  unknowable.'  '  God  '  and  the  *  unknow- 
able' are  equally  opposed  to  the  affirmations  of  Atheism. 

"  To  me,  any  pretense  of  Theism  seems  impossible  if 


138  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Monism  be  true,  for  Theism  affirms  at  least  two  existences, 
that  is,  the  Theos  and  that  which  the  Theos  has  created 
and  rules. 

"  I  rest  content,  therefore,  in  affirming  one  existence. 
If  Monism  be  true,  and  Atheism  be  Monism,  then  Atheism 
is  necessarily  the  true  theory  of  the  universe.  I  submit 
that  there  cannot  be  more  than  one  ultimate  explanation 
of  the  universe.  That  any  tracing  back  to  two  or  more 
existences  is  illogical,  and  that  as  it  is  only  by  reaching 
unity  that  we  can  have  a  reasonable  conclusion,  it  is 
necessary  that  every  form  of  Dualism  should  be  rejected 
as  a  theory  of  the  universe.  If  every  form  of  Dualism  be 
rejected,  Monism — that  is,  Atheism — alone  remains,  and 
is,  therefore,  the  true  and  only  doctrine  of  the  universe." 

Dr.  Louis  Buchner  says  : 

"  I  should  like  best  to  designate  the  philosophy  of 
Materialism  as  Monistic  philosophy  or  philosophy  of  unity, 
and  the  cosmology  founded  upon  it  as  Monism,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  suggestion  of  Professor  Haeckel.  But  I 
should  not  like  to  call  our  Monistic  philosophy  a  system^ 
since  this  word  always  suggests  the  idea  of  something 
finished,  concluded,  permanently  established,  while  the 
Realistic  philosophy  can  and  must  change  constantly  in 
accordance  with  the  changing  progress  of  science  and 
the  better  insight  into  facts.  For  that  reason,  I  should 
riiise  my  voice  of  warning  against  any  attempt  to  have 
this  new  philosophy  made  a  new  idol.  Only  the  Monistic 
principle  should  be  firmly  adhered  to,  while  the  rest,  for 
the  present,  should  be  only  provisionally  accepted  as 
truth,  and  to  be  held  as  such  only  as  long  as  progressing 
science  does  not  teach  anything  better  or  different." 

Mr.  Wakeman  says  : 

"  Let  us  be  thankful,  then,  that  there  is  one  complete 
evolutionist  (Haeckel)  who  knows  that  there  is  a  causal 
sequence  of  phenomena  from  the  farthest  star  up  to  and 
includinf^  the  mind  of  man  ;  and  that  phenomena  are  not 


WM.  LLOYD    (tARHISON  (p.  466). 


THE  FINAL  SCIENTIFIC  ANSWER— MONISM.  I39 

metaphysical  '  appearances  '  or  '  symbols,'  but  facts, 
events,  changes,  processes,  realities. 

"  This  avowal  of  the  universality  of  the  law  of  equiv- 
alence and  correlation  in  the  works  of  Professor  Haeckel 
renders  them  epoch-making  books  in  philosophy  as  well 
as  science.  According  to  that  law  which  has  no  limit,  no 
exception,  the  loorld  is  one.  All  its  changes  are  held 
together  by  this  law,  from  our  mind  that  thinks  ever  on 
in  boundless  space  and  time." 

Says  Dr.  Abbott : 

"The  present  age  has  witnessed  the  establishment  of 
two  great  principles  in  scientific  investigation — the  prin- 
ciple that  wdienever  force  disappears  in  one  form  its 
reappearance  must  be  looked  for  in  some  other  form ;  and 
the  principle  that,  no  matter  what  changes,  or  events,  or 
determinations  take  place  in  the  universe,  their  causes 
must  be  sought  ivifhin  nature,  and  not  outside  or  above  it. 

"  The  first  of  these  great  principles  is  implied  in  the 
great  discovery  of  '  the  conservation  and  correlatit^n  of 
forces.'  Through  the  labors  of  Eumford,  Grove,  Joule, 
Mayer,  Helmholtz,  Tyndall,  Carpenter,  and  other  power- 
ful minds,  whose  combined  genius  has  brought  to  light 
this  grandest  of  all  known  laws  of  nature,  the  great  truth 
long  held  by  philosophy  as  a  speculation  has  been  in- 
ductively established  by  science  as  a  fact.  Various  as  may 
be  its  manifestations,  there  is  but  one  power  in  nature, 
incapable  of  augmentation  or  diminution,  appearing  and 
disappearing  and  reappearing,  the  one  in  the  many.  The 
other  great  principle  is  implied  in  the  law  of  evolution. 
The  luminous  vindication  of  the  universality  of  natural 
law  which  science  owes  to  the  labors  of  Darwin  has  been 
the  heaviest  blow  struck  of  late  years  at  the  effete  the- 
ologies of  the  past.  Thus  the  history  of  the  universe 
becomes  a  connected  whole." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Monism  is  the  natural  out- 
come   of    modern  philosophy,    whether    one     is    Atheist, 


140  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUaHT. 

Materialist,  Agnostic  as  Huxley  defines  the  word,  or 
Positivist.  It  is  the  result  of  the  critical  and  skeptical 
philosophy.  It  is  by  doubting  that  man  has  reached  this 
sublimity  of  knowledge.  All  forms  of  Theism  are 
dualistic,  and,  therefore,  must  be  rejected.  Pantheism  is 
Monistic,  but  it  asserts  infinite  attributes  to  existence, 
which  is  contrary  to  the  Agnostic  and  scientific  principles 
laid  down  by  Huxley.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  proof 
that  existence  has  infinite  attributes.  As  Bradlaugli  states 
it,  we  only  cognize  modes  of  existence,  and  distinguish 
these  modes  by  qualities,  but  modes  and  qualities  must 
be  finite.  Therefore,  modern  scientific  Monism  differs 
from  that  of  Bruno  and  Spinoza  in  that  it  is  not  Pan- 
theistic. 

What  can  we  know?  The  problem  has  been  solved. 
The  career  of  science  hereafter  is  open  and  brilliant. 
The  darkness  of  the  past  has  fled,  and  the  bats  and  owls 
that  haunted  and  made  it  hideous.  Superstition  has  re- 
ceived its  death  wound.  Theology,  and  the  metaphysics 
of  the  schools,  must  vanish.  Tlie  foundations  of  the 
church  are  destroyed.  Faith  is  overthrown.  Facts,  and 
not  fictions,  will  hereafter  sway  the  mind  of  man. 

A  noble  conclusion  to  the  immense  and  magnificent 
labors  of  human  genius !  Philosophy,  beginning  in  hum- 
ble doubt,  has  achieved  a  most  glorious  triumph. 
Through  honest  disbelief  man  has  entered  upon  a  shining 
and  progressive  way. 

What  can  we  know  ?  Only  phenomena,  and  only  through 
reason  and  experience.  All  else  is  nothing.  "  God," 
"  Immortality,"  "  the  Infinite,"  the  "Absolute,"  the  "  Un- 
knowable," all  these  are  swept  forever  from  the  humiin 
mind.  Phenomena  only  can  we  observe,  but  phenomena 
subjective  and  objective  that  are  real  manifestations  of  a 
real  world,  that  give  the  universe  as  it  is. 

Not  disconnected  phenomena,  but  phenomena  corre- 
lated into  a  living  whole,  so  that  we  can  understand  their 


THE  FINAL  SCIENTIFIC  ANSWER-  MONISM.  141 

laws  and  use  them  for  human  progress.  Thus  science 
builds  a  cosmos.  Every  new  fact  becomes  related  to 
known  facts  and  falls  into  line  and  aids  in  the  discovery 
of  some  other  fact.  It  is  not  phenomena  only,  but  the 
unity  of  phenomena,  that  becomes  a  part  of  human  knowl- 
edge. Mind  and  matter  are  not  separated  by  an  impass- 
able chasm,  but  are  correlated  in  one  existence. 

Thus  by  the  very  limitation  affirmed  of  human  knowl- 
edge has  human  knowledge  been  increased,  and  power 
attained,  and  enthusiasm  and  hope  for  the  future.  By  in- 
duction, by  facts,  by  verification,  by  laborious  toil,  the 
sublime  conclusions  of  Bruno  and  Spinoza  have  been 
reached,  not  by  a  leap  of  imagination,  but  by  patient  ob- 
servation and  experiment ;  but  the  universe  of  science, 
though  one,  is  by  no  means  the  universe  of  these  "  God- 
intoxicated"  philosophers,  for  the  gods  in  every  shape 
have  disappeared.  There  is  no  particular  nor  universal 
God.  There  is  simply  life,  overflowing  life,  potent,  won- 
derful, luminous,  ever-changing,  throbbing  in  the  tiny 
amoeba,  and  then  resplendent  in  the  brain  of  man — the 
same  life,  and  not  different.  How  beautiful  nature  is  when 
we  realize  our  identity  with  her,  and  that  in  sea  and  sky, 
forest  and  mountain,  insect  and  bird,  star  and  flower, 
vibrates  the  same  universal  movement.  Go  where  we  will — 
backward  to  the  immeasurable  fire-mist,  forward  to  the 
constellated  glory  of  the  cosmos — upward  and  onward 
until  we  have  passed  a  million  flaming  orbs,  deep  down  into 
the  central  darkness  and  illuminated  chambers — we  are 
not  a  separate,  strange,  and  unrelated  being ;  we  are  not 
outside  anywhere — a  stranger  asking  for  admittance  ;  we 
are  ever  within,  ever  on  the  tide — ever  in  juxtaposition 
with  kindred  being,  sweeping  to  the  same  music  of  the 
•  unbeginning  and  unending  rhythm.  A  glorious,  a  marvel- 
ous world  is  thus  revealed  to  us  by  the  stepping-stones  of 
simple  facts,  and  all  the  flights  of  imagination,  or  splen- 
dors  of  poetic  intuition,   have  not  equaled  this  array  of 


142  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOU<iHT. 

correlated  phenomena,  with  its  magnificence  of  light  and 
color,  its  grandeurs  of  form,  its  exquisite  harmonies,  its 
delightful  movements,  its  gigantic  forces,  its  boundless 
realm  of  sun  and  stars.  Wliat  self-sacrifice  there  has 
been,  what  martyrdom,  wdiat  surrender  of  cherished  opin- 
ions, what  toils  in  darkness  and  isolation ;  what  anguish 
of  mind  as  some  dear  faith  has  passed  forever  away  that 
we  now  might  look  upon  the  fair  face  of  nature,  and  enjoy 
the  opulent  fruits  of  science !  It  has  been  a  painful 
journey  through  the  centuries,  a  journey  of  blood  and 
torture,  through  the  dungeon,  the  path  of  fire,  beneath 
the  heel  of  despot  and  thunders  of  the  church,  but  how 
sweet  and  noble  is  the  flower  of  these  bitter  years ;  how 
precious  is  the  knowledge  we  have  attained,  and  with  what 
unconquerable  mind  we  can  enter  upon  the  boundless 
future. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Education  and  Ethics. — Bacon  (1561-1626). 

The  "Baconian  Method"  is  supposed  to  be  a  radically 
revolutionarv  method  in  the  attainment  of  human  knowl- 
edge, when,  as  a  matter,  of  fact,  this  method  was  in  exist- 
ence two  thvousand  years  before  Bacon  was  born.  In 
theory  it  was  the  method  of  Aristotle  and  other  Greek 
philosophers.  It  was  insisted  upon  hj  Ron;er  Bacon.  Da 
Yinci,  and  Telesio,  as  vigorously  as  by  Francis  Bacon 
himself ;  in  fact,  it  is  the  universal  method  of  human  rea- 
soning, and  has  been  pursued  by  every  great  discoverer. 
It  is  the  inductive  method,  that  is,  reasoning  from  facts  to 
ideas.  It  is  observation  of  facts,  rigid  experiments  with 
facts,  and  a  reaching  of  conclusion  from  facts.  It  is  op- 
posed to  the  itheologic,  or  Platonic,  method,  which  reasons 
from  ideas  to  facts,  which  would  make  facts  conform  to 
ideas,  and  not  ideas  to  facts  ;  which  makes  an  idea,  born  of 
the  "  inner  consciousness,"  the  supreme  thing,  and  facts 
are  only  corroborative  witnesses.  Theology,  or  Platonism, 
begins  with  a  preconceived  notion  of  just  how  the  uni- 
verse ought  to  be,  and  then  the  theologian,  or  philosopher, 
like  a  lawyer  defending  his  case,  seeks  for  facts  to  support 
his  theory,  and  facts  are  accepted  only  as  they  support 
the  theory.  If  the  facts  do  not  support  the  theory,  so 
much  the  worse  for  the  facts.  This  method,  it  may  be 
said,  results  only  in  barren  speculations  and  dreamland. 
If  the  mind  of  Plato  ruled  Europe  for  two  thousand  years, 
that  period   included  the   "  dark   ages "   when    there   was 


144  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

scarcely  any  discovery,  or  any  invention,  and  one  of  the 
great  problems  discussed  was  how  many  angels  might 
dance  on  the  point  of  a  needle.  It  was  against  this  that 
Bacon  contended  with  all  the  batteries  of  his  wit.  He 
riddled  theology  Avith  man}-  a  sparkling  epigram.  Tlie 
scientific  method  is  exactly  the  opposite  of  the  theologic 
method  :  it  begins  with  observation,  and  not  with  imagina- 
tion. Tlie  first  thing  the  man  of  science  does  is  to  open 
his  eyes  and  look  around  ;  see  all  that  he  possibly  can 
see,  gather  facts,  whether  ugh'  or  beautiful,  whether  agree- 
able or  disagreeable,  and  then  by  classification  of  these 
facts,  by  under'standing  their  relations,  one  with  the  other, 
and  by  theories  and  hypotheses,  he  travels  to  a  demonstra- 
tion, and  thus  reaches  valid  ideas  and  indisputable  truth  ; 
and  this  is  the  only  possible  way  to  attain  knowledge. 
The  "  Platonic  method  "  is  absolutely  valueless.  It  gives 
no  gifts,  it  unfolds  only  a  world  of  fiction.  As  against 
this  the  *'  Baconian  method  "  is  supreme.  It  is  the  only 
method  of  attaining  knowledge,  and  tlie  only  method  of 
human  progress.  But  why  call  it  the  "  Baconian  method?" 
It  is  equally  the  Aristotelian  method.  It  is  the  Cartesian 
method.  If  we  call  it  the  "Baconian,"  why  not  go  back 
to  Roger  Bacon,  who  illuminated  the  world  in  the  four- 
teenth century  with  rays  as  great  as  ever  flashed  from  the 
brain  of  Lord  Verulam,  and  who  died  a  martyr  to  his 
scientific  devotion.  The  later  Bacon  was  a  splendid  rhet- 
orician, a  man  of  the  world,  a  brilliant  lawyer  who  knew 
how  to  win  his  case  ;  and  having  adopted  the  scientific 
method  he  defended  it  with  eclat,  and  made  it  the  popular 
method  as  against  theology  and  metaphysics.  But  to  say 
that  he  originated  this  method  is  a  falsification  of  scien- 
tific histor}-.  He  simply  indorsed  it,  and  illustrated  its 
merits  with  surpassing  literary  power. 

Bacon  is  not  supreme  in  philosophy  like  Descartes  and 
Hume.  He  is  not  a  man  of  science  like  Roger  Bacon,  or 
Oalileo,  or  Newton,  or  Darwin.     In  the  application  even 


GIUSEPPE    GARIBALDI  (p.  406). 


BAGOX.  145 

of  the  inductive  method  he  was  at  fault.  With  "  the  au- 
dacity of  iguorauce,"  and  with  "superb  conceit,"  as  Dra- 
per remarks,  he  tlius  disparaged  the  great  Copernicus. 
Bacon  says  :  "  In  the  system  of  Copernicus  there  are  many, 
and  grave,  difficulties  ;  for  the  threefold  motion  with  which 
he  encumbers  the  earth  is  a  serious  inconvenience,  and 
the  separation  of  the  sun  from  the  planets,  with  which  he 
has  so  many  affections  in  common,  is  likewise  a  harsh 
step  ;  and  the  introtluction  of  so  many  immovable  bodies 
in  nature,  as  when  he  makes  the  sun  and  stars  immovable, 
the  bodies  which  are  peculiarly  lucid  and  radiant,  and  his 
making  the  moon  adhere  to  the  earth  in  a  sort  of  epicycle, 
and  some  other  things  which  he  assumes,  are  proceedings 
which  mark  a  man  who  thinks  nothing  of  introducing  fic- 
tions of  any  kind  into  nature,  provided  his  calculations 
turn  out  well." 

Bacon  also  opposed  the  physiology  of  Harvey.  He 
was  ignorant  of  mathematics,  and  presumed  that  they 
were  useless  in  science.  "  Bacon's  chief  admirers,"  de- 
clares Draper,  "  have  been  persons  of  a  literary  turn. 
Bacon  never  produced  any  practical  result  himself;  no 
great  physicist  has  ever  made  any  use  of  his  method. 
Of  all  important  physical  discoveries  there  is  not  one 
which  shows  that  its  author  made  it  by  the  Baconian  in- 
strument. Newton  never  seems  to  be  aware  that  he  was 
under  any  obligations  to  Bacon.  Archimedes  and  the 
Alexandrians,  and  the  Arabians  and  Leonardo  da  Yinci, 
did  very  well  before  he  was  born ;  the  discovery  of 
America  by  Columbus,  and  the  circumnavigation  of  the 
globe  by  Magellan,  can  hardly  be  attributed  to  him,  and 
yet  they  were  the  result  of  a  truly  philosophical  reason- 
ing. 

Huxley  also  says :  "  The  attempt  of  Bacon  was  just 
such  a  magnificent  failure  as  might  have  been  expected 
from  a  man  of  great  endowments,  who  was  so  singularly 
devoid  of  scientific  insiiiht  that  he  could  not  understand 


146  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREBTHOUGHT. 

the  value  of  tlie  work  already  achieved  by  the  true  in- 
staurators  of  physical  science.  It  is  not  easy  to  discover 
satisfactory  evidence  that  the  '  Novum  Organon  '  had  any 
direct  beneficial  influence  on  the  advancement  of  natural 
knowledge.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Bacon's  '  via  '  has  proved 
to  be  hopelessly  impracticable.  That  transcendental 
alchemy — the  superinducement  of  new  forms  on  matter — 
which  Bacon  declares  to  be  the  supreme  aim  of  science, 
has  been  wholly  ignored  by  those  who  have  created  the 
physical  knowledge  of  the  present  day." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Bacon  is  not  the  founder  of 
a  new  philosophy,  and  we  might  inquire  why  he  is  some- 
times called  the  "  father  of  the  new  age." 

Wendell  Phillips  says  :  "  The  world  and  affairs  have 
shown  me  that  one-half  of  history  is  loose  conjecture,  and 
much  of  the  rest  is  the  writer's  opinion.  We  can  only 
hope  to  discover  the  great  currents  and  massive  forces 
which  have  shaped  our  lives ;  all  else  is  trying  to  solve  a 
problem  of  whose  elements  we  know  nothing."  This 
might  apply  to  Bacon's  case — to  what  he  is  popularly 
thought  to  have  done,  and  what  he  really  did. 

Bacon  was  a  brilliant  genius,  and  he  seems  to  have 
suffered  the  fate  of  a  brilliant  genius.  There  seems  to 
be  no  clear  idea  of  what  he  really  was,  or  what  he  really 
accomplished. 

Not  in  the  domain  of  science  and  philosophy  shall  we 
find  the  supreme  work  of  Francis  Bacon,  but  in  the  do- 
main of  education.  His  true  successors  are  not  Hume 
and  Kant  and  Comte,  not  Newton  and  Darwin,  but  Co- 
menius,  Froebel,  and  Herbert  Spencer. 

It  was  not  so  much  the  method  of  the  attainment  of 
human  knowledge  that  Bacon  expended  his  genius  upon 
as  the  application  of  knowledge.  He  did  not  answer  the 
first  question  of  philosophy  as  propounded  by  Kant  : 
"What  can  we  know?"  but  the  second  question  :  "What 
ought  we  to  do?  "     It  is  in  the  marriage  of  thought  with 


BACON.  147 

action  that  Bacon  has  magnificently  benefited  the  world, 
and  wherein  we  might  saj  he  is  at  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era. 

Mere  knowledge  is  not,  after  all,  the  main  thing,  but 
life  is  the  main  thing,  as  Emerson  says.  We  must  know 
in  order  to  do. 

It  was  not  knowledge,  simply  as  knowledge,  that  Bacon 
aimed  for,  but  a  certain  kind  of  knowledge,  that  is,  fruitful 
knowledge — knowledge  available  for  human  earthly  pur- 
poses. Immediate,  practical  benefit,  that  is  what  Bacon 
was  aiming  for — good  to  man's  estate,  the  "  gathering  of 
fruits."  The  word  "  fruit,"  says  Macaulay,  is  what 
potently  expresses  the  matter  of  Bacon's  philosophy.  It 
was  to  train  man  for  action,  to  equip  him  for  the  conquest 
of  nature,  so  that  he  might  be  lord  of  this  world.  Bacon 
did  not  care  for  truth  in  the  abstract ;  he  wanted  truth 
productive,  by  which  we  could  build  houses,  sow  the  seed 
and  reap  the  harvest,  and  live  in  comfort.  Bacon  not  only 
excluded  theology  and  metaphysics,  but  mathematics  and 
astronomy.  He  went  to  extremes,  but  what  he  did  with 
such  learning  and  eloquence  was  of  incalculable  advantage 
to  modern  education.  The  direction  of  knowledge,  as 
well  as  its  attainment,  is  of  the  first  importance. 

Macaulay  thus  describes  the  ancient  philosophy  : 

"  The  ancient  philosophy  disdained  to  be  useful  and 
was  content  to  be  stationary.  It  dealt  largely  in  theories 
of  moral  perfection,  which  were  so  sublime  that  they  never 
could  be  more  than  theories  ;  in  attempts  to  solve  insoluble 
enigmas ;  in  exhortations  to  the  attainment  of  unattainable 
frames  of  mind.  It  could  not  condescend  to  the  humble 
office  of  ministering  to  the  comfort  of  human  beings.  All 
the  schools  condemned  that  as  degrading,  some  censured 
it  as  immoral.  Once,  indeed,  Posidonius,  a  distinguished 
writer  of  the  age  of  Cicero  and  Caesar,  so  far  forgot  him- 
self as  to  enumerate  among  the  humbler  blessings  which 
mankind  owed  to  philosophy  the  discovery  of  the  prin- 


148  FOUR    HQNDRBD    TEARS   OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

ciple  of  the  arcli,  and  the  introduction  of  the  use  of 
metals.  This  eulogy  was  considered  as  an  affront,  and  was 
taken  up  with  proper  spirit.  Seneca  vehemently  disclaims 
these  insulting  compliments.  Philosophy,  according  to 
him,  has  nothing  to  do  with  teaching  men  to  rear  arched 
roofs  over  their  heads.  The  true  philosopher  does  not 
care  whether  he  has  an  arched  roof  or  any  roof.  Phi- 
losophy has  nothing  to  do  with  teaching  men  the  use  of 
metals.  Slie  teaches  us  to  be  independent  of  all  material 
substances,  of  all  mechanical  contrivances.  The  wise  man 
lives  according  to  nature.  Instead  of  attempting  to  add 
to  the  physical  comforts  of  his  species,  he  regrets  that  his 
lot  was  not  cast  in  that  golden  age  when  the  human  race 
had  no  protection  against  the  cold  but  the  skins  of  wild 
beasts,  no  screen  from  the  sun  but  a  cavern.  To  impute 
to  such  a  man  any  share  in  the  invention  or  improvement 
of  a  plow,  a  ship,  or  a  mill,  is  an  insult.  '  In  my  own 
time,'  says  Seneca,  '  there  have  been  inventions  of  this 
sort,  transparent  windows,  tubes  for  diffusing  warmth 
equally  through  all  parts  of  a  building,  shorthand,  which 
has  been  carried  to  such  perfection  that  a  writer  can  keep 
pace  with  the  most  rapid  speaker.  But  the  invention  of 
such  things  is  drudgery  for  the  lowest  slaves  ;  philosophy 
lies  deeper.  It  is  not  her  office  to  teach  men  how  to  use 
their  hands.  The  object  of  her  lessons  is  to  form  the 
soul.' 

"  '  We  shall  next  be  told,'  Seneca  exclaims,  '  that  the 
first  shoemaker  was  a  philosopher.'  For  our  own  part, 
if  we  were  forced  to  make  our  choice  between  the  first 
shoemaker  and  the  author  of  the  three  books  on  '  Anger,' 
we  pronounce  for  the  shoemaker.  It  may  be  worse  to  be 
angry  than  to  be  wet.  But  shoes  have  kept  millions  from 
being  wet ;  and  we  doubt  if  Seneca  ever  kept  anybody 
from  being  angry. 

"  Assuredly,  if  the  tree  planted  by  Socrates  and  watered 
by  Plato  is  to  be  judged  of  by  its  flowers  and  leaves,  it  is 


BACON.  149 

the  noblest  of  trees.  But  if  we  take  the  homely  test  of 
Bacon,  if  we  judge  of  a  tree  by  its  fruits,  our  opinion  of 
it  ma}^  perhaps  be  less  favorable.  When  we  sum  up  all 
the  useful  truths  which  we  owe  to  that  philosophy,  to 
what  do  they  amount  ?  We  find,  indeed,  abundant  proofs 
that  some  of  those  who  cultivated  it  were  men  of  the  first 
order  of  intellect.  We  find  among  their  writings  incom- 
parable specimens  both  of  dialectical  and  rhetorical  art. 
We  have  no  doubt  that  the  ancient  controversies  were  of 
use,  in  so  far  as  they  served  to  exercise  the  faculties  of  the 
disputants  ;  for  there  is  no  controversy  so  idle  that  it  may 
not  be  of  use  in  this  way.  But  when  we  look  for  some- 
thing more,  for  sometliing  which  adds  to  the  comforts  or 
alleviates  the  calamities  of  the  human  race,  we  are  forced 
to  own  ourselves  disappointed.  We  are  forced  to  sa}-, 
with  Bacon,  that  this  celebrated  philosophy  ended  in 
nothing  but  disputation  ;  that  it  was  neither  a  vineyard 
nor  an  olive  ground,  but  an  intricate  wood  of  briars  and 
thistles  from  which  those  who  lost  themselves  in  it 
brought  back  many  scratches  and  no  food. 

"  To  sum  up  the  whole,  we  should  say  that  the  aim  of 
the  Platonic  philosophy  was  to  exalt  man  into  a  god.  Tlie 
aim  of  the  Baconian  philosophy  was  to  provide  man  with 
Avhat  he  requires  while  he  continues  to  be  a  man.  The 
aim  of  the  Platonic  philosophy  was  to  raise  us  far  abova 
vulgar  wants.  The  aim  of  Baconian  philosophy  was  ta 
supply  our  vulgar  wants.  Plato  drew  a  good  bow,  but  lu 
aimed  at  the  stars.  His  arrow  was,  indeed,  followed  by  ;> 
track  of  dazzling  radiance,  but  it  struck  nothing. 

"  Bacon  fixed  his  eye  on  a  mark  Avhich  was  placed  on 
the  earth,  and  hit  it  in  the  white.  The  philosophy  ol 
Plato  began  in  words  and  ended  in  words.  The  phi- 
losophy of  Bacon  began  in  observation  and  ended  in  arts." 

The  true  education  of  man  is  one  of  the  greatest  prob- 
lems of  civilization,  and  to  this  problem  Bacon  devoted  the 
energies  of  his  extraordinary  genius. 


150  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Before  the  time  of  Bacon  there  was  not  much  educa- 
tion. It  was  mainly  instruction,  not  a  development  of 
faculty,  but  rather  a  repression.  It  was  a  putting  on  of 
harness,  and  not  an  exercise  of  native  genius.  The  col- 
leges and  universities  were  training  schools  for  idiots 
rather  than  for  men. 

"  What  is  education  ?"  says  Wendell  Phillips.  "  Of 
course  it  is  not  book  learning.  Book  learning  does  not 
make  five  per  cent,  of  the  common  sense  that  '  runs  '  the 
world,  transacts  its  business,  secures  its  progress,  trebles 
its  power  over  nature,  works  out  in  the  long  run  a  rough 
average  justice,  wears  away  the  world's  restraints  and  lifts 
off  its  burdens.  The  ideal  Yankee  who  has  '  more  brains 
in  his  hand  than  others  have  in  their  skulls,'  is  not  a 
scholar ;  and  two-thirds  of  the  inventions  that  enable 
France  to  double  the  world's  sunshine  and  make  Old  and 
New  England  the  workshops  of  the  world,  did  not  come 
from  colleges  or  from  minds  trained  in  the  schools  of 
science,  but  struggled  up,  forcing  their  way  against  giant 
obstacles,  from  the  irrepressible  instinct  of  untrained 
natural  power.  Her  workshops,  and  not  her  colleges, 
made  England  for  awhile  the  mistress  of  the  world  ;  and 
the  hardest  job  her  workman  had  was  to  make  Oxford 
willing  he  should  work  his  wonders." 

It  was  this  kind  of  education  that  Bacon  emphasized — 
the  education  that  is  for  human  improvement,  an  educa- 
tion gotten  from  life,  from  affairs,  from  earning  one's 
bread  ;  from  necessity,  the  mother  of  invention,  and  from 
responsibility,  which  teaches  prudence  and  a  respect  for 
right. 

The  condition  of  the  scholarly  and  learned  world  is 
pretty  well  indicated  by  Jeremy  Taylor,  who  writes  : 

"I  cannot  but  think  as  Aristotle  did  of  Thales  and 
Anaxagoras,  that  they  may  be  learned  but  not  wise,  or 
wise  but  not  prudent,  when  they  are  ignorant  of  such 
things  as  are  profitable  to  them.     For,  suppose  they  know 


ir "'/ 


WALT   WHITMAN  (p.  510). 


BACON.  15£ 

the  wonders  of  nature  and  the  subtleties  of  metaphysics 
and  operations  mathematical,  yet  they  cannot  be  pruflent 
who  spend  themselves  wholly  upon  unprofitable  and  in- 
effective contemplation. " 

Of  course  there  is  another  side  to  the  matter,  and  Ba- 
con was  not  thoroughly  comprehensive.  He  would  ex- 
clude Newton's  "  Principia "  and  Darwin's  "Origin  of 
Species  "  from  his  system  of  education  ;  for  wliat  is  the 
use  of  these?  he  would  say. 

Truth  must,  oftentimes,  be  pursued  for  its  own  sake, 
and  no  more.  Its  benefits  are  not  appreciable.  Its  glory 
alone  is  attractive. 

To  quote  from  Huxley  : 

"  The  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  illustrated 
by  a  host  of  great  names  in  science — English,  French, 
German,  and  Italian — especially  in  the  fields  of  chemistry, 
geology,  and  biology ;  but  the  deepening  and  broadening 
of  natural  knowledge  produced  next  to  no  immediate, 
practical  benefits.  Even  if  at  this  time  Francis  Bacon 
could  have  returned  to  the  scene  of  his  greatness,  he  must 
have  regarded  the  philosophic  world,  which  praised  and 
disregarded  his  precepts,  with  great  disfavor.  If  ghosts 
are  consistent,  he  would  have  said,  'These  people  are  all 
wasting  tlieir  time,  just  as  Gilbert  and  Kepler  and  Galileo 
and  my  wortliy  physician,  Harvey,  did  in  my  day.  Where 
are  the  fruits  of  the  restoration  of  science  which  I 
promised?  This  accumulation  of  bare  knowledge  is  all 
very  well,  but  what  good?  Not  one  of  these  people  is 
doing  what  I  specially  told  him  to  do,  and  seeking  that 
secret  of  the  cause  of  forms  which  will  enable  men  to  deal 
at  will  with  nature,  and  superinduce  new  natures  upon  old 
foundations.'  " 

And  Huxley  eloquently  continues :  '*  The  history  of 
physical  science  teaches  that  the  practical  advantages  at- 
tainable through  its  agency  never  have  been,  and  never 
will  be,  sufficiently  attractive  to  men  inspired  with  the  in- 


152  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

born  genius  of  the  interpreter  of  nature  to  give  them 
courage  to  undergo  the  toils  and  make  the  sacrifices  which 
that  calling  requires  from  its  votaries.  That  which  stirs 
their  pulses  is  the  love  of  knowledge,  and  the  joy  of  the 
discovery  of  the  causes  of  things  sung  by  the  old  poets — 
the  supreme  delight  of  extending  the  realm  of  law  and 
order  ever  farther  toward  the  unattainable  goals  of  the  in- 
finitely great  and  the  infinitely  small,  between  which  our 
little  race  of  life  is  run.  In  the  course  of  this  work  tlie 
physical  philosopher,  sometimes  intentionally,  much  more 
often  unintentionally,  lights  upon  something  which  proves 
to  be  of  practical  value.  Great  is  the  rejoicing  of  those 
who  are  benefited  thereby,  and  for  the  moment  science  is 
the  Diana  of  all  the  craftsmen.  But  even  while  the  cries 
of  jubilation  resound,  and  this  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the 
tide  of  investigation  is  being  turned  into  the  wages  of 
workmen  and  the  wealth  of  the  capitalist,  the  crest  of  the 
wave  of  scientific  investigation  is  far  away  on  its  course 
over  tiie  illimitable  ocean  of  the  unknown." 

On  the  other  hand,  to  note  the  influence  of  common 
life,  the  life  of  the  unlearned  people,  the  life  of  action 
upon  the  pure,  scholarly,  and  scientific  life,  read  the  mag- 
nificent words  of  Wendell  Phillips  : 

"Anacharsis  went  into  the  Archon's  court  at  Athens, 
heard  a  case  argued  by  the  great  men  of  that  city,  and 
saw  the  vote  by  five  hundred  men.  Walking  in  the  streets 
some  one  asked  him,  '  What  do  you  think  of  Athenian 
liberty?'  'I  think,'  said  he,  '  wise  men  argue  cases,  and 
fools  decide  them.'  Just  what  that  timid  scholar  said 
two  thousand  years  ago  in  the  streets  of  Athens,  tliat 
which  calls  itself  scholarship  here  to-day,  says  of  popular 
agitation,  that  it  lets  wise  men  argue  questions,  and  fools 
decide  them.  But  that  same  Athens,  where  fools  decided 
the  gravest  questions  of  policy,  and  of  right  and  wrong, 
where  property  you  had  wearily  gathered  to-day  might  be 
wrung  from  you  by  the  caprice   of  the   mob  to-morrow, 


BA.CON.  153 

that  very  Athens  probably  secured  for  its  era  the  greatest 
amount  of  human  happiness  and  nobleness  ;  invented  art, 
and  sounded  for  us  the  depths  of  philosophy.  It  flashes 
to-day  the  torch  that  gilds  yet  the  mountain-peaks  of  the 
Old  World ;  while  Egypt,  the  hunker-conservafcive  of  an- 
tiquity, where  nobody  dared  differ  from  the  priest,  or  to 
be  wiser  than  his  grandfather ;  where  men  pretended  to 
be  alive  though  swaddled  in  the  grave-clothes  of  creed  and 
custom,  as  close  as  their  mummies  were  in  linen — that 
Egypt  is  hidden  in  the  tomb  it  inhabited,  and  the  intellect 
Athens  has  trained  for  us  digs  to-day  those  ashes  to  find 
out  how  dead  and  buried  hunkerism  lived  and  acted." 

And  Huxley  also  confesses  :  "  If  science  has  rendered 
the  colossal  development  of  modern  industry  possible,  be- 
yond a  doubt  industry  has  done  no  less  for  modern 
science.  The  demand  for  technical  education  is  reacting 
upon  science  in  a  manner  which  will  assuredly  stimulate 
its  future  growth  to  an  incalculable  extent.  It  has  become 
obvious  that  the  interests  of  science  and  of  industry  are 
identical ;  that  science  cannot  make  a  step  forward  with- 
out, sooner  or  later,  opening  up  new  channels  for  industry  ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  every  advance  of  industry 
facilitates  those  experimental  investigations  upon  which 
the  growth  of  science  depends.  We  may  hope  that  at 
last  the  weary  misunderstanding  between  the  practical 
men  who  profess  to  despise  science,  and  the  high  and  dry 
philosophers  who  professed  to  despise  practical  results,  is 
at  an  end." 

It  was  the  "  high  and  dry  philosophers "  that  Bacon 
did  despise,  and  it  was  industry  that  he  was  in  favor  of — 
practical  result,  food,  shelter,  and  clothing,  dwellings, 
harvest  fields,  easy  means  of  conveyance,  wealth  and  com- 
fort, in  fact,  utilitarianism,  and  in  this  he  did,  indeed, 
inaugurate  a  new  and  splendid  era  of  human  improvement. 
When  we  rightly  understand  Bacon  he  is  worthy  of  all  the 
praise  that  is  showered  upon  him,  but  his  real  point  of 


154  FOUR    IHiXDllKD    TKARS    OF    FREKTHOUGHT. 

departure  was  not  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  but  in 
the  uses  of  knowledge.  The  tree  of  knowledge  may  be  in 
itself  a  very  good  thing,  but  the  fruits  of  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge are  mucli  better.  Bacon  did  plant  the  tree,  but 
he  did  tell  us  how  to  gather  the  fruits  and  to  increase  the 
fruits. 

Macaulaj  well  illustrates  the  position  of  Bacon  in  his- 
tory, likening  him  to  the  prophet  who  "from  his  lonely 
elevation  looks  on  an  infinite  expanse ;  behind  him  a 
wilderness  of  dreary  sands  and  bitter  waters  in  which  suc- 
cessive generations  have  sojourned,  .always  moving,  yet 
never  advancing,  reaping  no  harvest  and  building  no 
abiding  city  ;  before  him  a  goodly  land,  a  land  of  promise, 
a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  Wliile  the  multitude 
below  see  only  the  flat,  sterile  desert,  in  whicli  they  had 
so  long  wandered,  bounded  on  every  side  by  a  near 
horizon,  or  diversified  only  by  some  deceitful  mirage,  he 
was  gazing  from  a  far  higher  stand  on  a  far  lovelier  coun- 
try, following  with  his  eye  the  long  course  of  fertilizing 
rivers,  through  ample  pastures,  and  under  the  bridges  of 
great  capitals,  measuring  the  distances  and  portioning  out 
these  wealthy  regions  for  man's  benefit." 

In  the  following  extract  the  genius,  literary  excellence, 
and  philosophic  insight  of  Bacon  are  exhibited.  It  shows 
the  man.     It  is  an  index  of  the  whole  scope  of  his  work  : 

"  Crafty  men  contemn  studies ;  simple  men  admire 
them  ;  and  wise  men  use  them  ;  for  they  teach  not  their 
own  use ;  that  is  a  wisdom  wdthout  tliem  and  won  b}^ 
observation.  Read  not  to  contradict  or  believe,  but  to 
weigh  and  consider.  Some  books  are  to  be  tasted,  others 
to  be  swallowed,  and  a  few  to  be  chewed  and  digested. 
Reading  maketh  a  full  man,  conference  a  ready  man,  and 
writing  an  exact  man.  And,  therefore,  if  a  man  write 
little  he  need  have  a  great  memory  ;  if  he  confer  little, 
have  a  present  wit ;  and  if  he  read  little,  have  much  cun- 
ning to  seem  to  know  what  he  doth  not.     Histories  make 


COMENIUS.  155 

men  wise,  poets  witty,  the  mathematics  subtle,  natural  phi- 
losophy deep,  morals  grave,  logic  and  rhetoric  able  to 
contend." 

It  is  seldom  that  so  much  good  sense  is  crammed  into 
so  few  sentences,  for  the  guidance  of  life  and  the  attain- 
ment of  real  happiness. 

CoMENius.— 1592-1671. 

Comenius  seemed  to  be  tlie  first  great  original  mind 
who  caught  the  real  fire  of  Bacon's  genius  and  flung  it 
over  Europe  with  the  intensity  of  an  enthusiast.  Come- 
nius desired  an  entirely  new  intellectual  era.  He  pro- 
posed to  revolutionize  all  knowledge,  to  make  complete 
wisdom  accessible  to  all.  Language  was  to  be  an  instru- 
ment, not  an  end  in  itself;  and  many  living  languages  in- 
stead of  one  dead  language  of  the  old  school ;  a  knowledge 
of  things  instead  of  words,  the  free  use  of  our  eyes  and 
ears  upon  the  nature  that  surrounds  us;  intelligent  appre- 
hension instead  of  loading  the  memory.  All  the  doctrines 
now  the  doctrines  of  rational  reform  were  first  promul- 
gated over  Europe  by  numerous  pamphlets,  about  nmetv 
in  all,  of  this  Slavonic  reformer,  Comenius,  of  Bohemia. 
Bohemia  might  be  said,  in  the  time  of  Comenius,  to  be 
the  center  of  literary  activity,  although  Comenius  himself 
was  an  exile,  almost  all  his  life,  from  that  fair  land.  Cer- 
tainly in  Bohemia  first  flamed  the  learning  of  modern 
times.  A  university  was  established  at  Prague,  the  capital 
of  Bohemia,  in  1348.  From  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  stu- 
dents attended  it  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  including  Eng- 
land and  France.  It  was  here  that  Copernicus  and  Tycho 
Brahe  located.  The  histor}^  of  Bohemia,  in  the  middle 
ages,  is  full  of  illustrious  names  and  deeds.  The  period 
from  1526  to  1620  is  regarded  as  the  golden  age  of  its  lit- 
erature. 

At  that  time  the  Bohemian  language  and  arts  reached 
a  high  point  of  cultivation  through  the  discovery  of  valu- 


156  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

able  remnants  of  old  literature.  The  history  of  this 
beautiful  land — where  the  resources  of  nature  have  been 
made  the  most  of  by  the  skill  and  industry  of  the  people 
for  centuries — this  history  has  been  one  of  great  struggle. 
Almost  every  field  has  been  a  scene  of  conflict.  For  more 
than  ten  centuries  it  has  been  the  battle-ground  of  the 
nations  of  Europe. 

Out  of  this  land  came  one  of  the  greatest  philosophers 
of  the  world,  a  practical  philosopher  who,  three  hundred 
years  ago,  declared  the  foundation  principles  of  the  edu- 
cation of  to-day.  For  nearly  two  hundred  j^ears  his  name 
sank  into  obscurity,  but  now  his  memory  is  being  cele- 
brated on  two  continents,  and  his  glorious  and  indomit- 
able genius  recognized.  If  anyone  is  a  benefactor  to  man- 
kind, it  is  he  who  tells  us  how  to  rightly  train  the  human 
faculties,  especially  in  childhood's  pregnant  hour,  in 
which  are  enfolded  so  much  of  the  destinies  of  the  man. 

Says  Comenius  : 

"  Do  we  not  dwell  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  as  well  as 
our  predecessors  ?  Should  we  not  use  our  eyes  and  ears 
and  noses,  as  well  as  they ;  and  why  need  we  other  teach- 
ers than  these  in  learning  to  know  the  works  of  nature  ? 
Why  should  we  not,  instead  of  these  dead  books,  open  to 
the  children  the  living  book  of  nature?  Why  not  open 
their  understanding  to  the  things  themselves,  so  that  from 
them,  as  from  living  springs,  may  streamlets  flow  ?" 

"The  object  of  study  must  be  a  real,  true,  useful  thing, 
capable  of  making  an  impression  upon  the  senses  and  the 
apprehension.  This  is  necessary  that  it  may  be  brought 
into  communication  with  the  senses ;  if  visible,  with  the 
eyes  ;  if  audible,  with  the  ears  ;  if  odorous,  with  the  nose ; 
if  sapid,  with  the  taste  ;  if  tangible,  with  the  touch.  The 
heginning  of  hioioledge  must  be  with  the  senses. 

"Youth  has  been  occupied  for  3-ears  Avith  prolix  and 
confused    grammatical    rules ;    and,    at    the   same    time, 


CHARLES   ROBERT  DARWIN  (p.  375). 


COMENIUS.  157 

crammed  with  the  names  of  things,  without  knowing  the 
things  themselves. 

"  The  studies  of  a  lifetime  must  be  so  ordered  th;it 
they  may  form  a  single  whole  in  which  everything  has 
sprung  from  a  single  root." 

Comenius,  among  the  very  first,  and  against  the  theol- 
ogy of  the  churches,  advocated  the  higher  education,  as 
well  as  elementary  training  for  women. 

These  are  somewhat  remarkable  words  for  three  hun- 
dred years  ago  : 

"  Why,  indeed,  should  women  be  excluded  from  the 
study  of  wisdom,  whether  in  the  Latin  tongue,  or  in  Ger- 
man translations  ?  For  they  are  equally  created  in  the 
image  of  God,  equally  endowed  with  an  active,  recipient 
spirit,  often,  even,  more  highly  endowed  than  our  own  sex. 
Why,  then,  should  we  admit  them  to  the  a  b  c,  and 
afterward  refuse  them  access  to  books  ? 

"  Let  no  one  say  how  would  it  be  if  mechanics,  peasants, 
laboring  men,  women,  and  maid  servants,  were  learned 
and  initiated  into  philosophy.  I  say  tliat  we  would  all 
have  cause  to  rejoice  at  it." 

The  old  theological  dictum  declared  that  woman  was 
a  monstrosity,  and  really  had  no  soul ;  that  she  was  not 
capable  of  education,  and  must  be  a  household  drudge. 
The  imperfection  of  the  fair  sex  was  extended  even 
to  nature.  Bruno  puts  the  following  into  the  mouth  of 
one  of  his  peripatetic  pedants  : 

"  That  nature's  imperfect  is  doubtful  to  no  man. 
The  reason  is  clear — she  is  only  a  woman." 

Comenius  was  greatly  in  advance  of  his  age.  He  be- 
lieved in  woman's  equality  as  well  as  man's. 

Comenius  insisted  upon  a  physical  education.  "A 
sound  mind  in  a  sound  body,"  was  one  of  his  favorite 
maxims.  He  advised  running,  jumping,  wrestling,  ball, 
ninepins,  long  walks,  and  other  amusements. 


158  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

"  During  the  waking  hours,"  he  said,  "  some  portion 
of  the  time  should  be  spent  in  music,  plays,  humorous 
conversation,  and  whatever  is  easy  and  agreeable  to  the 
mind." 

Comenius  was  a  great  lover  of  children,  and  anticipated 
Froebel  by  publishing  the  first  picture-book  for  children. 
This  famous  book — the  first  effort,  in  fact,  to  teach  chil- 
dren by  means  of  pictures — is  the  progenitor  of  a  long 
line  of  varied  and  illustrated  text-books  in  our  own  day. 
In  a  letter  to  his  publisher,  Comenius  says  :  "  It  may  be 
observed  that  many  of  our  children  grow  weary  of  their 
books,  because  these  are  overfilled  with  things  which  have 
to  be  explained  by  the  help  of  words ;  things  which  the 
boys  have  never  seen,  and  of  which  the  teachers  know 
nothing." 

The  nobility  of  the  motive  which  actuated  Comenius 
is  thus  declared  in  one  of  his  books  : 

"  By  the  same  right  that  one  member  of  a  family  comes 
to  another  for  help,  ought  we  to  be  helpful  to  our  fellow- 
men.  Socrates  died  rather  than  not  teach  goodness,  and 
Seneca  says  that,  if  wisdom  were  to  be  given  him  for  him- 
self on]}^  and  he  not  communicate  it  to  others,  he  would 
rather  not  have  it." 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  ideas  of  Comenius  found 
fruitful  soil  in  the  youthful  mind  of  Milton,  to  whom  the 
Bohemian  philosopher  was  made  known  by  Samuel  Hart- 
lib,  the  champion  of  school  reform  in  England.  Milton 
himself  wrote  an  essay  entitled  "  Of  Education,"  strongly 
marked  with  the  poet's  individuality.  He  denounces  the 
system  of  Cambridge  and  "  the  many  mistakes  which  have 
made  learning  generally  so  unpleasing  and  so  unsuccess- 
ful." "The  alumni  of  the  universities,"  he  says,  "carry 
away  with  them  a  hatred  and  contempt  of  learning,  and 
sink  into  ignorantly  zealous  clergymen  or  mercenary  law- 
yers, while  the  men  of  fortune  betake  themselves  to  feasts 
and    jollity."     This  is    Milton's  definition  of  education : 


COMENIUS.  159 

"I  call  a  complete  and  generous  education  that  which  fits 
a  man  to  perform  justly,  skillfully,  and  magnanimously  all 
the  offices,  both  public  and  private,  of  peace  and  war." 
And  again  he  breaks  out :  "  Though  a  linguist  should 
pride  himself  to  have  all  the  tongues  that  Babel  cleft  the 
world  into,  yet  if  he  had  not  studied  the  solid  things  in 
them,  as  well  as  the  words  and  lexicons,  he  were  nothing 
so  much  to  be  esteemed  a  learned  man  as  any  yeoman 
competently  wise  in  his  mother  dialect  only."  Again  Mil- 
ton says :  "  I  will  point  you  out  the  right  path  of  a  noble 
and  virtuous  education,  laborious  indeed  at  first  ascent, 
but  else  so  smooth  and  green  and  full  of  goodly  prospects 
and  melodious  sounds  on  every  side  that  the  harp  of 
Orpheus  is  not  more  charming." 

There  must  be  out-door  training.  The  poet-philoso- 
pher continues  : 

"  In  those  vernal  seasons  of  the  j^ear  when  the  air  is 
calm  and  pleasant,  it  were  an  injury  and  a  suUenness 
against  nature  not  to  go  out  and  see  her  riches  and  par- 
take in  her  rejoicing  with  heaven  and  earth.  I  should  not 
be  a  persuader  to  them  of  studying  much  then,  after  two 
or  three  years  that  they  have  well  laid  their  grounds,  but 
to  ride  out  in  companies  to  all  quarters  of  the  land.  I 
cannot  praise  a  fugitive  and  cloistered  virtue,  unexercised 
and  unbreathed,  that  never  sallies  out  and  seeks  her  adver- 
sary, but  sulks  out  of  the  race,  where  that  immortal  gar- 
laud  is  to  be  run  for,  not  without  dust  and  heat." 

In  1762  was  published  the  "Emile  "  of  Rousseau,  which 
has  had  more  influence  on  education  than  any  other 
book  of  later  times.  The  burden  of  Rousseau's  message 
was  nature.  He  revolted  against  the  false  civilization  he 
saw  around  him,  the  shams  of  government  and  society. 
He  laid  great  stress  on  the  earliest  education.  The  first 
year  of  life  is  in  every  respect  the  most  important.  The 
naughtiness  of  children  comes  from  weakness.  Make  the 
child  strong  and  he  will  be  good.     Children's  destructive- 


160  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

iiess  is  a  form  of  activity.  Do  not  insist  so  much  on  the 
duty  of  obedience  as  on  the  necessity  of  submission  to 
natural  laws. 

The  chief  moral  principle  is  to  do  no  one  harm.  One 
must  be  taught  by  the  real  things  of  life,  by  observation 
and  experience.  We  must  first  make  one  a  man,  and  that 
chiefly  by  athletic  exercise.  Educate  the  child's  sight  to 
measure,  count,  and  weigh  accurately  ;  teach  him  to 
draw  ;  tune  his  ear  to  time  and  harmony  ;  give  him  simple 
food,  but  let  him  eat  as  much  of  it  as  he  desires.  Teach 
some  handicraft.  Teach  history,  the  machinery  of  society, 
the  world  as  it  is,  and  as  it  might  be.  Let  useless  and 
burdensome  knowledge  be  avoided.  Mucli  of  the  heroism 
of  the  French  revolution  was  due  to  these  noble  ideals 
flashed  forth  by  Rousseau. 

Pestalozzl— 1746-1827. 

Pestalozzi  was  born  at  Zurich  in  1746.  His  earliest 
years  were  spent  in  schemes  for  improving  the  condition 
of  the  people.  Afterwards  he  left  politics  and  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  education.  His  masterpiece  is 
"Leonard  and  Gertrude,"  where  a  whole  community  is 
gradually  reformed  by  the  efforts  of  a  good  and  devoted 
woman.  The  French  invasion  of  Switzerland  in  1798 
brought  forth  his  truly  heroic  character  and  the  splendid 
principles  of  his  philosophy.  A  number  of  children  were 
left  on  the  shores  of  Like  Lucerne  without  parents 
home,  food,  or  shelter.  Pestalozzi  collected  them  into  a 
deserted  convent,  and  formed  a  school.  "  I  was,"  he  s-ays, 
"  fi-om  morning  till  evening  almost  alone  in  their  midst. 
Everything  which  was  done  for  their  body  or  mind  pro- 
ceeded from  my  hand.  My  hand  lay  in  their  hand,  my 
eve  rested  on  their  eye,  my  tears  flowed  with  theirs,  and 
mj'-  laughter  accompanied  theirs.  They  were  out  of  the 
world  with  me,  and  I  was  with  them.  Their  soup  was 
mine  ;  their  drink  wus  mine.     I  had  no   liousekeeper,  no 


FROEBEL.  iQj^ 

friend,  no  servants  around  me  ;  I  had  them  alone.  Were 
they  well  I  stood  in  their  midst ;  were  they  ill  I  was  at 
their  side.  I  was  the  last  who  went  to  bed  at  night,  and 
the  first  who  rose  in  the  morning." 

Pestalozzi's  method  was  to  begin  with  observation,  to 
pass  from  observation  to  consciousness,  from  conscious- 
ness to  speech.  Then  came  measuring,  drawing,  writing, 
numbers  and  so  reckoning.  Among  his  pupils  was  Froe^ 
bel.  He  adopted  the  principles  of  Comenius  and  Rousseau. 
He  has  exerted  a  wide  influence  upon  educational  methods. 
Herbert  Spencer  has  amplified  and  illustrated  his  phi- 
losophy. 

Froebel.— 1782-1852. 

Comenius,  as  already  noted,  published  the  first  pict- 
ure-book for  children,  and  here  we  have  the  beginning  of 
the  beautiful  philosopliy  of  Froebel ;  and  surely  no  one 
has  so  benefited  the  human  race  as  this  wonderful  genius, 
who.  animated  by  the  sublime  ideas  of  Bruno,  would  ex- 
press the  life  of  humanity  in  correspondence  with  the  uni- 
versal life ;  would,  by  a  natural  education,  unfold  the  unity 
of  man  and  of  nature.  Not  only  childhood,  but  manhood 
and  old  age,  should  be  a  garden  to  be  cultivated,  not  by 
external  forces,  but  by  that  whicli  is  within;  for,  as  Bruno 
says,  "  matter,  or  nature,  is  not  the  mere  naked,  empty 
capacity,  which  philosophers  have  pictured  her  to  be,  but 
the  universal  mother  who  brings  forth  all  things  as  the 
fruit  of  her  own  womb."  This  was  the  animating  doctrine 
of  Froebel,  as  he  wandered  amidst  the  Thuringian  forest, 
and  from  stone  and  leaf,  cobweb  and  insect,  sought  the 
secret  of  man's  intellectual  development ;  for  the  same 
radiant  law  could  be  everywhere  observed. 

As  Wordsworth  says  : 

"And  I  have  felt 
A  presence  that  disturbs  me  with  the  joy 
Of  elevated  thoughts  ;  a  sense  sublime 


162  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FRKETHOUGHT. 

Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused, 

Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 

And  the  round  ocean  and  the  living  air. 

And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man : 

A  motion  and  a  spirit  that  impels 

All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thought, 

And  rolls  through  all  things. 

Therefore  am  I  still 

A  lover  of  the  meadows,  and  the  woods. 

And  mountains." 

Froebel  rounds  out,  makes  deeper  and  broader  the 
philosophy  of  Bacon.  Without  Froebel  the  philosophy 
of  Bacon  would  become  as  dry  and  cold  as  the  school 
metaphysics  ;  we  should  be  nothing  but  Gadgrinds,  and 
beauty  would  vanish.  Bacon  said  educate  in  order  to  do. 
Froebel  said  do  in  order  to  educate.  Bacon  said  train  for 
action.  Froebel  said  train  through  action.  Bacon  said 
"fruits."  Frobel  would  say,  "  Fruits  and  flowers."  Ba- 
con was  right,  but  Froebel  was  more  so,  as  Goethe  says 
of  beauty,  "  It  is  truth  and  something  more."  With  Bacon 
it  was  simply  usefulness.  Witli  Froebel  it  was  the  joy  of 
usefulness ;  it  was  not  mere  work,  but  the  delight  of  work. 
Bacon  was  a  man  of  the  world.  Froebel  was  a  mystic, 
and  througli  the  two — with  the  inexhaustible  energy  of 
Comenius — tliere  is  given  to  the  world  the  grandest  phi- 
losophy of  education,  without  which  a  permanent  civiliza- 
tion is  impossible.  To  develop  the  man  through  the 
child,  to  recognize  the  child  nature,  to  behold  in  the  child 
the  man  that  is  to  be,  and  to  see  in  the  very  sports  of  child- 
hood the  creative  faculties  of  the  larger  life,  which  battles 
and  wins,  this  was  indeed  a  magnificent  discovery,  sur- 
passing, we  might  say,  the  discovery  of  Columbus,  for 
hitherto,  as  the  new  world  had  been  separated  from  the 
old  world,  so  qliildhood  was  separated  from  manhood  ;  it 
was  a  forgotten  and  faded  thing,  but  Froebel  linked  the 


JOHN    TYNDALL  (p.  53). 


FROEBEL. 


163 


glorious  poetry  of  childhood  to  the  stern  realities  of  man- 
hood. Childhood  is  not  to  be  forgotten,  its  sports  are  not 
to  be  despised,  its  hopes  and  dreams  are  not  useless.  We 
need  to  preserve  childhood  as  long  as  we  live,  to  keep 
glowing  its  beautiful  impulses,  to  labor  even  as  our  chil- 
dren play,  and  so  cease  from  drudgery  and  attain  the 
greatest  wisdom  and  power. 

The  play  impulse,  says  Schiller,  is  the  divinest  impulse 
of  humanity.  Says  Froebel,  it  is  the  creative  impulse. 
How  different  this  from  the  old  theologies — the  mere 
manikin  religions  of  the  past — in  which  the  child  and  the 
woman  had  no  part.  How  miserable  childhood  was  under 
tlie  ancient  systems,  how  neglected,  how  contorted,  how 
repressed  !  And  the  child  was  supposed  to  be  totally  de- 
pi-aved,  and  its  natural  inclinations  therefore  must  be 
crushed.  There  was  nothing  good  in  it,  and  therefore  it 
must  not  be  educated,  it  must  be  instructed.  It  must  be 
put  in  harness.  To  unfold  the  child's  nature,  to  lead 
forth  what  was  within,  to  teach  it  to  express  itself,  to 
bloom  like  a  flower — why,  this  was  all  wrong.  The  child 
must  be  made  into  a  Christian,  into  a  theologian,  into  a 
saint,  into  an  angel;  it  must  be  made  abnormal,  unnatural, 
artificial,  but  it  must  not  be  a  child,  a  playful  child,  a  nat- 
ural human  child.  St.  Paul  said,  "I  put  away  childish 
things."  Poor  Sr.  Paul!  How  much  he  missed  of  human 
life  !  No  wonder  he  has  cursed  the  world  with  a  gloomy 
theology.  The  wiser  and  the  gentler  Jesus  said,  accord- 
ing to  the  record,  "  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  To  interpret  this 
by  Froebel's  philosophy  is  to  say  that  the  highest  devel- 
opment of  the  child's  life  is  necessary  to  the  highest  de- 
velopment of  the  man's  life;  that  the  child  must  be  a  child, 
and  act  the  child,  before  it  can  act  the  man,  and  the  child 
and  the  man  are  to  be  made  harmonious  ;  and  he  who 
has  no  sympathy  with  the  child's  life,  Avith  its  toys  and 
joys,  and  pleasures  and  plays,  is  not  the  fully  and    splen- 


164  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

didly  developed  man.  He  is  only  half  a  man.  He  who 
keeps  his  childhood  always  with  him  is  the  one  who 
grows  old  gracefully,  who  retains  his  faculties,  and  makes 
the  best  of  them  always.  To  avoid  the  imbecilities  of 
"second  childhood,"  let  the  first  childhood  be  perfectly 
natural,  and  a  delightful  influence  and  presence  through- 
out mature  life.  Let  the  "child-garden"  bloom  peren- 
nially. 

Goethe  has  beautifully  pictured  the  child-growth  in 
the  following  : 

"  When  eagerly  a  child  looks  round. 

In  his  father's  house  his  shelter  is  found. 

His  ear,  beginning  to  understand, 

Imbibes  the  speech  of  his  native  land. 
Whatever  his  own  experiences  are, 
He  hears  of  other  things  afar. 

Example  affects  him ;  he  grows  strong  and  steady, 

Yet  finds  the  world  complete  and  ready. 
This  is  prized,  and  that  praised  with  much  ado  ; 
He  wishes  to  be  somebody,  too. 

How  can  he  work,  and  woo,  how  fight  and  frown  ? 

For  everything  has  been  written  down  ; 
Nay,  worse,  it  has  appeared  in  print. 
The  youth  is  baffled  but  takes  the  hint ; 

It  dawns  on  him,  now,  more  and  more. 

He  is  what  others  have  been  before." 

"  The  function  of  education,"  says  Froebel,  "  is  to  de- 
velop the  faculties  by  arousing  voluntary  activity.'''' 

Again  he  says:  "  The  starting-point  of  all  that  appears, 
of  all  that  exists,  and  therefore  of  all  intellectual  con- 
ception, is  act,  action.  From  the  act,  from  action,  must, 
therefore,  start  true,  human  education,  the  developing  ed- 
ucation of  the  man ;  in  action,  in  acting,  it  must  be  rooted, 
and  must  spring  up.  Living,  acting,  conceiving — these 
must    form  a  triple    chord  within   every    child    of    man, 


FROEBBL.  165 

though  the  sound  now  of  this  string,  now  of  that,  may 
preponderate,  and  then  again  of  two  together." 

Froebel  affirmed  that  education  should  begin  with 
earliest  infancy,  with  birth  itself,  but,  as  pointed  out  by 
Dr.  E.  B.  Foote  and  others  who  have  deeply  studied  into 
the  laws  of  heredity,  it  begins  even  before  birth.  The 
child  is  educated  in  the  mother's  womb.  Through  the 
mother's  eyes  and  heart,  and  healthful  body,  surrounded 
with  beautiful  and  noble  objects,  sweet  influences  can 
come  to  the  softly-beating  life.  Victor  Hugo  wittily  says  : 
"  If  you  want  to  reform  a  man,  you  must  begin  with  his 
grandmother." 

Goethe  expresses  it : 

"  Stature  from  father  and  the  mood, 

Stern  views  of  life  compelling ; 
From  mother  I  take  the  joyous  heart, 

And  the  love  of  story-telling. 
Grandfather's  passion  was  for  the  fair ; 

What  if  I  still  reveal  it  ? 
Grandmother's,  pomp  and  gold  and  show. 

And  in  my  bones  I  feel  it." 

And  Whitman  says : 

"  There  was  a  child  went  forth  every  day. 
And  the    first  object    he    looked   upon,   that  object  he 

became  ; 
And  that  object  became  part  of  him  for  the  day  or  a  part 

of  the  day, 
Or  for  many  years,  or  stretching  cycles  of  years, 
The  early  lilacs  became  part  of  the  child. 

The    family    usages,    the   language,    the    furniture,    the 

yearning  and  swelling  heart, 
Affection  that  will  not  be  gainsayed,  the  sense  of  what 

is  real,  the  thought  that  if,  after  all,  it  should  prove 

unreal, 


166  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   FREErilOUGHT. 

The  doubts  of   day-time,  the  doubts  of   night-time,  the 

curious  whether  and  how, 
Whether  thai  which  appears  so  is  so,  or  is  it  all  flashes 

and  specks  ? 
Men  and  women  crowding  fast  in  the  streets — if  they  are 

not  flashes  and  specks,  what  are  they  ? 

The  horizon's  edge,  the  flying  sea  crow,  the  fragrance  of 

salt  marsh  and  shore  mud, 
These  became  part  of  that   child  who  went  forth  every 

day  and  who  now  goes  and  will  always  go   forth 

every  day." 

This  was  the  direction  of  Froebel's  work.  The  unity 
of  man  with  nature  is  also  the  unity  of  man  with  man,  past 
and  present,  and  so  one  generation  educates  that  which 
comes  after  it,,  and  this  education  must  become  a  science. 
It  must  not  be  haphazard  and  incidental,  left  to  chance, 
but  philosophic  and  continuous,  wisely  directed,  and  uni- 
versally applied. 

Froebel  devoted  himself  to  the  instruction  of  mothers, 
and  certainly  there  must  be  education  in  motherhood. 
To  o-ive  birth  to  a  child  is  the  greatest  act  of  a  human 
being.  Maternity  is  the  crown  of  humanity.  To  be  a 
mother  is  to  be  a  queen  indeed.  To  ennoble  the  mother 
is  to  ennoble  the  child.  The  birth  of  every  child  should 
be  a  royal  event,  and  wise  men  must  bring  gifts  to  the 
helpless  king  of  the  world's  expanding  future. 

Make  the  mother's  life  beautiful  and  a  beautiful  child 
will  be  born.     And  Froebel  says  : 

"  If  the  infant  is  what  he  should  be  as  an  infant,  and 
the  child  as  a  child,  he  will  be  what  he  should  be  as  a  boy 
and  as  a  man,  just  as  naturally  as  new  shoots  spring  from  the 
healthy  plant.  Every  stage  must  be  cared  for  and  tended 
in  such  a  way  that  it  attains  its  own  perfection. 

"Give  children   employmen,t  in  agreement  with  their 


COMBE.  IQJ 

whole  nature,  to  strengthen  their  bodies,  to  exercise  their 
senses,  to  engage  their  awakening  mind,  and  through  their 
senses  to  bring  them  acquainted  with  nature  and  their 
fellow  beings.  Especially  guide  aright  the  heart  and  the 
affections,  and  Jead  them  to  the  original  ground  of  all  life, 
to  unity  with  themselves." 

Combe.— 1788-1858. 

Combe  has  exerted  quite  a  remarkable  influence  in 
educational  theories  and  practice,  especially  by  means  of 
his  great  work,  "  The  Constitution  of  Man  in  Relation  to 
External  Objects." 

In  a  fragment  of  his  autobiography,  written  a  short 
time  before  his  death,  he  complains  of  the  irksomeness  of 
the  Sunday  observances  and  tasks  imposed  on  his  father's 
household.  They  rendered  the  church,  Sunday,  and  cate- 
chism sources  of  weariness  and  terror  to  him.  His  mind 
became  largely  occupied  with  the  current  theological 
theories,  and  in  time  with  eloubts  of  their  truth.  Proceed- 
ing to  investigate  phrenology,  after  two  years  of  study  and 
investigation  he  became  satisfied  that  the  fundamental 
principles  were  true,  namely,  "  that  the  brain  is  the  organ 
of  the  mind  ;  that  the  brain  is  an  aggregate  of  several 
parts,  each  subserving  a  distinct  mental  faculty  ;  and  that 
the  size  of  the  cerebral  organ  is,  other  things  being  equal, 
an  index  of  power  or  energy  of  function."  His  essays  gave 
an  extraordinary  impulse  to  the  new  science. 

The  principles  announced  in  "Tlie  Constitution  of 
Man  "  were  like  those  of  Comenius  and  Froebel,  namely, 
that  all  the  laws  of  nature  are  in  harmony  with  one  another, 
and  that  man  will  attain  the  greatest  happiness  by  dis- 
covering and  obeying  them.  He  believed  that  this  sup- 
plied a  philosophical  basis  to  religion.  When,  however, 
the  book  was  published  (1828)  he  was  charged  by  the 
church  party  with  being  a  Materialist  and  Atheist.  He 
gave  time,  labor  and    money  to  help  educate  the  people. 


168  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

He  established  the  first  infant  school  in  Edinburgh,  and 
originated  a  series  of  evening  lectures  on  chemistry, 
physiology,  history,  and  moral  philosophy,  the  lectures  on 
the  latter  subject  being  given  by  himself.  He  studied  the 
criminal  classes  and  the  problem  how  to  reform  as  well 
as  to  punish  them ;  and  he  strove  to  introduce  into  lunatic 
asylums  a  humane  system  of  treatment. 

No  less  that  five  hundred  thousand  copies  of  "  The 
Constitution  of  Man  "  have  been  sold.  It  has  been  trans- 
lated into  several  languages.  As  an  exponent  of  the 
universality  of  law,  and  the  fallacies  of  "  special  provi- 
dence "  and  "  the  efficacy  of  prayer,"  it  is  a  most  excellent 
and  stimulating  book.  His  ideas  of  education  are  thor- 
oughly in  harmony  with  those  of  Herbert  Spencer,  with 
a  different  method  of  illustration,  and  scientific  results. 
The  harmony  of  man  with  nature,  and  the  art  of  man 
through  nature,  is  the  meaning  of  his  message,  as  of  all 
great  educators  since  Bacon.     Shakspere  expresses  it : 

"  Nature  is  made  better  by  no  mean 
But  nature  makes  that  mean  ;  so  o'er  that  art 
Which,  you  say,  adds  to  nature,  is  an  art 
That  nature  makes." 

Herbert  Spencer.— 1820-1893. 

After  Froebel  no  man  has  exerted  a  vaster  influence  in 
the  domain  of  education  than  Herbert  Spencer.  Ranked 
as  the  greatest  of  philosophers,  he  is  certainly  one  of  the 
noblest  teachers  of  humanity.  A  braver  searcher  after 
truth  never  lived.  A  better  equipped  writer  there  is  not 
in  the  English  language.  As  an  organizer  of  human 
knowledge  perhaps  there  is  not  his  equal.  His  classifica- 
tion of  facts,  especially  in  "  Descriptive  Sociology,"  is  one 
of  the  greatest  contributions  to  human  science,  and  to 
education. 

Sylvan  Drey  has  clearly  stated  the  relation  of  religion 


THOMAS    H.  HUXLEY  (p.  173). 


HERBERT    SPENCER.  169 

to  morality  from  the  Spenceriau  point  of  view.  He  says  : 
'•  From  Spencer's  point  of  view,  it  is  obvious  that  religion 
and  morality  are  quite  distinct  in  their  nature  and  purpose. 
Religion  aims  at  keeping  alive  sentiments  of  awe  and 
reverence  for  that  incomprehensible  power  which  every- 
where manifests  itself  through  the  working  of  the  universe. 
Morality,  on  the  other  hand,  has  solely  to  do  with  the 
conduct  of  men.  It  has  for  its  object  to  determine  what 
courses  of  action  are  most  conducive  to  personal  and  social 
well  being.  Goodness  derives  its  inestimable  value  from 
its  intrinsic  worth.  Not  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  the 
good  will  of  the  unknown  cause  of  things,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  being  rewarded  in  a  possible  life  to  come,  but 
because  the  welfare  of  all  is  dependent  upon  the  moral 
behavior  of  each.  We  know  nothing  indicative  of  any 
relation  between  morality  and  the  inscrutable  source  of 
things.  Wiiether  wickedness  can,  in  any  way,  affect  the 
higher  power,  or  whether  we  are  punished  after  death  for 
sins  committed  in  this  life,  are  questions  about  which  we 
are  superlatively  ignorant ;  but  we  are  absolutely  sure 
that  wrong  doing  causes  sorrow  and  pain  in  this  world, 
and  that  the  wrong-doer  himself  often  suffers  untold  pangs 
on  account  of  his  transgressions." 

Spencer  himself  says  :  "  I  am  not  concerned  to  show 
what  effect  religious  sentiment  as  hereafter  thus  modified 
will  have  as  a  moral  agent." 

Discarding,  therefore,  the  doctrine  of  the  "Unknow- 
able," and  the  '"  Ghost  of  a  Religion,"  for  which  Mr.  Spen- 
cer has  received  so  many  encomiums  from  the  Christian 
world — small  favors  thankfully  received — when  once  the 
theolcuians  would  have  burned  him,  we  take  up  the  truly 
valuable  work  of  this  great  philosopher,  working  along 
tlie  line  of  Bacon,  Comenius,  Milton,  Pestalozzi,  ;ind  Froe- 
bel.  "  In  this  regard  two  worlds  combine  to  honor  tiie 
name  of  Herbert  Spencer,  because  they  find  in  his  works 
a  really  unequaled  grasp  in  the   coordination  of  ideas,  a 


170  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

positive  method  which  rarely  stumbles,  a  vast  fertility  of 
illustration,  and  a  supreme  gift  for  perceiving  the  harmo- 
nies between  nature  and  society.  He  has  given  this  age 
a  mass  of  philosophic  suggestion,"  says  Frederic  Harrison. 

In  grappling  with  the  great  problem  of  the  future  edu- 
cation of  humanity,  Mr.  Spencer  says  : 

"  How  to  live  ?  that  is  the  essential  question  for  us. 
Not  how  to  live  in  the  mere  material  sense  only,  but  in 
the  widest  sense.  The  general  problem  which  compre- 
hends every  special  problem  is  the  right  ruling  of  con- 
duct in  all  directions  under  all  circumstances.  In  what 
way  to  treat  the  body  ;  in  what  way  to  treat  the  mind  ; 
in  what  way  to  manage  our  affairs  ;  in  what  way  to  bring 
up  a  family  ;  in  what  way  to  behave  as  a  citizen  ;  in  what 
way  to  utilize  all  those  sources  of  happiness  which  nature 
supplies — how  to  use  all  our  faculties  to  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage of  ourselves  and  others — how  to  live  completely? 
And  this  being  the  great,  needful  thing  for  us  to  learn, 
is,  by  consequence,  the  great  tlnng  which  education  has 
to  teach.  To  prepare  us  for  complete  living  is  the  func- 
tion which  education  has  to  discharge  ;  and  the  only  ra- 
tional motle  to  judge  of  any  educational  course  is  to  judge 
in  what  degree  it  discliarges  such  function. 

"  Before  there  can  be  a  rational  curriculum,  we  must 
settle  which  things  it  most  concerns  us  to  know  ;  or,  to  use 
a  word  of  Bacon's,  we  must  determine  the  relative  values 
of  'knowledges.' 

"  Had  we  time  to  master  all  subjects,  we  need  not  be 
particular.     To  quote  the  old  song : 

'  Could  a  man  be  secure 
That  his  days  would  endure, 
As  of  old,  a  thousand  years, 
What  things  might  he  know. 
What  deeds  might  he  do, 
And  all  without  hurry  or  care.' 


HERBERT  SPENCER.  171 

But  we  that  have  but  span-long  lives,  must  ever  bear  in 
mind  our  limited  time  for  acquisition." 

It  is  plain  to  any  wise  man  that,  in  the  selection  of 
knowledge,  we  must  take  it  in  the  order  of  usefulness. 
We  must  learn,  first,  self-preservation  ;  secondly,  the  means 
of  living ;  thirdly,  the  duties  of  parentage  ;  fourthly,  the 
duties  of  citizenship,  and,  lastly,  means  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  tastes  and  feelings.  This  is  the  order  which, 
according  to  Spencer,  should  constitute  the  new  education 
of  the  race,  and  fit  it  for  complete  life.  "  Not  exhaustive 
cultivation  in  any  one,"  says  Spencer,  "but  attention  to  all, 
greatest  where  the  value  is  greatest,  less  where  the  value 
is  less,  and  least  where  the  value  is  least. 

"And  here  we  see  distinctly  the  vice  of  our  educational 
system.  It  neglects  the  plant  for  the  sake  of  the  flower. 
In  anxiety  for  elegance,  it  forgets  substance.  While  it 
gives  no  knowledge  conducive  to  self-preservation ;  while 
of  knowledge  that  facilitates  gaining  a  livelihood,  it  gives 
but  the  rudiments,  and  leaves  the  greater  part  to  be 
picked  up  any  how  in  after  life  ;  while,  for  the  discharge  of 
parental  functions,  it  makes  not  the  slightest  provision, 
and  while,  for  the  duties  of  citizenship,  it  prepares  by 
imparting  a  mass  of  facts,  most  of  which  are  irrelevant,  and 
the  rest  without  a  key;  it  is  diligent  in  everything  that 
adds  to  refinement,  polish,  eclaV 

What  a  drudgery  the  attainment  of  knowledge  was  in 
the  old  orthodox  ways  !  The  child  had  no  choice.  It 
must  take  what  was  given  it — good,  bad,  and  indifferent — 
and  stumble  along  the  best  way  he  could.  There  was  an 
iron  system  to  which  every  one  must  submit.  There  was 
no  recognition  of  the  nature  of  the  learner.  The  more 
the  scholar  disliked  his  task,  the  better  it  was  supposed 
to  be  for  him.  The  pursuit  of  knowledge  was  indeed  a 
thorny  path. 

New  and  wiser  ideas  now  prevail  "  Of  all  the  changes 
taking  place,"  saj's  Spencer,  "  the  most  significant  is  the 


172  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

growing  desire  to  make  the  acquirement  of  knowledge 
pleasurable,  rather  than  painful,  a  desire  based  on  the 
more  or  less  distinct  perception  that,  at  each  age,  the  in- 
tellectual action,  which  a  child  likes,  is  a  healthful  one  for 
it ;  and  conversel}'.  There  is  a  spreading  opinion  that  the 
rise  of  an  appetite  for  an}'  kind  of  knowledge  implies 
that  the  unfolding  mind  has  become  fit  to  assimilate  it, 
and  needs  it  for  the  purpose  of  growth  ;  and  that,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  disgust  felt  toward  any  kind  of  knowledge 
is  a  sign  either  that  it  is  prematurely  presented,  or  that  it 
is  presented  in  an  indigestible  form.  Hence  the  efforts  to 
make  early  education  amusing,  and  all  education  interest- 
ing. Hence  the  lectures  on  the  value  of  play.  Asceti- 
cism is  disappearing  out  of  education  as  out  of  life  ;  and 
the  usual  test  of  political  education,  its  tendency  to  pro- 
mote happiness,  is  beginning  to  be,  in  a  great  degree,  the 
test  of  legislation  for  the  school  and  nursery." 

'"Self-development  should  be  encouraged  to  the  fullest 
extent.  Children  should  be  led  to  make  their  own  in- 
vestigations, and  draw  their  own  inferences.  They  should 
be  told  as  little  as  possible,  and  induced  to  discover  as 
much  as  possible.  Who,  indeed,  can  watch  the  ceaseless 
observation,  and  inquiry,  and  inference  going  on  in  a 
child's  mind,  or  listen  to  its  acute  remarks  on  matters 
within  the  range  of  its  faculties,  without  perceiving  that 
these  powers  which  it  manifests,  if  brought  to  bear  syste- 
matically upon  any  studies  within  the  same  range,  would 
readily  master  them  without  help?  The  need  of  per- 
petual telling  is  the  result  of  our  stupidity,  not  the  child's. 
We  drag  it  away  from  facts  in  which  it  is  interested  ;  and 
we  put  before  it  facts  far  too  complex  for  it  to  understand. 
We  thrust  them  into  its  mind  by  threats  and  punishment, 
cramming  it  with  knowledge  and  producing  a  morbid  sbate 
of  its  faculties.  Whoever  sees  this  will  see  that  we  may 
safely  follow  the  method  of  nature  throughout  and  make 


HUXLEY  ON  EDUCATlOls.  I73 

the  mind  always  self-developing ;  and  that  only  by  doino- 
this  can  we  produce  the  highest  power  and  activity." 

In  "All  Sorts  and  Conditions  of  Men,"  Walter  Besant 
has  pictured  the  beautiful  ideal  world  which  will  bloom 
amidst  the  fields  of  labor  itself  when  Froebel  and  Spen- 
cer's noble  system  of  education  shall  prevail,  a  system 
which  recognizes  the  worth  of  joy  as  a  vast  and  radiant 
element  of  human  progress. 

Says  the  novelist-philosopher  : 

"  Life  is  full,  overflowing  with  all  kinds  of  delights.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  suppose  only  rich  people  can  enjoy  these 
things.  They  may  buy  them,  but  everybod}^  may  create 
them;  they  cost  nothing.  You  shall  learn  music,  and 
forthwith  all  the  world  shall  be  transformed  for  you.  You 
shall  learn  to  paint,  to  carve,  to  model,  to  design,  and  the 
day  shall  be  too  short  to  contain  the  happiness  3'ou  will 
get  out  of  it.  You  shall  learn  to  dance  and  know  the  rap- 
ture of  the  waltz.  You  shall  learn  the  greater  art  of  act- 
ing, and  give  each  other  the  pleasure  which  rich  men  buy. 
You  sliall  even  learn  the  great  art  of  writing,  and  learn 
the  magic  of  a  charmed  phrase.  All  these  things  which 
make  the  life  of  rich  people  happy  shall  be  yours;  and 
they  sliall  cost  you  nothing.  What  the  heart  of  man  can 
desire  shall  be  yours,  awf? /or  nothing.  I  will  give  you  a 
house  to  shelter  you,  and  rooms  in  which  to  play ;  you 
have  only  to  find  the  rest.  Enter  in,  my  friends;  forget 
the  squulid  past ;  here  are  great  halls  and  lovely  corridors 
— they  are  yours.  Fill  them  Avith  sweet  echoes  of  drop- 
ping music  ;  let  the  walls  be  covered  with  your  works  of 
art  ;  let  the  girls  laugh  and  the  boys  be  happy  within 
these  walls.  I  give  you  the  shell ;  fill  it  with  the  spirit  of 
content  and  happiness." 

Huxley  on  Education. 

"  Education  is  the  greatest  work  of  all  those  which  lie 
ready  to  a  man's  hand  just  at  present. 


174  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

"  Suppose  it  were  perfectly  certain  that  the  life  and 
fortune  of  everyone  of  us  would,  one  day  or  other,  depend 
upon  his  winning  or  losing  a  game  at  chess  ?  Do  you  not 
think  that  we  should  all  consider  it  to  be  a  primary  duty 
to  learn  at  least  the  names  and  the  moves  of  the  pieces — 
to  have  a  notion  of  a  gambit  and  a  keen  eye  for  all  the 
means  of  giving  and  getting  out  of  check  ?  Do  you  not 
think  that  we  should  look  with  a  disapprobation  amount- 
ing to  scorn  upon  the  father  who  allowed  his  son,  or  the 
state  which  allowed  its  members,  to  grow  up  without 
knowing  a  pawn  from  a  knight  ? 

"  Yet  it  is  a  very  plain  and  elementary  truth  that  the 
life,  the  fortune,  and  the  happiness  of  everyone  of  us,  and, 
more  or  less,  of  those  who  are  connected  with  us,  do 
depend  upon  our  knowing  something  of  the  rules  of  a  game 
infinitely  more  difficult  and  complicated  than  chess.  It  is 
a  game  which  has  been  played  for  untold  ages,  every  man 
and  woman  of  us  being  one  of  the  two  players  in  a  game 
of  his  or  her  own.  The  chess-board  is  the  world,  the 
pieces  are  the  phenomena  of  the  universe,  the  rules  of  the 
game  are  what  we  call  the  laws  of  Nature.  The  player  on 
the  other  side  is  hidden  from  us.  We  know  that  his  play 
is  always  fair,  just,  and  patient.  But  also  we  know,  to 
our  cost,  that  he  never  overlooks  a  mistake,  or  makes  the 
smallest  allowance  for  ignorance.  To  the  man  who  plays 
well,  the  highest  stakes  are  paid,  with  that  sort  of  over- 
flowing generosity  with  which  the  strong  shows  delight  in 
strength.  And  one  who  plays  ill  is  checkmated — without 
haste,  but  without  remorse.  My  metaphor  will  remind 
some  of  you  of  the  famous  picture  in  which  Retzsch  has 
depicted  Satan  playing  at  chess  with  man  for  his  soul. 
Substitute  for  the  mocking  fiend  in  that  picture,  a  calm, 
strong  angel  who  is  playing  for  love,  as  we  say,  and  would 
rather  lose  than  win — and  I  should  accept  it  as  an  image 
of  human  life. 

"  Well,  what  I  mean  by  education  is  learning  the  rules 


HERBERT  SPENCER  (p.  130). 


HUXLEY  ON  EDUCATION.  175 

of  this  mighty  game.  In  other  words,  education  is  the 
instruction  of  the  intellect  in  the  laws  of  nature,  under 
which  name  I  include  not  merely  things  and  their  forces, 
but  men  and  their  ways ;  and  the  fashioning  of  the 
affections  and  of  the  will  into  an  earnest  and  loving  desire 
to  move  in  harmony  with  those  laws.  For  me,  education 
means  neither  more  nor  less  than  this.  Anything  which 
professes  to  call  itself  education  must  be  tried  by  this 
standard,  and  if  it  fails  to  stand  the  test,  I  will  not  call  it 
education,  whatever  may  be  the  force  of  authority  or  of 
numbers  upon  the  other  side. 

"  That  man,  I  think,  has  had  a  liberal  education,  who 
has  been  so  trained  in  youth  that  his  body  is  the  ready 
servant  of  his  will,  and  does  with  ease  and  pleasure  all 
the  work  that,  as  a  mechanism,  it  is  capable  of ;  whose 
intellect  is  a  clear,  cold,  logic  engine,  with  all  its  parts  of 
equal  strength,  and  in  smooth  working  order  ;  ready,  like 
a  steam-engine,  to  be  turned  to  any  kind  of  work,  and  spin 
the  gossamers  as  well  as  forge  the  anchors  of  the  mind  ; 
whose  mind  is  stored  with  a  knowledge  of  the  great  and 
fundamental  truths  of  nature  and  of  the  laws  of  her 
operations  ;  one  who,  no  stunted  ascetic,  is  full  of  life  and 
fire,  but  whose  passions  are  trained  to  come  to  heel  by  a 
vigorous  will,  the  servant  of  a  tender  conscience  ;  who  has 
learned  to  love  all  beauty,  whether  of  nature  or  of  art,  to 
hate  all  vileness,  and  to  respect  others  as  himself." 

''  In  an  ideal  university,  as  I  conceive  it,  a  man  should 
be  able  to  obtain  instruction  in  all  forms  of  knowledge, 
and  discipline  in  the  use  of  all  the  methods  by  which 
knowledge  is  obtained.  In  such  a  university,  the  force 
of  living  example  should  fire  the  student  witli  a  noble 
ambition  to  emulate  the  learning  of  learned  men,  and  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  explorers  of  new  fields  of 
knowledge.  And  the  very  air  he  breathes  should  be 
charged  with  that  enthusiasm  for  truth,  that  fanaticism  of 
veracity,  which  is  a  greater  possession  than  much  learning  ; 


176  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

a  nobler  gift  than  the  power  of  increasing  knowledge  ;  by 
so  much  greater  and  nobler  than  these,  as  the  moral 
nature  of  man  is  greater  than  the  intellectual ;  for  veracity 
is  the  heart  of  morality. 

"  But  the  man  who  is  all  morality  and  intellect^ 
although  he  may  be  good  and  even  great,  is,  after  all,  only 
half  a  man.  There  is  beauty  in  the  moral  world  and  in 
the  intellectual  world ;  but  there  is  also  a  beauty  which  is 
neither  moral  or  intellectual — the  beauty  of  the  world  of 
art.  There  are  men  who  are  devoid  of  the  power  of  seeing 
it,  as  there  are  men  who  are  born  deaf  and  blind,  and  the 
loss  of  those,  as  of  these,  is  simply  infinite.  There  are 
others  in  whom  it  is  an  overpowering  passion ;  happy 
men,  born  with  the  productive,  or  at  lowest,  the  apprecia- 
tive, genius  of  the  artist.  But  in  the  mass  of  mankind, 
the  esthetic  faculty,  like  the  reasoning  power  and  the 
moral  sense,  needs  to  be  roused,  directed,  and  cultivated  ; 
and  I  know  not  why  the  development  of  that  side  of  his 
nature,  through  which  man  has  access  to  a  perennial 
spring  of  ennobling  pleasure,  should  be  omitted  from  any 
comprehensive  scheme  of  university  education. 

"  I  am  ashamed  to  repeat  here  what  I  have  said  else- 
where, in  season  and  out  of  season,  respecting  the  value 
of  science  as  knowledge  and  discipline.  But  the  other 
day  I  met  with  some  passages  in  the  address  to  another 
Scottish  university,  of  a  great  thinker,  recently  lost  to  us, 
which  express  so  fully,  and  yet  so  tersely,  the  truth  in 
this  matter,  that  I  am  fain  to  quote  them  : 

" '  To  question  all  things ;  never  to  turn  away  from 
any  difficulty  ;  to  accept  no  doctrine  either  from  ourselves 
or  from  other  people  without  a  rigid  scrutiny  by  negative 
criticism  ;  letting  no  fallacy,  or  incoherence,  or  confusion 
of  thought  step  by  unperceived ;  above  all,  to  insist  upon 
having  the  meaning  of  a  word  clearly  understood  before 
using  it,  and  the  meaning  of  a  proposition  before  assent- 


HUXLEY  ON  EDUCATION.  177 

ing  to  it ;  these  are  the  lessons  we  learn  from  workers  in 
science. 

"  '  With  all  this  vigorous  management  of  the  negative 
element,  they  inspire  no  skepticism  about  the  reality  of 
truth  or  indifference  to  its  pursuit.  The  noblest  enthu- 
siasm, both  for  the  search  after  truth  and  for  applying  it 
to  its  highest  uses,  pervades  those  writers. 

" '  In  cultivating,  therefore,  science  as  an  essential  in- 
ingredient  in  education,  we  are  all  the  while  laying  an 
admirable  foundation  for  ethical  and  philosophical  cul- 
ture.' The  passages  I  have  quoted  were  uttered  by  John 
Stuart  Mill." 

"  Institutions  do  not  make  men,  any  more  than  organ- 
ization makes  life;  and  even  the  ideal  university  we  have 
been  dreaming  about  will  be  but  a  superior  piece  of 
mechanism,  unless  each  student  strive  after  the  ideal  of 
the  scholar.  And  that  ideal,  it  seems  to  me,  has  never 
been  better  embodied  than  by  the  great  poet,  who,  though 
lapped  in  luxury,  the  favorite  of  a  court,  and  the  idol  of 
his  countrymen,  remained  through  all  the  length  of  his 
honored  years  a  scholar  in  art,  in  science,  and  in  life  : 

"  '  Would'st  shape  a  noble  life  ?     Then  cast 
No  backward  glances  toward  the  past  : 

And  though  somewhat  be  lost  and  gone. 

Yet  do  thou  act  as  one  new-born. 
What  each  day  needs,  that  shalt  thou  ask  j 
Each  day  will  set  its  proper  task. 

Give  others'  work  just  share  of  praise  ; 

Not  of  thine  own  the  merits  raise. 
Beware  no  fellow  man  thou  hate  : 
And  so  in  God's  hands  leave  thy  fate.'  " 

Goethe's  idea  of  God  was  thus  expressed  in  his  own 
words : 


178  FOUR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   FREETIIOUGHT. 

"  What  were  a  God,  who  sat  outside  to  scan, 
The  spheres  that  'ueath  his  finger  circling  ran  ? 

God  dwells  in  all,  and  moves   the  world,  and  moulds  ; 
Himself  and  nature  in  one  form  enfolds." 

George  Jacob  Holyoake. — 1817. 

George  Jacob  Holyoake,  more  distinctively  than  any 
one  else,  has  gathered  into  Freethought  principles  the 
philosophy  of  modern  education  announced  from  Bacon 
to  Spencer,  that  is,  an  education  for  life,  for  practical  pur- 
poses, for  fruit,  for  the  good  of  man's  estate.  Mr.  Hol- 
yoake has  been  an  able,  industrious,  and  devoted  exponent 
of  Secularism.  In  Secularism  is  found  the  educational 
science  of  Freethought.  Freethought  is  a  method  of  find- 
ing out  the  truth.  Secularism  is  a  metliod  of  applying  the 
truth.  It  is  Freethought  made  purposeful  in  lines  of 
human  action.  Secularism  abandons  theology  and  every- 
thing above  and  beyond  man  as  sources  of  moral  motives- 
In  man  and  his  surroundings  exist  these  motives.  Morality 
is  natural,  and  not  supernatural.  It  needs  no  God,  no 
heaven  and  no  hell.  It  needs  no  church,  no  Bible,  and  no 
priest.  It  needs  simply  that  man  shall  know  himself  and 
his  environments. 

Mr.  Holyouke  originated  the  name  Secularism,  and  he 
thus  defines  it  in  his  admirable  work,  "The  Trial  of 
Theism  : " 

"  Secularism  is  a  recognition  of  causation  in  nature,  in 
science,  in  mind,  morals,  and  manners.  In  electing  its 
own  sphere,  however,  it  will  combat  without  contemning 
others.  It  may  also  omit  much  that  it  respects,  as  well 
as  that  which  it  rejects — but  to  omit  is  not  to  ignore.  The 
solution  of  the  problem  of  union  can  only  be  effected  by 
narrowing  the  ground  of  profession,  and  widening  that  of 
action — it  requires  to  collect  sympathies  without  dictating 
modes  of  manifestation. 


GEORGE  JACOB  HOLYOAKE.  I79 

"Secularism  teaches  tlie  good  of  this  life  to  be  a  ligbt- 
ful  object  of  primary  pursuit,  inculcates  tlie  practical 
sufficiency  of  natural  morality  apart  from  Atheism,  Theism^ 
or  the  Bible,  and  selects  as  its  method  of  procedure  tli& 
promotion  of  human  improvement  by  material  means. 

"Secularism  liolds  that  the  Protestant  right  of  private 
judgment  includes  the  moral  innocency  of  that  judgment, 
whether  for  or  against  received  opinion  ;  provided  it  be 
conscientiously  arrived  at — that  the  honest  conclusion  i» 
without  guilt — that,  though  all  sincere  opinion  is  nob 
equally  true,  nor  equally  useful,  it  is  yet  equally-  witliout 
sin — that  it  is  not  sameness  of  belief  but  sincerity  of 
belief  which  justifies  conduct,  whether  regard  be  had  to 
the  esteem  of  men  or  the  approval  of  God. 

"  With  respect  to  the  service  of  humanity,  deliverauce 
from  sorrow  or  injustice  is  before  consolation — lomg  well 
is  doing  higher  than  meaning  well — work  is  worship  to 
those  who  accept  Theism,  and  duty  to  those  who  do  not. 

"As  security  that  the  principles  of  Nature  and  th& 
habit  of  Reason  may  prevail,  Secularism  uses  itself  and 
maintains  for  others  these  rights  of  reason.  The  Free 
Search  for  Truth,  without  which  it  is  impossible.  The 
Free  Utterance  of  the  result,  without  whicli  the  increase 
of  Truth  is  limited.  The  Free  Criticism  of  alleged  Truth, 
without  which  conscience  will  be  impotent  on  practice. 

"A  Secularist  sees  clearly  upon  what  he  relies  as  a, 
Secularist.  To  him  the  teaching  of  Nature  is  as  clear  as 
the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  and  since,  if  God  exists.  Nature 
is  certainly  his  work,  while  it  is  not  so  clear  that  the  Bible 
is — the  teaching  of  Nature  will  be  preferred  and  followed 
where  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  appears  to  conflict  with  it. 

"  All  pursuit  of  good  objects  with  pure  intent  is  relig- 
iousness in  the  best  sense  in  which  this  term  appears  to 
be  used.  The  distinctive  peculiarity  of  the  Secularist  is- 
that  he  seeks  that  good  which  is  dictated  by  Nature,  which 
is  attainable  by   material  means,  and  which    is   of  imme- 


180  FOUR    HITNDRl'JD   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

diate  service  to  humanity,  a  religiousness  to  which  the 
idea  of  God  is  not  essential,  nor  the  denial  of  the  idea 
necessary. 

"  Going  to  a  distant  town  to  mitigate  some  calamity 
there  will  illustrate  the  principle  of  action  prescribed 
bv  Secularism.  One  man  will  go  on  this  errand  from 
pure  sympathy  with  the  unfortunate;  this  is  goodness. 
Another  goes  because  his  priest  bids  him  ;  this  is  obedi- 
ence. Another  goes  because  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of 
Matthew  tells  him  that  all  such  persons  will  pass  to  the 
right  hand  of  the  Father  ;  this  is  calculation.  Another 
goes  because  he  believes  God  commands  him  ;  this  is 
piety.  Another  goes  because  he  perceives  that  the  neg- 
lect of  suffering  will  not  answer ;  this  is  utilitarianism. 
But  another  goes  on  the  errand  of  mercy,  because  it  is  an 
errand  of  mercy,  because  it  is  an  immediate  service  to 
humanity  ;  and  he  goes  with  a  view  to  attempt  material 
amelioration  rather  than  spiritual  consolation  ;  this  is 
Secularism,  which  teaches  that  goodness  is  sanctity,  that 
Nature  is  guidance,  that  reason  is  autliority,  that  service 
is  duty,  tliat  Materialism  is  lielp. 

"  Speaking  mainly  on  the  part  of  S;^calarists,  it  is 
sufficient  to  observe — Man  does  not  live  by  egotisms, 
hopes,  and  comforts,  but  rather  by  self-renunciation,  by 
service  and  endurance.  It  is  asked,  will  Secularism  meet 
all  the  wants  of  human  nature?  To  this  we  reply,  every 
system  meets  the  wants  of  those  who  believe  it.  else  it 
would  never  exist.  We  desire  to  know  and  not  to  hope. 
We  have  no  wants,  and  wish  to  have  none,  which  tiuth 
will  not  satisfy.  We  would  realize  this  life — we  would 
also  deserve  another — but  without  the  seltishness  which 
craves  it — or  the  presumption  which  expects  it — or  the 
discontent  which  demands  it." 

Mr.  Charles  Watts,  who  adopts  the  principles  of  Secu- 
larism as  expounded  by  Holyoake,  thus  defines  its 
moralit}'  : 


y- 

————- 

0 

,0 

\ 

;    '^^^ 

C'S^^I^J-X*    iBs' 

LUDWIG  BUCHNER  (p.  450). 


GEORGE  JACOB  HOLYOAKE.  Igl 

"  Secular  morality  is  based  upon  the  principle  that 
happiness  is  the  chief  end  and  aim  of  mankind.  And 
although  there  are,  doubtless,  persons  who  would  warml}' 
dispute  this  fundamental  principle,  it  is  very  question- 
able whether  their  objection  is  not  more  verbal  than  any- 
thing else.  That  all  men  desire  happiness  is  certain. 
The  doctrine  enunciated  m  the  well-known  line  of  Pope  is 
frequently  quoted,  and  generally  with  approval : 

'  O  happiness  !  our  being's  end  and  aim.' 

"  When  we  meet  with  persons  who  profess  to  despise 
this  aspiration,  it  will  be  generally  found  that  it  is  only 
some  popular  conception  of  happiness  of  which  they  are 
careless,  while  they  really  pursue  a  happiness  of  their 
own,  in  their  own  way,  with  no  less  ardor  than  other 
people.  A  definition  of  happiness  itself  is  not  easy  to 
give.  Each  person  would,  were  he  asked  to  define  it,  in 
all  probability  furnish  a  somewhat  different  explanation; 
but  the  true  meaning  of  all  would  be  very  much  the  same. 
To  refer  again  to  Pope,  what  truth  there  is  in  the  follow- 
ing couplet ! — 

'  Who  can  define  it,  say  they  more  or  less 
Than  this,  that  happiness  is  happiness  ?' 

"  With  one  it  is  the  culture  of  the  intellect ;  with 
another,  the  exercise  of  the  emotions  ;  with  a  third,  the 
practice  of  deeds  of  philanthropy  and  charity  ;  and  with 
yet  another — we  regret  to  say — the  gratification  of  the 
lower  propensities.  In  each  case  it  is  the  following  of 
the  pursuit  which  most  accords  with  the  disposition  of  the 
individual.  And  wherever  this  course  does  not  interfere 
with  the  happiness  of  others,  and  is  not  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  any  results  that  may  arise  from  it 
afterwards,  it  is  not  only  legitimate,  but  moral.  Broadly, 
then,  Secular  efforts  for  the  attainment  of  happiness  may 
be  said  to  consist  in  endeavoring  to  perform  those  actions 


182  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

which  entail  no  ill  effects  upon  general  society,  and  leave 
no  injurious  effects  upon  the  actors.  Such  conduct  as  is 
here  intimated  involves  the  practice  of  truth,  self-dis- 
cipline, fidelity  to  conviction,  and  the  avoidance  of  know- 
ingly acting  unjustly  to  others." 

Secularism  adopts  Utilitarianism  as  the  foundation  of 
morals,  and  is  thus  defined  by  John  Stuart  Mill :  "  The 
creed  which  accepts  as  the  foundation  of  morals  utility, 
or  the  greatest  happiness  principle,  holds  that  actions  are 
right  in  proportion  as  they  tend  to  promote  happiness ; 
wrong  as  they  tend  to  produce  the  reverse  of  happiness. 
By  happiness  is  intended  pleasure  and  the  absence  of  pain  ; 
by  unhappiuess,  pain  and  the  privation  of  pleasure.  To 
give  a  clear  view  of  the  moral  standard  set  up  by  this 
theory,  much  more  requires  to  be  said  ;  in  particular,  what 
things  it  includes  in  the  ideas  of  pain  and  pleasure  ;  and 
to  what  extent  this  is  left  an  open  question.  But  these 
supplementary  explanations  do  not  affect  the  theory  of 
life  upon  which  this  theory  of  morality  is  grounded — 
namely,  that  pleasure  and  freedom  from  pain  are  the  only 
things  desirable  as  ends,  and  that  all  desirable  things 
(which  are  as  numerous  in  the  Utilitarian  as  in  any  other 
scheme)  are  desirable  either  for  the  pleasure  inherent  in 
themselves,  or  as  a  means  to  the  promotion  of  pleasure 
and  the  prevention  of  pain." 

Mr.  Mill  points  out — and  herein  he  differs  from  Ben- 
tham — that  not  only  must  the  quantity  of  the  pleasure  of 
happiness  be  taken  into  consideration,  but  the  quality  like- 
wise. He  remarks  :  "  It  would  be  absurd  that  while,  in 
estimating  all  other  things,  quality  is  considered  as  well  as 
quantity,  the  estimation  of  pleasure  should  be  disposed 
to  depend  on  quantity  alone." 

Ingersoll  also  thus  defines  Secularism  : 

"  Secularism  has  no  mysteries,  no  mummeries,  no 
priests,  no  ceremonies,  no  falsehoods,  no  miracles,  and  no 
persecutions. 


GEORGE  JACOB  HOLYOAKE.  183 

"  It  is  a  protest  against  theological  oppression,  against 
theological  tyranny,  against  being  the  serf,  subject,  or 
slave  of  any  phantom,  or  the  priest  of  any  phantom.  It 
is  a  protest  against  wasting  this  life  for  the  sake  of  one 
we  know  not  of.  It  proposes  to  let  the  gods  take  care  of 
themselves. 

"  It  means  the  destruction  of  the  business  of  those 
who  trade  in  fear.  It  proposes  to  give  serenity  and  con- 
tent to  the  human  soul.  It  will  put  out  the  tires  of 
eternal  pain.  It  is  striving  to  do  away  with  violence  and 
vice,  with  ignorance,  poverty,  and  disease.  It  lives  for 
the  ever-present  to-day  and  the  ever-coming  tomorrow. 
It  does  not  believe  in  praying  and  receiving  but  in  earning 
and  deserving.  It  regards  work  as  worship,  labor  as 
prayer,  and  wisdom  as  the  savior  of  mankind." 

It  is  for  this  wise,  attainable  morality — through  which 
only  is  there  any  real  advancement  for  man — whether 
sought  consciously  or  unconsciously — for  many  of  the  old- 
time  saints  were,  at  heart,  Secularists,  in  spite  of  their 
theology — it  is  for  this  that  Mr.  Holyoake  has  labored  in  a 
busy  and  widely  influential  career. 

He  was  born  at  Birmingham  in  1817;  he  worked  for 
thirteen  years  in  an  iron  foundry  in  that  town  with  his 
father,  and  the  impressions  he  there  received  of  the  petty 
tyranny  of  masters,  and  the  apathy  and  helplessness  of 
workmen,  played  no  small  part  in  shaping  his  career.  On 
reaching  manhood  he  abandoned  the  evangelical  views, 
under  which  he  had  been  brought  up,  for  the  theories  of 
Bobert  Owen,  and  thereafter  devoted  himself  to  Secular- 
ism and  industrial  cooperation.  He  was  imprisoned  for 
six  months  in  Gloucester  jail  as  an  "Atheist."  His 
straightforward  conduct  on  this  occasion  gave  a  stimulus 
to  the  free  expression  of  honest  conviction.  After  his  re- 
lease he  came  to  London.  His  publishing  office  on  Fleet 
street  was  a  meeting-place  for  advanced  thinkers  and  Lib- 
eral politicians.     As  editor  of  the  Reasoner  he  did  much 


184  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

to  promote  freedom  and  open  mindedness,  and  toleration 
of  all  opinions.  He  was  a  personal  friend  of  Mazzini  and 
Garibaldi.  He  gave  his  ardent  support  to  the  Italian 
struggle  ;  he  took  a  warm  interest  in  the  exiled  Hungarian 
patriots,  and  the  republicans  who  were  driven  from 
France  on  the  establisliment  of  the  Third  Empire. 

Kobert  G.  Ingeisoll  has  given  the  following  tribute  to 
Holyoake  : 

"  There  is  not  in  this  world  a  nobler,  braver  man.  In 
England  he  has  done  as  much  for  the  great  cause  of  intel- 
lectual liberty  as  any  other  man  of  this  generation.  He 
has  done  as  much  for  the  poor,  for  the  children  of  toil, 
for  the  homeless  and  wretched,  as  any  other  living  man. 
He  has  attacked  all  abuses,  all  tyranny,  and  all  forms  of 
hypocrisy.  His  weapons  have  been  reason,  logic,  facts, 
kindness,  and,  above  all,  example.  He  has  lived  his  creed. 
He  has  won  the  admiration  and  respect  of  his  bitterest 
antagonists.  He  lias  the  simplicity  of  childhood,  the  en- 
thusiasm of  youth,  and  the  wisdom  of  age.  He  is  not 
abusive,  but  he  is  clear  and  conclusive.  He  is  intense 
without  violence — firm  without  anger.  He  has  the 
strength  of  perfect  kindness.  He  does  not  hate — be 
pities.  He  does  not  attack  men  and  women,  but  dogmas 
and  creeds.  And  he  does  not  attack  them  to  get  the  bet- 
ter of  people,  but  to  enable  people  to  get  the  better  of 
them.  He  gives  the  light  he  has.  He  shares  his  intel- 
lectual wealth  with  the  orthodox  poor.  He  assists  without 
insulting,  guides  without  arrogance,  and  enlightens  with- 
out outrage.  Besides,  he  is  eminent  for  the  exercise  of 
plain  common  sense.  He  knows  that  there  are  wrongs 
besides  those  born  of  superstition — that  people  are  not 
necessarily  happy  because  they  have  renounced  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles — and  that  the  priest  is  not  the  only  enemy 
of  mankind. 

"  He  has  for  forty  years  been  preaching  and  practicing 
industry,   economy,   self-reliance,   and  kiminess.      He  has 


GEORGE  JACOB  HOLYOAKE.  185 

done  all  within  his  power  to  give  the  working  man  a  better 
home,  better  food,  better  wages,  and  better  opportunities 
for  the  education  of  his  children.  He  has  demonstrated 
the  success  of  cooperation — of  intelligent  combination  for 
the  common  good.  As  a  rule,  his  methods  have  been  per- 
fectly legal.  In  some  instances  he  has  knowingly  violated 
the  law,  and  did  so  with  the  intention  to  take  the  conse- 
quences. He  would  neither  ask  nor  accept  a  pardon,  be- 
cause to  receive  a  pardon  carries  with  it  the  implied 
promise  to  keep  the  law,  and  an  admission  that  you  were 
in  the  wrong.  He  would  not  agree  to  desist  from  doing 
what  he  believed  ought  to  be  done,  neither  would  he  stain 
his  past  to  brighten  his  future,  nor  imprison  his  soul  to 
free  his  body.  He  has  that  happy  mingling  of  gentleness 
and  firmness  found  only  in  the  highest  type  of  moral 
heroes.  He  is  an  absolutely  just  man,  and  will  never  do 
an  act  that  he  would  condemn  in  another.  He  admits 
that  the  most  bigoted  churchman  has  a  perfect  right  to 
express  his  opinions  not  only,  but  that  he  must  be  met 
with  argument  couched  in  kind  and  candid  terms.  Mr. 
Holyoake  is  not  only  the  enemy  of  a  theological  hierarchy, 
but  he  is  also  opposed  to  mental  mobs.  He  will  not  use 
the  bludgeon  of  epithet. 

•■'  Whoever  is  opposed  to  mental  bondage,  to  the 
shackles  wrought  by  cruelty  and  worn  by  fear,  should  be 
the  friend  of  this  heroic  and  unselfish  man." 

Industrial  emancipation  and  industrial  cooperation 
are  necessary  to  the  complete  education  of  the  race ;  and 
therefore  it  was  but  logical  as  the  advocate  of  Secularism 
and  Utilitarianism  that  Mr.  Holyoake  should  devote  him- 
self to  the  welfare  of  the  working  people,  for  in  their 
happiness  and  improvement  lies  the  true  glory  of  the 
world's  progress. 

From  Robert  Owen,  Holyoake  learned  the  doctrine  that 
men  are  what  they  are  by  virtue  of  their  surroundings, 
and  that  the    improvement  of  these   is   the  only  possible 


186  FOUR   HUNDRED     YKARS    OF   FHKETllOUGHT. 

means  of  raising  the  individual.  In  one  important  point 
he  differs  from  his  predecessor.  Mr.  Holyoake  is  no 
believer  in  paternal  government.  He  holds  that  the  true 
method  of  bettering  the  condition  of  the  working  man  is 
to  put  him  in  the  way  of  helping  himself.  This  idea  lies 
at  the  root  of  Mr.  Holjoake's  scheme  of  cooperation,  in 
which  both  production  and  distribution  are  carried  on  in 
self-supporting,  industrial  cities,  where  mutual  help  and 
joint  responsibility  take  the  place  of  rivalry  and  competi- 
tion. 

Robert  Owen— 1771-1858. 

And  this  brings  us  to  the  educational  and  ethical  value 
of  Robert  Owen's  noteworthy  reform,  for  education,  as 
Comeuius  pointed  out,  must  not  be  aristocratic,  but  demo- 
cratic, and  must  not  be  an  education  from  work,  but  in 
work.  Modern  education  recognizes  the  value  of  work — 
that  the  true  man  or  woman  is  a  worker,  and  must  be  a 
worker.  The  gospel  of  doing  something,  so  brilliantly 
proclaimed  by  Carlyle,  is  the  gospel  of  education.  Work 
is  not  a  curse,  but  a  means  of  growth  and  happiness. 
Everybody  must  be  a  worker  in  some  way,  and  in  work 
he  and  she  must  find  the  real  delight  of  life — the  noblest 
development — the  most  splendid  faculties.  The  paradise 
of  the  future  is  not  the  paradise  of  priest  or  king,  but  the 
paradise  of  working  people,  where  labor  is  not  drudgery, 
but  poetry,  art,  and  romance. 

This  is  the  golden,  beautiful  future  of  humanity,  when 
the  harvests  shine  for  everyone,  when  every  fireside  shall 
gleam  with  loveliness,  and  on  every  table  shall  glow  the 
fruits  of  toil.  In  industry  itself  is  to  be  the  sublimest 
education  of  the  race.  Through  the  hand  itself,  trained 
and  supple,  the  brain  shall  attain  its  most  magnificent 
ardors.  Not  the  brain  alone,  as  hitherto — the  intellect 
flashing  over  solitary  wastes — but  the  intellect  and  the 
brawny  muscle  cooperating,  blending,  giving  and  taking, 


JAMES   LICK  (p.  762). 


ROBERT  OWEN.  187 

and  so  building,  creating,  adorning,  removing  both  palace 
and  hut,  and  flowering  forth  a  home  for  all. 

Toward  this  happy  consummation,  who  has  labored 
more  splendidly,  more  generously,  than  Robert  Owen,  an 
extraordinary  man,  not  to  be  forgotten,  for  if  he  failed,  he 
failed  like  a  glorious  star  that  illuminates  the  night  ;  he 
failed  like  a  brimming  fountain  that  sinks  into  the  sand, 
but  makes  the  flowers  to  grow  thereafter,  anil  the  fruits  to 
glisten.  We  will  hold  this  man  in  memory,  for,  with  a 
noble  recklessness,  he  labored  for  others  and  not    himself. 

He  presided  over  four  tliousand  operatives  in  his  em- 
ploy with  patriarchal  care  and  benevolence.  He  built 
schools  and  dwellings.  His  management  of  the  mill  and 
farm,  the  school  and  the  ball-room  of  his  successive  es- 
tablishments in  Scotland,  England,  and  America,  display 
his  rare  economic  and  administrative  faculties.  The 
Lanark  mills  were  set  up  in  1784  by  Arkwright,  when 
Owen  was  a  bo}-.  Ten  years  after  he  became  the  manager 
of  them,  and  while  all  the  world  w^as  expecting  his  ruin 
from  new-fangled  schemes,  he  bought  out  liis  partner  for 
eighty-four  thousand  pounds.  During  tlie  next  four  years 
he  realized  one  hundred  anil  fifty  tliousand  pounds.  In 
spite  of  his  notorious  Inlhlelity,  statesmen,  prelates,  and 
clerg3'men.  Dissenters  and  bigots,  came  to  inspect  his 
schools.  Territories  were  freely  ofi'ered  him  in  various 
parts  of  the  world  in  which  to  try  his  scheme  on  a  large 
scale.  He  was  brought  into  terms  of  intimacv  with  all 
the  European  celebrities  of  his  time. 

In  1823  he  came  to  the  United  States,  where  he  pur- 
chased a  large  tract  of  land  in  Intliana  on  the  banks  of 
the  Wabash,  and  founded  a  community  called  bv  him 
New  Harmony,  where  he  carried  the  cooperative  theory 
into  effect. 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1826,  he  delivered  his  cele- 
brated Declaration  of  Independence  : 

"I  now  declare  to  you,  and  to  the  world,  that  mm,  up 


188  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

to  this  hour,  has  been,  in  all  parts  of  the  earth,  a  slave  to 
a  trinity  of  the  most  monstrous  evils  that  could  be  com- 
bined to  inflict  mental  and  physical  evil  upon  his  whole 
race.  I  refer  to  private,  or  individual,  property,  absurd 
and  irrational  systems  of  religion,  and  marriage  founded 
on  individual  property,  combined  with  some  of  these  irra- 
tional systems  of  religion." 

Mr.  Holyoake  thus  pathetically  describes  his  last  hours. 
He  wanted  to  go  to  his  native  place  ;  he  said  :  "  I  will  lay 
my  bones  whence  I  derived  them. 

"  When  he  came  to  the  border-line,  which  separates 
England  from  Wales,  he  knew  it  again.  It  was  more  than 
seventy  years  since  he  had  passed  over  it.  He  raised  him- 
self up  in  his  carriage  and  gave  a  cheer.  He  was  in  his 
own  native  land  once  more.  It  was  the  last  cheer  the  old 
man  ever  gave.  With  brightened  eyes  the  aged  wanderer 
looked  around.  The  old  mountains  stood  there  in  their 
ancient  grandeur.  The  grand  old  trees,  under  whose 
shadow  he  passed  his  youth,  waved  their  branches  in 
welcome.  What  scenes  the  wanderer  had  passed  through 
since  last  he  gazed  upon  them !  Manufacturing  days, 
crowning  success,  philanthropic  experiments,  continental 
travel,  interviews  with  kings,  Mississippi  valleys,  Indiana 
forests,  journeys,  labors,  agitations,  honors,  calumnies, 
hope  and  toil — never  resting ;  what  a  world,  what  an  age, 
had  intervened  since  last  he  passed  his  native  border ! 

"  It  was  about  seven  in  the  morning,  as  his  son  held 
his  hand,  and  a  friend  stood  near  him,  that  he  said,  '  Relief 
has  come — I  am  easy  and  comfortable,'  and  he  passed 
away.  Death,  which  commonly  beautifies  the  features, 
reprinted  his  perennial  smile  upon  his  face.  His  lips 
appeared  as  though  parting  to  speak,  and  he  slept  the 
sleep  of  death  like  one  whose  life  had  been  a  victory." 
Haeckel. — 1834. 

The  first  impression  might  be  that  Haeckel  should  be 
ranked  in  the   world  of  science,   rather  than    in   that  of 


HAECKEL.  139 

education  and  ethics,  but  Haeckel  is  preeminently  a 
teacher  of  humanity,  and  his  vast  scientific  equipments 
and  brilliant  discoveries  only  fit  him  to  be  a  nobler 
teacher. 

Darwin  is  a  purely  scientific  man.  He  discovers  with- 
out any  regard  to  consequences.  There  is  no  purpose  in 
his  work  except  simply  to  reach  the  truth.  Truth — good 
or  bad — that  is  the  supreme  spirit  of  science.  And  surely 
there  can  be  nothing  greater  than  this.  It  is  the  noblest 
kind  of  moral  action,  although  there  is  no  kind  of  con- 
scious moral  purpose  in  it.  To  make  truth  subservient  to 
morality  is  the  most  rotten  kind  of  immorality.  To  refuse 
to  accept  any  truth,  or  any  evidence  of  a  truth  on  account 
of  some  supposed  immoral  tendency,  is  simply  treason  to 
the  truth,  and  treason  to  humanity.  Had  Darwin  looked 
to  moral  consequences  and  been  guided  by  that,  he  cer- 
tainly never  would  have  made  the  magnificent  and  epoch- 
creating  discoveries  that  he  did.  What  a  shock  it  was  to 
the  moral  sensibilities  of  the  civilized  man  to  be  told  that 
he  descended  from  an  ape  !  What  an  awfully  degrading 
and  immoral  idea !  But  the  only  question  with  Darwin 
was  :  Is  it  true  ?  and  lie  did  not  try  to  shirk  the  ape  in 
favor  of  morality.  He  accepted  the  ape,  whatever  the 
consequences. 

It  needed  just  such  a  man  as  Darwin  to  make  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  what  it  is.  It  needed  a  man  to  whom 
truth  was  all  in  all ;  who  allowed  no  ethical  impulse  what- 
soever to  deter  or  sway  him  ;  who  did  not  ask  :  What 
good  will  this  do  ?  but,  What  is  the  evidence  of  its 
reality?  Darwin  was  terribh^  in  earnest.  He  moved, 
we  might  say,  with  the  massive  coldness  of  an  iceberg, 
to  his  conclusions.  Gentle  and  brave  and  beautiful  in  his 
character,  his  brain  was  as  stern  as  a  rock,  set  to  the  truth 
and  nothing  but  the  truth,  even  if  morality  was  over- 
thrown. What  a  martyrdom  that  was  for  the  truth's  sake 
when   the    divine    and   golden   dreams  of   humanity,  the 


190  FOUR    IirxilRKD    YKARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

source  of  poetry  and  romance,  must  be  swept  awav  for- 
ever!  Darwin  could  have  been  no  other  than  he  was,  had 
he  not,  like  nature  and  Shakspere,  been  thoroughly  im- 
partial as  to  morality,  simply  ignoring  morality,  for,  as 
the  great  poet  sought  only  life  in  every  form  with  no 
ethical  desire,  so  the  naturalist  sought  only  to  find  the 
truth,  even  if  that  truth  destroyed  the  noblest  aspirations 
of  mankind.  He  who  seeks  for  truth  in  morality,  rather 
than  for  morality  in  truth,  is  a  traitor  to  science.  Morality 
cannot  be  greater  than  the  truth.  It  must  be  evermore 
bound  by  the  truth,  and  have  no  other  basis  but  the 
truth. 

Darwin,  therefore,  is  deserving  of  the  supremest  laurels, 
in  that  he  sought  for  the  truth  with  unflinching  allegiance. 

It  is  after  the  truth  is  actually  discovered  that  the 
ethical  purpose  comes  in,  and  in  this  lies  the  grandeur  of 
Haeckel's  work.  Accepting  the  truth  as  demonstrated  by 
Darwin  and  modern  science,  he  stands  by  it  without 
reserve,  and  asserts  that  because  it  is  the  truth  it  is  of 
moral  value  to  mankind.  Haeckel  would  tell  the  truth 
and  shame  the  devil  of  orthodoxy,  even  if  it  was  clothed 
in  tlie  garb  of  heaven.  That  was  a  noble  combat,  when 
Virchow  flung  down  the  gauntlet,  and  would  have  false- 
hood taught  in  our  schools  rather  than  science,  because 
the  falsehood  was  popular  and  supposed  to  be  moral, 
while  science  was  shaking  the  foundations  of  virtue.  With 
what  splendid  courage  Haeckel  accepted  the  issue  and 
said  to  the  cowardly  Virchow  :  Teach  the  truth,  teach, 
science,  teach  that  man  did  come  from  the  ape,  for  there 
is  no  doubt  that  he  did  so  originate,  as  Darwin 
declares  !  Haeckel  accepts  the  facts  without  prevarication, 
and  asserts  that  facts  and  not  fictions  contain  the  true  moral 
impulse.  If  we  did  descend  from  the  ape,  that  makes  us 
no  worse,  nor  diminishes  the  value  of  life,  or  the  splendor 
of  virtue,  or  the  glory  of  heroism.  Haeckel  thus  brings 
evolution  into  the  domain  of  education  and  ethics,  where, 


HAECKEL.  191 

entirely  abolishing  the  old  theology  and  teleology,  it  will 
give  to  man  a  greater  moral  power  than  ever.  Haeckel 
makes  it  a  religion.  The  word  itself  may  not  be  accept- 
able, but  all  that  is  meant  in  that  word  by  Haeckel,  and 
Wakeman,  and  Cams  is  acceptable  ;  but  the  word  itself  is 
so  saturated  Avitli  ancient  superstitions  and  falsehoods 
that  it  is  best  to  reject  it  in  behalf  of  morality.  All  that 
the  word  "  re'ligion  "  can  mean  at  the  best  is  morality  or 
right  conduct,  and  why  not  use  the  Avords  that  to  the  com- 
mon mind  make  no  confusion  of  thought.  The  religion  of 
humanity,  as  defined  by  Plarrison,  is  simply  morality  fused 
with  social  devotion  and  enlightened  by  sound  philosophy. 
That  is  right ;  but  why  call  it  religion  when  this  word  has 
been  used  and  is  used  to-day  by  millions  of  the  human 
race  to  denote  something  entirely  different?  What  is  the 
need  of  this  word  ?  Matthew  Arnold  says  that  morality, 
touched  by  emotion,  is  religion.  But  why  label  this 
religion?  Why  not  use  the  words  "  moralit}'  touched  by 
emotion,"  which  all  can  understand,  and  not  befog  it  with 
a  word  as  to  whose  origin  and  meaning  there  is  no  agree- 
ment even  among  philosophers  and  scholars  ?  To  get  at 
the  real  meaning  of  Haeckel's  religion  of  Monism,  which 
is  indeed  a  most  noble  and  splendid  conception,  let  us 
simply  look  at  morality  in  its  threefold  motive  and  ex- 
pression. 

There  is,  first  of  all,  plain,  simple  morality,  individual 
moralit}^  which  is  cool  judgment  and  conduct,  followed 
simply  because  it  is  the  best,  because  it  is  common  sense, 
and  makes  happiness  to  ourselves  and  others.  This  cer- 
tainly is  the  gist  of  all  right  conduct,  which  fundamentally 
must  be  a  judgment,  and  not  an  emotion,  a  matter  of 
reason,  and  not  a  matter  of  sentiment.  A  large  part  of 
human  conduct  is  of  this  sort.  There  is  no  emotion  about 
it.  It  is  simply  reasonable  conduct,  as  a  man  pays  his 
debts.  There  is  no  emotion,  no  poetry  about  that ;  never- 
theless, the   paying  of  debts  is  moral  conduct,  and  that 


192  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

clear  judgment  in  the  "  dry  light "  of  reason  is  what  is  at 
the  basis  of  moral  conduct. 

But,  secondly,  there  is  moi-alitj  touched  by  emotion, 
in  which  love  of  father  and  mother,  brother  and  siste-r, 
and  child  and  friend,  flows  with  the  action,  and  beautifies 
but  does  not  change  its  nature.  But  the  affection  extends 
no  farther  than  to  the  individual,  to  the  associates  of 
daily  life.  It  is  intense,  but  not  broad  and  higli.  So, 
thirdly,  there  is  philosophical  morality,  that  morality 
which  is  infused  with  the  sublime  and  beautiful  concep- 
tions that  glow  in  the  enlightened  mind  in  consideration 
of  all  truth  attainable.  When  one  reads  the  historv  of 
man,  of  the  planet ;  when  the  treasures  of  science  are 
revealed  in  earth  and  heaven  ;  when  the  million  stars  flash 
upon  the  view,  not  separate,  but  linked  with  our  own 
burning  heart  and  brain  ;  when  the  distant  ages  are  con- 
nected with  our  own  age  ;  when  we  see  that  generations 
have  toiled  for  us  and  given  their  fruit  to  us  ;  and  that  we 
ourselves  are  not  isolated,  but  are  bound  Avith  the  grand- 
eurs of  the  human  race  and  partakers  of  its  glory,  and 
can  contribute  to  its  advancement  in  the  endless  future; 
that  our  little  stream  of  life  mingles  with  countless  other 
streams,  which  do  not  run  to  waste  and  water  but  the 
desert,  but  flow  into  the  magnificence  of  universal  prog- 
ress— then  plain,  simple,  every-da}^  morality  becomes  won- 
derfully illuminated  ;  then  it  is  touched  by  an  emotion 
which  makes  duty  joy  indeed,  and  the  hard  paths  of  labor 
become  radiant  with  hopes  and  ineffable  dreams ;  then 
the  horizon  broadens,  the  moment  of  to-day  mingles  Avith 
the  illimitable  past  and  the  glorious  future  ;  the  might 
and  wonder-  of  the  universe  jewels  each  fleeting  hour,  and 
home  itself  becomes  a  shining  spot  in  the  infinite  palace 
of  nature.  This  is  what  Goethe,  Haeckel,  and  others  mean 
by  the  Avord  "  religion."  But  why  not  use  the  word 
morality  with  philosophy  and  science  ?  Then  there  is 
no  confusion,  no  "  darkness  visible ;"  then  Ave  are  entirely 


ELIZABETH    CADT   STANTON  (p.  494). 


HAECKKL.  ]_93 

separate  from  the  errors  o«f  the  past,  and  can  walk  along 
the  liimiuous  paths  of  truth,  with  a  lofty  and  clear  vision. 

Do  we  not,  however,  accept  the  ideas  of  Haeckel  and 
the  ethical  value  which  he  gives  to  the  trutlis  of  evolu- 
tion; and  while  he  stands  head  and  front  in  the  realms  of 
science  a  great  discoverer,  is  he  not  also  a  teacher?  Does 
he  not  give  the  literature  of  inspiration,  and  not  only  the 
literature  of  knowledge  ?  Does  lie  not  add  to  our  motive 
power,  as  well  as  to  our  understanding  ?  Does  he  not  give 
a  new  and  radiant  impulse  to  our  judgment?  Does  he 
not  lift  life  from  the  level  of  commonplace,  without  ignor- 
ing a  single  fact,  into  the  vastness  and  ravishing  beauty  of 
the  whole  ?  Truth  is  great.  Truth  and  beauty  are 
greater  still ;  but  truth,  beauty,  and  action  are  greatest 
of  all.  In  these  unfolds  our  complete  humanity,  and 
for  these  Haeckel  has  given  the  best  word  of  modern 
science,  and  the  noblest  wisdom  of  philosophy.  We  walk 
on  solid  ground,  but  the  heights  are  won  upon  which  no 
theologian  or  prophet  of  the  past  has  ever  stood.  The 
priest  vanishes,  but  the  teacher  stands  in  his  place.  The 
school-house  obliterates  the  church.  Industry  shines 
where  barren  learning  toiled,  ai)d  in  the  place  of  Avords, 
things  correlated  and  serviceable  give  man  a  world  of 
beauty  and  delight,  the  conquest  of  nature,  the  lustre  of 
art,  cities  and  harvest  fields,  the  obedient  lightning,  the 
thunder  of  the  locomotive,  and  the  ship  majestically  plow- 
ing a  thousand  leagues  of  sea. 

And  Emerson  sings  the  song,  not  of  God,  but  of  man, 
in  his  rhythmical  prose  : 

"  The  fossil  strata  show  us  that  nature  began  with 
rudimental  forms,  and  rose  to  the  more  complex  as  fast  as 
the  earth  was  fit  for  their  dwelling-place  ;  and  that  the 
lower  perish  as  the  higher  appear.  Very  few  of  our  race 
can  be  said  to  be  finished  men.  We  still  carry  sticking  to 
us  some  remains  of  the  preceding  inferior  quadruped 
organization.     The  age  of  the  quadru})ed  is  to  go  out — the 


194  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   EREETHOUGHT. 

age  of  the  brain  and  of  the  heart  is  to  come  in.  And  if 
one  shall  read  the  future  of  the  race  hinted  in  the  organic 
effort  of  nature  to  mount  and  meliorate,  and  the  cor- 
responding impulse  to  the  better  in  the  human  being,  we 
shall  dare  affirm  that  there  is  nothing  he  will  not  over- 
come and  convert,  until  at  last  culture  shall  absorb  the 
chaos  and  gehenna.  He  will  convert  the  furies  into  muses 
and  the  hells  into  benefit." 

And  Goethe  joins  the  anthem  : 

"  The  future  hides  in  it 
Gladness  and  sorrow ; 
We  press  still  thorow, 
Nought  that  abides  in  it 
Daunting  us — onward. 

And  solemn  before  us, 

Veiled,  the  dark  portal, 

Goal  of  all  mortal — 
Stars  silent  rest  o'er  us, 

Graves  under  us  silent. 

But  heard  are  the  voices, — 

Heard  are  the  sages. 

The  worlds  and  the  ages  : 
*  Choose  well,  your  choice  is 
Brief  and  yet  endless  ! 

Here  eyes  do  regard  you, 

In  eternity's  stillness ; 

Here  is  all  fullness, 
Ye  brave,  to  reAvard  you  ; 

Work,  and  despair  not ! '  " 

And   where   more    fittingly,   in  the   interest  of  Free- 
thought,  can  we  place  the  hymn  of  George  Eliot: 

O  may  I  join  the  choir  invisible. 

Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 

In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence  :  live 


HAECKEL.  "195 

In  pulses  stirred  to  generosity, 

In  deeds  of  daring  rectitude,  in  scorn 

For  miserable  aims  that  end  with  self, 

In  thoughts  sublime  that  pierce  the  night  like  stars, 

And  with  their  mild  persistence  urge  man's  search 

To  vaster  issues. 

So  to  live  is  heaven  : 
To  make  undying  music  in  tlie  world, 
Breathing  a  beauteous  order  that  controls 
"^Vith  growing  sway  the  growing  life  of  man. 
So  we  inherit  that  sweet  purity 
For  which  we  struggled,  failed,  and  agonized 
With  widening  retrospect  that  bred  despair. 
Rebellious  flesh  that  wouhl  not  be  subdued, 
A  vicious  parent  shaming  still  its  child. 
Poor  anxious  penitence  is  quick  dissolved  ; 
Its  discords,  quenched  by  meeting  harmonies, 
Die  in  the  large  and  charitable  air. 
And  all  our  rarer,  better,  truer  self, 
That  sobbed  religiously  in  yearning  song, 
That  watched  to  ease  the  burden  of  the  world, 
Laboriously  tracing  what  must  be. 
And  what  may  yet  be  better — saw  within 
A  worthier  image  for  the  sanctuary, 
And  shaped  it  forth  before  the  multitude 
Divinely  human,  raising  worship  so 
To  higher  reverence  more  mixed  with  love — 
That  better  self  shall  live  till  human  Time 
Shall  fold  its  eyelids,  and  the  human  sky 
Be  gathered  like  a  scroll  within  the  tomb 
Unread  forever. 

This  is  the  life  to  come 
Which  martyred  men  have  made  more  glorious 
For  us  who  strive  to  follow.     May  I  reach 
That  purest  heaven,  be  to  other  souls 


196  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

The  cup  of  strength  in  some  great  agony, 
Enkindle  generous  ardor,  feed  pure  love, 
Beget  the  smiles  that  have  no  cruelty — 
Be  the  sweet  presence  of  a  good  diffused, 
And  in  diffusion  ever  more  intense. 
So  shall  I  join  the  choir  invisible 
Whose  music  is  the  gladness  of  the  world. 

Is  it  not  Avonderful  what  man  has  attained  through 
simple  devotion  to  the  truth,  through  the  facts  of  nature 
itself,  that  at  first  seem  so  meaningless  and  disconnected ! 
Beginning  with  humblest  observation,  seeking  the  attain- 
able and  the  useful,  studying  the  rock,  the  insect,  the 
worm,  the  dust,  linking  man  with  the  beasts  of  the  field, 
and  with  lowliest  life  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  disdaining 
nothing,  combining  all — Avhat  a  marvelous  result^  and 
what  may  we  not  hope  for  in  the  future  !  There  is  no  back- 
ward step.     We  have  begun  right  and  the  way  is  onward. 

Thus  the  labors  of  Haeckel  complete  the  vast  and 
splendid  labors  of  the  world's  illustrious  educators — 
Bacon,  Comenius,  Milton,  Rousseau,  Pestalozzi,  Froebel, 
Combe,  Spencer,  Holyoake,  Owen,  and  ten  thousand 
others,  noble  men  and  women,  schoolmasters  of  the  race, 
to  whom  all  honor  is  due.  For  what  is  knowledge  unless 
it  can  be  translated  into  action,  unless  thought  can  be- 
come a  deed?  The  mind  of  man,  of  the  child,  must  be 
trained  in  truth,  for  the  truth,  and  for  work  and  character 
and  the  noblest  enjoyment. 

The  two  great  questions,  the  fundamental  questions  of 
Freethought,  of  humanity,  have  thus  been  answered,  and 
not  answered  until  within  the  last  four  centuries,  and 
answered  wisel}',  fearlessly,  successfully  : 

What  can  we  know  ?     What  ought  we  to  do  ? 

What  a  victory  has  been  obtained  over  ignorance, 
false  science,  false  philosophy,  barbaric  theology,  a  cruel 
church,  and  a  desperate  priesthood ! 


CHAPTEE  XL 

LlTEEATURE. 

Literature  never  is  orthodoxy,  although  it  may  become 
orthodoxy  ;  it  is  not  a  fixed  dogma,  but  a  flowing  stream, 
otherwise  it  would  not  be  literature,  for  literature  is  the 
expression  of  nature  itself,  and  it  must  be  untrammeled, 
except  by  the  laws  of  nature  itself.  Wherever,  there- 
fore, there  is  genuine  literature,  there  is  Freethought,  no 
matter  what  may  be  the  particular  form  of  that  literature. 
At  the  time  it  is  produced  it  is  not  dogma,  it  is  a  person- 
ality. Afterwards  it  becomes  dogma  by  i;he  blind  worship 
of  adherents. 

Says  Yan  Buren  Denslow  : 

"  No  priest  ever  wrote  a  poem,  or  invented  a  machine, 
if  we  except  the  Chinese  machine  for  praying,  or  wrote  a 
history  worthy  of  the  name,  or  made  a  discovery  in  chem- 
istry, or  found  a  continent,  or  shed  new  light  on  any  prob- 
lem of  science.  While  thinking  cannot  be  done  without 
a  certain  amount  of  leisure,  it  is  still  a  variety  of  hard 
work,  and  the  best  of  it  is  done,  not  by  priests,  for  they 
are  so  taken-up  with  worship  that  they  have  no  time  for 
work,  but  by  the  working  classes  themselves,  whose  active 
and  aggressive  thinking  has  compelled  the  priesthoods  to 
do  what  little  thinking  they  have  done  in  self-defense.  In 
saying  that  the  least  inventive,  original,  and  progressive 
<;lass  of  men  has  always  been  the  priests,  we  only  charge 
them  with  fidelity  to  their  calling.  They  have  lived  by 
imposing  certain  dogmas  on  the   human  mind  concerning 


198  FOUR  HUNDRED   TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

that  of  which  nobody  could,  by  any  possibility,  know  any- 
thing. Every  other  class  of  men  have  lived  by  handling 
weapons  which  could  be  met  by  dealing  in  substances 
which  could  be  measured,  or  in  facts  capable  of  being 
verified.  The  priest  has  no  right  to  be  inventive.  He  is 
defending  the  old,  not  propounding  the  new.  He  cannot 
be  original,  when  it  is  not  he  but  the  Lord  that  speaks ; 
nor  scientific,  when  science,  sweeping  the  void  with  her 
telescope,  clears  it  of  that  theological  heaven  which  it  is 
his  vocation  to  promise,  leaving  only  open  space  and  silent 
stars." 

The  priest  is  only  a  stick — a  stone.  He  is  absolutely 
stationary,  or,  if  he  moves,  it  is  because  he  is  driftwood. 
The  tide  is  beneath  him — but  not  in  him.  A  priest  prefers 
death  to  a  new  idea,  for  death  is  old  and  sacred.  He  can 
abide  that,  but  he  cannot  abide  a  living  change.  The  food 
of  his  spirit  are  the  ghosts  of  a  dead  past.  The  priest  is 
not  a  man.  The  French  proverb  hits  it  keenly  which  de- 
clares, "  There  are  three  sexes — men,  women,  and.  priests." 
How  is  it  possible  for  a  priest  ever  to  write  poetry,  or 
make  the  world  efi'ulgent  with  knowledge  ?  Poetry,  like 
science,  demands  the  brave  and  open  soul.  It  must  ever 
see  something  new  and  brilliant  in  the  heavens  and  earth. 
Poetry  is  the  creator,  and  disdains  the  gods  of  the  past, 
while  he  makes  the  gods  of  the  future. 

So  in  the  fountains  of  literature  breathes  the  eternal 
music  of  Freethought.  The  stream,  so  glittering  and  ex- 
uberant in  its  origin,  maybe  frozen  into  a  dogmatic  prison- 
house,  but  the  power  that  is  in  it  is  ever  the  expression 
of  an  undaunted  mind.  Dante,  the  most  theological  of  all 
poets,  the  most  furious  and  bigoted — a  poetic  Torque- 
mada,  who  would  burn  his  enemies  in  hell — Dante  cannot 
help  being  opposed  to  the  ruling  powers  of  his  own  day. 
He  is  anti-papal,  and  takes  delight  in  scorching  the  hier- 
archy, and  he  never  could  have  written  his  wonderful  poem 
if,  in  his  innermost  being,  he  had  not  thrown  off  all  authority 


ANNIE   BESANT  (p.  830). 


LITERATURE.  199 

except  that  of  his  own  imperious  spirit.  Milton  is  the 
orthodox  poet  of  to-day,  but  he  was  not  the  orthodox 
poet  of  his  own  time.  No  servant  of  the  church  coukl 
have  written  that  glorious  epic.  Milton  was  a  born  rebel, 
though  with  an  austere  and  despotic  disposition.  But 
certainly  there  must  have  been  some  Freethought  in  Mil- 
ton, whose  original  power  made  Lucifer  a  far  more  re- 
splendent personage  than  either  God  or  Christ,  for  if  he 
who  fought  against  heaven's  king  were  eliminated  from  the 
poem,  it  would  be  impossible  to  read  it.  Of  all  the  su- 
preme poets  Dante  and  Milton  are  the  only  ones  that 
orthodoxy  can  really  claim,  and  it  can  claim  them  after 
they  are  dead,  and  not  while  they  are  living.  It  can  claim 
their  works,  but  it  cannot  claim  the  tremendous  power 
of  mind  by  which  they  were  produced.  What  pope  or 
priest  or  church  could  dictate  to  these  imperial  sing- 
ers? 

When  we  come  to  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio,  not  only  the 
spirit  of  Freethought  but  the  fair  fruitage  of  Freethought 
adorns  the  literature  of  the  world.  Nowhere  do  we 
find  a  keener  exposure  of  the  clergy,  a  more  merciless 
attack  on  their  hypocrisy,  cowardice,  and  immorality,  than 
in  the  pages  of  Boccaccio.  Petrarch  Avas  a  man  of  vast 
learning  and  resource,  and  was  a  greater  admirer  of 
Cicero  tiian  of  St.  Paul.  To  him  the  classics  of  Gi-eece 
taught  a  better  religion  than  the  dark  theology  of  Augus- 
tine. Such  was  the  zeal  for  these  ancient  masters  that, 
when  Leontius,  a  Greek  professor  of  prodigious  learning, 
was  struck  dead  by  lightning  in  a  storm  at  sea  while  tied 
to  the  mast  of  a  ship,  Petrarch,  while  lamenting  his  fate, 
inquires  whether  "  some  copy  of  Euripides  or  Sophocles 
might  not  be  recovered  from  the  mariners."  Petrarch 
and  Boccaccio  were  immense  renovating  influences  in  the 
age  preceding  Columbus. 

Shakspere  is  so  wonderful  that,  in  order  to  understand 
his  relation    to   the    Avorld's   progress,  we    must   ti'ace   the 


200  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FRBETHOUGHT. 

developmeat  of  his  marvelous  power.     He  is  the  bloom  of 
centuries. 

Away  back  in  the  eleventh   and  three  following  cen- 
turies are  the  Goliards,  a  set  of  merry-makers,  half-Pagan, 
half-Christian,  vagrant  scholars  preserving  reminiscences 
of  the   ancient    poetry    of    Horace,    Ovid,    and    Catullus  ; 
rollicking  students  with  no  respect  for  the  church,  yet  not 
deserving  martyrdom,  and  devoting  themselves  to  satire 
and   song ;  wandering  minstrels    interpreting   in    musical 
tirades   the   popular   feeling,  which  was   not   determined 
enough  as  yet  to  create  the  Reformation.     In  these  mediae- 
val poets   we  trace  the  beginnings   of  the  great  secular 
poetry  of  modern  Europe,  the  poetry  of  nature  as  opposed 
to    the    supernatural.     They   were   buffoons    and   jesters, 
riotous    jugglers,  and  yet  at  times   there  was  something 
terribly  earnest  in  their  apparently  careless  mirth.     While 
the  Goliard  indulged  in  burlesques,  parodies,  and  extrav- 
aganzas, he  also  sang  with  true  poetic  feeling  of  nature, 
human  life,  and  love.     He  is  thoroughly  of  "  this  world," 
and  opposes  the  "  other  worldliness  "  of  the  church.     He 
seems  to  be  completely  free  from  the  dominant  religionism 
of  the  dark  ages.     He  gives  delicious  pictures  of  the  delights 
of  spring-tide.     He  recounts  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  by 
soft  breezes,  the  spreading  of  new  life,  the  bursting  forth 
of  flowers,  manifold   in  color  and  perfume,  the   new-born 
shade  of  the  grove,  the  murmuring  of  brooks,  the  singing 
of  nightingales,  the   enameling  of  meadows,  the   joys  of 
walking  amidst   summer's  beauty,  and  plucking  the  rose 
and    lily.     He    speaks    of    human   love    and    feasting,    of 
Venus  and  Bacchus.    He   reminds  one   of    the  exquisite 
lyrics  and  sonnets  of  Shakspere,  so  deeply  interpenetrated 
with  the  love  of  every  natural  object. 

"  The  Goliardic  poetry,"  says  the  historian,  "  may  be 
called  the  last  surviving  child  of  classical  literature,  and 
certainly  one  source  of  the  Proven9al  and  Chivalesque 
poetry  which  succeeded." 


LITERATURE.  201 

"It  is  worthy  of  note,"  says  Professor  Bartoli,  "to 
see  these  obscure  poets  of  the  twelfth  century  raising  the 
cry  of  revolt  against  that  long-continued  tyranny  over  the 
human  conscience,  against  the  ambition  which  aspired  to 
universal  sovereignty." 

The  Goliard  at  times  was  not  afraid  to  fling  his  in- 
vectives, without  stint,  at  pope,  cardinal,  bishop,  abbot, 
and  monk.     He  himself  announces  a  plea  for  his  severity  : 

"  When  I  see  evil  men  in  their  riches  delighting. 
When  vice  is  triumphant  and  virtue  needs  righting, 
With  lust  and  not  love  men  to  marriage  inciting. 
How  can  I  help  a  satire  inditing  ?  " 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  songs  of  the  Goliards  were 
extremely  popular  during  the  Reformation,  and  while  not 
written  from  any  religious  standpoint  at  all,  yet  in  their 
way  no  doubt  they  contributed  much  to  the  overthrow  of 
the  organized  hypocrisy  and  ambition  of  Rome. 

It  is  also  remarkable  that  they  took  for  their  themes 
episodes  of  the  Iliad,  the  adventures  and  death  of  Hector, 
the  fall  of  Troy,  the  misfortunes  of  Dido,  the  story  of 
Eneas.  They  saluted  their  mistresses  with  the  names 
Niobe,  Helen,  Venus,  etc.  "  The  gods  of  Olympus,"  says 
the  historian,  "  were  often  nearer  to  these  wild  spirits  thai; 
the  invisible  deity  of  Christianity." 

One  of  their  own  poets  sang  of  them  ; 

"  For  their  god  they  all  take  Bacchus, 
And  for  Mark  they  all  read  Flaccus  ; 
In  lieu  of  Paul  they  Virgil  choose, 
And  for  Matthew,  Lucan  use." 

This  is  true  of  the  successful  modern  poet. 

These  merry  minstrels  were  often  anathematized  by  the 
Romish  hierarchy,  but  little  recking  of  this  they  pursued 
their  vocation,  '*  singing  of  life  and  love  of  nature  and  free- 


202  FOUR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OP    FREETHOUGHT. 

dom,  of  joy  aud  feastiug,  wherever  tbey  could  find  an 
audience." 

The  extent  of  the  freedom  of  the  Goliard  spirit  ma}^  be 
seen  in  the  works  of  Ruteboeuf,  of  the  tliirteenth  century. 
Tliis  writer  attacks,  witli  mingled  hardihood  and  mockery, 
the  beliefs  of  his  time.  He  depicts  the  irregular  life,  the 
insatiable  greed  and  dishonesty,  of  the  clergy  generally  ; 
ridicules  and  burlesques  purgatory  and  prayers  for  the 
dead  ;  throws  cold  water  on  the  Crusades,  and  exposes 
the  mischiefs,  national  and  social,  of  these  enterprises. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  ballads,  satires,  tales,  bur- 
lesques, and  farces  of  France,  Germany,  Italy,  and  England 
are  all  permeated  by  this  same  free  spirit.  '  Kabe- 
lais,"  says  Owen,  "in  tone  and  method  may  claim  to  be 
the  last  of  the  Goliards." 

Provencal  Literature. 

The  Goliardic  poetry  is  the  off-shoot  of  colloquial  La- 
tinity,  and  perished  with  that  as  a  living  literature.  In 
the  birth  of  the  Romance  languages,  there  is  still  further 
development  of  the  "Secularization  of  Literature."  We 
now  come  to  one  of  the  most  beautiful  expressions  of 
poetic  genius  in  the  history  of  the  world,  in  which  we  dis- 
cover the  spontaneity  and  splendor  of  Shaksperean  poetry 
itself — the  Proven9al  literature. 

Provencal  poetry  is  the  poetry  of  chivalry,  the  poetry 
of  war  and  love,  and  in  its  very  nature  is  opposed  to  the- 
ology and  supernaturalisms. 

It  is  popularly  supposed  that  chilvalry  is  the  offshoot 
of  Christianity.  This  is  entirely  wrong.  Jesus  never 
taught  chivalry.  He  never  inculcated  the  great,  strong 
virtues.  He  never  told  men  to  be  brave,  to  be  honorable, 
to  be  noble  and  ideal  lovers  of  woman.  He  taught  meek- 
ness and  submission,  not  heroic  and  splendid  qualities. 
There  is  nothing  in  chivalry  akin  to  the  teachings  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  as  a  matter  of  history  chivalry  has 


PROVINgAL  LITERATURE.  205 

an  entirely  other  origin  than  feudalism  and  the  church  of 
Rome. 

Owen,  in  his  excellent  work,  "  The  Skeptics  of  the 
Italian  Renaissance,"  says  : 

"  In  its  origin,  aud  many  of  its  qualities,  chivalry  may  be 
regarded  as  an  offshoot  of  Arab  culture  and  literature.  In 
fact,  there  are  two  sources,  ortwoages,  of  European  litera- 
ture ;  the  first,  before,  aud  independent  of,  the  Crusades,  de- 
rived from  peaceful  intercourse  with  Arabs,  settled  in  Spain 
and  the  South  of  France  aud  Italy,  as  well  as  from  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  those  of  the  Levant  aud  the 
north  coast  of  Africa.  The  second,  after  the  Crusades, 
bearing  the  impress  of  those  expeditions,  and  diffusing 
the  gentleness,  magnanimity,  and  culture  derived  from 
association  with  the  soldiers  and  courtiers  of  Saladin. 

"  Nor  were  the  newer  refining  influences  imparted  by 
the  now  civilized  Saracen,  whether  Eastern  or  Western, 
exclusively  of  a  social  kind.  The  poetry  and  literature  of 
the  Arabs  found  entrance  into  courts  and  literary  circles 
in  France  and  Southern  Italy,  just  as  their  philosophy 
and  medical  science  obtained  a  hearing  in  medieval  schools 
and  universities.  Of  this  popular  Arabic  literature,  dif- 
fused as  all  such  literature  must  be  before  the  age  of 
printing  by  wandering  minstrels,  the  two  themes  were  love 
and  warlike  deeds.  Just  as  the  Jongleur  and  Troubadour 
sang  in  the  baron's  hall,  or  to  a  street  crowd,  their  ro- 
mance of  love  and  heroism,  so  did  the  errant  Saracen 
singer  dilate  on  the  same  topics  in  the  tent  of  the  Bedouin 
sheik,  or  in  the  homes  of  the  opulent  Moorish  merchants. 
Thus  both  the  taste  for  chivalrous  romance  and  the  cus- 
tomary method  of  its  gratification  are  legacies  derived,  in 
great  measure,  from  Saracen  settlers  in  Europe  ;  and  the 
poetry  of  the  Troubadours,  setting  aside  certain  peculiar- 
ities of  taste,  turns  of  imagination,  which  are  referable  to 
differences  of  race,  thought,  and  religion,  is  really  modeled 
on   that  of  the  Arabs.     Nor   is   it   only  a  resemblance  of 


204  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

literary  product  and  its  diffusion  by  the  same  method  of 
wandering  minstrels  that  here  meets  us.  The  style  and 
rhythm  of  the  Troubadour  are  copies  from  his  Arab 
teacher,  and  even  the  instrument,  on  which  the  Jongleur 
and  Troubadour  accompanied  their  songs,  was  the  three- 
stringed  lyre  which  his  Arab  brother  singer  had  long  em- 
ployed for  the  self-same  purpose." 

"  Thus  in  its  very  origin  the  Proven9al  poetry  is  pledged 
to  a  certain  freedom  of  thought  and  liberty  of  utterance. 
It  found  its  chosen  abode  among  a  people  whose  literary, 
political,  and  religious  sympathies  were  averse  to  the  t3'r- 
anny  of  Rome.  The  themes  it  discussed  contravened  the 
traditions  of  mediaeval  Christianit}^  Its  gay  science  was 
opposed  to  gloom  and  asceticism.  Its  celebration  of 
chivalry  was  a  tacit  reproach  to  the  passive  virtues  of  the 
saints.  Its  stress  upon  the  concerns  of  this  life  conflicted 
with  the  simulated  other  Avorldliness  of  the  Papacy. 
The  sense  of  mental  independence  and  individual  asser- 
tion, which  every  free  literature  naturally  generates,  was 
quite  antagonistic  to  the  helpless  imbecility  which  the 
Romish  priesthood  labored  to  induce."  It  was  a  new  life, 
an  unrestrained  joyousness,  which  the  Proven9al  poetry 
served  to  diffuse.  A  few  sentences  of  Raimon  Yidal's 
Treatise  on  metrical  art  give  a  charming  picture  of  the 
Troubadours  :  "All  Christendom,  Jews  and  Saracens,  the 
emperor,  kings,  dukes,  counts,  and  viscounts,  commanders, 
vassals,  and  other  knights,  citizens,  and  peasants,  tall  and 
little,  daily  gave  their  minds  to  singing  and  verse  making 
by  either  singing  themselves  or  listening  to  others.  No 
place  is  so  deserted,  or  out  of  the  way,  that  as  long  as 
men  inhabit  it  songs  are  not  sung  either  by  single  persons 
or  by  many  together ;  even  the  shepherds  in  the  moun- 
tains know  of  no  greater  joy  than  song.  All  good  and  evil 
things  were  made  known  by  the  Troubadours."  In  fact, 
the  Troubadour  was  bard,  musician,  litterateur,  chronicler, 


^■r^'"  '■"'■>•) V 


THEODORE    PARKER  (p.  465). 


PROVHXgAL  LITERATURE.  205 

newsman,  and  teacher  of  the  people — Jews,  Turks^  Infidels, 
jiiiil  heretics  alike. 

The  church  and  clergy  became  alarmed,  and,  as  a  conse- 
qQi'iice,  committed  one  of  the  greatest  crimes  iu  all  human 
liistory — a  crime  against  literature,  against  music,  against 
art,  against  human  joy — a  crime  that  should  forever  damn 
it  in  the  eyes  of  every  true  poet.  How  can  any  poet  love 
the  church  which  has  slain  so  ruthlessly  the  noblest 
singers  of  the  race,  and  for  no  other  reason  than  that  they 
were  singers  and  poets,  and  made  mankind  happy.  Pope 
Innocent  III.  proclaimed  that  nefarious  crusade  against 
the  Proven9als,  one  of  the  worst  of  the  many  outrages 
which  Christianity  has  perpetrated  against  humanity  an-d 
civilization. 

"  It  is  a  horrible  picture  of  religious  fanaticism,"  says 
Owen;  "the  bloodthirsty  barbarity  of  Simon  de  Mont- 
fort  ;  the  ruthless  massacre  of  whole  towns  and  villages  ; 
churches  whose  pavements  were  covered  knee-deep  with 
the  blood  of  the  unarmed  crowd,  most  of  them  women  and' 
children  ;  scenes  of  spoliation  and  depravity  perpetrated 
by  the  '  soldiers  of  the  cross;'  the  heartless  cynicism  and 
inhumanity  with  which  they  avowed  their  shameless 
deeds  ;  the  pitiful  silence,  desolation,  and  misery  that  fol- 
lowed the  footsteps  of  the  papal  hell-hounds  ;  the  transmu- 
tation of  a  lovely  champaign  country,  redolent  of  prosperity, 
quiet  felicity,  and  rural  beauty,  to  a  wild  desert,  befouled 
with  the  unburied  corpses  of  its  peaceful  inhabitants  and 
with  the  blood-stained  ashes  of  its  once  happy  homes." 

"  But,"  continues  the  historian,  "  this  outrage  on  civil- 
ization recoiled  on  its  perpetrators.  The  Proven9al  liter- 
ature, the  Freethought  literature  of  that  day,  was  in  a 
great  measure  extinguished.  The  language  of  its  war 
songs  and  love  ditties  gradually  ceased  to  exist.  The 
happy  home  of  the  Troubadour  was  demolished.  Its  laws 
and  customs  were  completely  reversed.  Instead  of  the 
mild    sway    of    the    counts    of    Toulouse,  tlie    Inquisition 


206  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

erected  i.ts  detestable  tribunal,  from  henceforth  to  be  dis- 
tinguished in  history  as  the  ferocious  persecutor  of  all 
heretics.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  event  contributed 
to  disperse  the  Troubadours  and  their  art  throughout 
Europe.  They  who  escaped  the  papal  butchery  added  a 
new  theme  to  their  songs  of  chivalry.  They  described,  in 
words  of  glowing  indignation,  the  character  of  Rome. 
Here  is  a  specimen  : 

" '  No  wonder,  O  Rome,  that  the  world  is  in  error, 
because  thou  hast  imbrued  this  age  in  affliction  and  war 
and  by  thee  both  merit  and  pity  are  dead  and  buried. 

"'Rome,  thou  deceiver,  avarice  blinds  thee.  Thou 
fleecest  thy  flock  while  living.  Thou  devourest  the  flesh 
and  bones  of  thy  silly  victims  and  leadest  the  blind  with 
thyself  into  the  ditch. 

"'The  fire  of  hell  awaits  thee,  O  Rome,'  etc." 

The  expatriated  minstrels  kept  alive  the  story  of  Chris- 
tian tyranny  and  barbarism,  and  aided  in  the  diffusion  of 
freer  culture.  In  the  court  of  that  enlightened  sovereign, 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  the  most  remarkable  example  of 
Freethought  in  the  age  preceding  the  Renaissance,  Trou- 
badours and  their  productions  occupied  a  prominent  posi- 
tion. 

Without  the  Goliard  and  Proven9al  poetry,  we  might 
say  that  Dante,  Petrarch,  and  Boccaccio  would  have  been 
impossible,  and  also  Cervantes,  and  Rabelais,  and  Mar- 
lowe, and  Shakspere. 

Rome  was  right  in  her  cruel  warfare  against  the  Trou- 
badours. If  she  could  have  crushed  them  out,  she  might 
have  annihilated  modern  literature  and  her  sway  have 
been  unbroken. 

Rabelais.— 1495-1553. 

Rabelais  seems  to  be  made  of  sterner  stuff  than  Boc- 
caccio or  Cervantes,  and  under  certain  circumstances 
would  have  made  a  tremendous  reformer.     There  certainly 


RABELAIS.  207 

never  was  a  better  bundle  of  wit  and  wisdom  put  together 
than  in  Rabelais.  That  he  was  a  Freethinker  none  can 
doubt.  What  cared  he  for  pope  or  bishop?  He  would 
cover  a  bull  of  excommunication  with  ridicule.  Yet, 
after  all,  I  believe  he  was  a  born  churchman,  like  Swift. 
He  believed  in  the  church  as  an  institution,  provided  it 
was  well  managed,  that  hypocrites  were  annihilated  and 
honest  men  guided  affairs.  Rabelais  hated  the  hypocrite. 
Hypocrisy  was  the  greatest  vice  of  all,  and  spiritual  pride. 
Rabelais  did  not  believe  in  the  "  holier  than  thou  "  sort 
of  people.  Rabelais  never  drew  the  mantle  of  self- 
righteousness  about  himself.  He  made  no  pretensions. 
He  was  plain-spoken.  He  called  a  spade  a  spade  ;  and 
I  have  no  doubt  he  would  have  gone  to  the  stake  rather 
than  change  his  method  of  utterance.  In  this  matter  he 
was  thoroughly  in  earnest.  Rabelais  was  no  mere  player. 
His  shafts  went  home  every  time.  With  what  quips  and 
cranks,  however,  he  did  execution !  What  a  world  of 
merriment  there  is,  what  huge  laughter,  what  rollicking, 
ro^'stering  revels  !  If  Rabelais  was  a  churchman,  he  was  a 
jolly  churchman.  His  gown  sat  easily  upon  him  and  his 
cowl  made  no  wrinkles  on  his  forehead.  He  was  a  kind 
of  Friar  Tuck.  He  could  drink  and  joke  with  anybody. 
There  was  no  aristocracy  about  his  wit.  It  was  perfectly 
democratic.  A  muck-heap  or  a  throne  were  equal  occasions 
for  his  flashing  humor.  He  was  no  respecter  of  persons — 
not  even  of  the  deity.  I  think  Rabelais  was  a  churchman 
much  after  the  manner  of  Comte.  He  had  not  any  the- 
ology to  boast  of.  I  surmise  he  would  leave  it  with  the 
majority  to  vote  God  up  or  down.  Rabelais  was  so 
preeminently  interested  in  human  nature,  he  saw  so  much 
that  was  foolish  and  ridiculous  and  fun-inspiring,  that  he 
really  did  not  care  much  about  the  existence  of  deity.  If 
there  was  one,  he  would  be  such  a  respectable  character, 
and  so  entirely  above  joking,  that  Rabelais  would  scarcely 


208  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS    OP^    FREBTHOUGHT. 

deign  to  notice  liim.  Not  being  a  fit  object  of  mirthj 
of  what  use  was  he? 

Rabelais  is  certainly  a  great  provoker  of  thought.  You 
cannot  read  him  without  being  mightily  interested  in 
what  he  is  driving  at.  He  is  suggestive.  He  penetrates 
and  stirs  and  puzzles.  He  is  the  boldest  of  writers.  His 
very  recklessness  appalls  ;  yet  everything  is  justified  by 
his  supreme  wisdom,  his  honest}^  sagacity,  sincerity,  and 
downright  hatred  of  every  kind  of  sham  and  humbug. 
Rabelais  is  always  animated  by  broad  and  generous 
motives.  There  is  nothing  mean  about  him.  He  is  not  a 
misanthrope,  or  a  defamer,  or  a  scandal  monger.  He  is 
simply  a  transcendent  wit,  so  witty  that  at  the  same  time 
he  is  wise,  humane,  and  universal. 

Saj's  Rabelais : 

"  The  devil  was  sick,  the  devil  a  saint  would  be  ; 
The  devil  got  well,  the  devil  a  saint  was  he." 

A  thousand  such  luminous  shafts  did  Rabelais  fling  at 
the  pretense,  nonsense  and  follies  of  Ins  time. 

Coleridge  ranks  Rabelais  with  the  great  creative  minds 
of  the  world.  He  says:  "Beyond  doubt  Rabelais  was 
among  the  deepest,  as  well  as  boldest,  tbinkeis  of  his  age. 
His  buffoonery  was  not  merely  Brutus's  rough  stick  which 
contained  a  rod  of  gold  ;  it  was  necessary  as  an  amulet 
against  the  monks  and  legates.  Never  was  there  a  more 
plausible  and  seldom,  I  am  persuaded,  a  less  appropriate 
line  than  the  thousand  times  quoted — 

'  Rabelais  laugliing  in  his  easy  chair  ' 

of  Mr.  Pope.  I  could  write  a  treatise  in  praise  of  the 
moral  elevation  of  Rabelais'  work,  which  would  make  the 
church  stare  and  the  conventicle  groan,  and  yet  would  be 
truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth." 


cervantes.  209 

Montaigne.— 1533-1592. 

Of  a  different  mould  from  Rabelais  was  Montaigne. 
He  went  deeper.  Rabelais  attacked  the  clergy,  but  Mon- 
taigne attacked  the  church  itself,  and  the  very  foundations 
of  its  faith.  Montaigne  had  not  the  humor  of  Rabelais, 
but  a  whole  armory  of  wit  and  logic.  But  little  is  known 
of  him  except  by  his  works.  He  was  a  skeptic,  and  pre- 
eminently a  skeptic.  He  had  no  constructive  philosophy. 
His  main  purpose  was  to  get  rid  of  the  evil,  and  that  cer- 
tainly was  a  great  work  to  do,  without  reference  to  what 
might  come  after.  Montaigne  was  an  iconoclast,  some- 
what nihilistic,  but  he  struck  at  the  image  with  a  sword 
rather  than  hammer.  He  did  not  smash  things  ;  he  pene- 
trated and  cut  out  the  heart,  the  substance,  so  that  the 
idol  fell  as  with  its  own  weight.  Montaigne  is  supposed 
to  have  had  no  moral  purpose.  He  was  cynical,  it  is  said. 
This  is  not  a  true  interpretation.  In  Montaigne  there  was 
a  sturdy  and  progressive  mind.  There  was  a  purpose 
more  far-reaching  than  is  apparent  to  the  careless  reader. 
Montaigne  was  not  merely  a  man  of  wit — a  jester.  He  was 
a  philosopher,  a  deep  student,  a  radical  thinker.  He  com- 
prehended human  nature,  and  aimed,  not  to  play  upon  its 
weakness,  but  to  cultivate  its  powers.  His  gift,  however, 
was  not  so  much  to  arouse  enthusiasm  as  to  quicken  the 
understanding,  and  this  he  did  with  such  illuminating 
success  that,  to  the  present  day,  he  is  a  living  author,  S,nd 
we  must  read  him  in  order  to  understand  the  spirit  of  his 
time  and  its  intellectual  greatness, 

Cervantes. — 1547-1616. 

It  will  be  seen  that,  anterior  to  Cervantes,  there  was  an 
immense  amount  of  intellectual,  literary,  and  poetic  life. 
If  it  was  the  dawn  of  the  age  of  reason,  it  was  a  most 
glorious  dawn  ;  and  the  night  itself  is  beautiful  with  stars. 
If  we  call  it  the  "  dark  ages,"  it  is  dark  only  in  the  sense 


210  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

tliat  night  is  dark.  Tliere  is  no  dreary  monotony,  no 
deathly  sleep.  The  earth  is  alive,  and  the  heavens  are 
throbbing.  There  is  a  constant  struggle.  The  spirit  of 
liberty  burns,  imagination  is  awake,  and  tyranny  can  only 
maintain  itself  by  the  oft-drawn  bloody  sword.  And  when 
the  dawn  did  come,  flushed  with  color  from  far  Arabia,, 
with  oriental  splendors  and  the  magnificence  of  resur- 
rected Greece,  it  was  indeed  a  vast  aud  animating  spec- 
tacle, and  it  is  no  wonder  that  poetry  flourished  and  sang 
some  of  its  sweetest  songs,  and  pointed  to  the  palatial  day 
to  come,  and  in  the  very  bed  of  horror  placed  the  roses  of 
promise.  It  is  no  wonder  that  romance  was  in  the  very 
palpitations  of  the  air,  and  in  a  million  kindling  hearts. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  chivalry  became  the  ornament  of  the 
time,  with  brave,  bright  virtues  of  heroic  endeavor.  It  is 
no  wonder  that  the  church  was  in  a  perpetual  turmoil, 
and  brought  the  Inquisition  into  play  to  crush  the  rising 
spirit  of  the  masses.  In  the  literature  and  philosophy  of 
that  era,  we  see  a  vast  onward  movement.  We  see  the 
people  groping  like  a  blind  giant,  and  shaking  crowns  and 
tiaras.  It  is  a  dawn,  indeed,  not  over  a  wide  and  solitary 
desert,  but  over  lovely  lands,  homes  adorned  with  genius. 
It  is  not  a  lurid  dawn,  but  a  dawn  with  soft  breezes,  cloud- 
lands  of  beauty,  brilliant  prospects,  with  luminous  spaces 
in  the  receding  darkness  itself.  No  wonder  that  the 
genius  of  Cervantes  ripens  to  such  illustrious  fruit.  No 
wonder  that  he  dowers  the  world  with  such  wit  and  wis- 
dom, eloquence  and  delight. 

It  is  said  that  Cervantes  is  the  true  child  of  the 
Catholic  church.  Perhaps  he  was,  in  a  sense,  not  of  the 
Catholic  or  papal  church  as  it  was  then,  but  as  it  might 
have  been,  or  might  be  in  some  golden  age  under  a  toler- 
ant and  beneficent  leadership,  as  it  might  be  conceived 
by  the  gentle  Erasmus,  or  large-minded  Grotius,  a  church 
that  really  stood  for  justice,  for  mercy,  for  consolation 
and  hope  to  the  human  race.     Cervantes  was  not  icono- 


ABRAHAM    LIN'COLX  (p.  466). 


CERVANTES.  211 

clastic.  There  is  no  storm  and  battle  in  him.  He  has 
not  the  spirit  of  the  martyr.  He  was  not  born  to  be  a 
heretic.  He  was  a  Conformist  by  his  very  nature.  I 
think  if  he  had  been  a  native  in  a  Mohammedan  country, 
he  would  have  made  just  as  good  a  Mohammedan  as  he 
was  a  good  Catholic.  There  is  nothing  of  the  Protestant 
in  him.  Pure  wit  and  humor  are  not  revolutionary.  They 
are  like  tiie  sunshine.  They  do  not  tear  or  rend.  They 
are  an  effluence — not  a  hurricane.  I  do  not  know  of  any 
reformer  who  ever  possessed  genuine  humor,  or  wit,  in 
any  abounding  fashion.  To  crack  a  joke  requires  a  good 
deal  of  complacency  with  things  as  the}'  are. 

Cervantes  is  Freethought  only  as  pure  literature  is 
such  by  its  very  nature.  He  who  makes  the  world  happy 
must,  for  that  very  reason,  be  anti-orthodox.  He  who 
creates  a  smile  is,  to  that  extent,  a  heretic.  The  very  mo- 
ment a  man  laughs  he  is  on  the  road  to  hell,  according  to 
the  church's  creed. 

Cervantes  has  made  the  world  laugh.  He  has  made 
innumei-able  people  happy.  He  has  mingled  smiles  with 
tears.  He  paints  the  beautiful  with  the  grotesque.  That 
is  the  triumph  of  humor — to  show  the  value  of  humanity 
at  the  very  moment  that  it  ridicules  Tliat  is  the  wonder- 
ful art  of  Cervantes.  He  makes  fun  of  Don  Quixote,  and 
yet  we  love  and  admire  the  knight-errant  still.  He  is  a 
man  and  not  a  caricature. 

Cervantes  is  a  benevolent  philosopher.  He  reminds 
us  of  our  own  Franklin  in  his  worldlv  wisdom  and  adap- 
tation to  real  human  life.  The  wit  of  Cervantes  is  the  wit 
of  common  sense.  He  takes  the  world  as  it  is,  and  makes 
the  best  of  it.  If  he  accepts  the  church,  it  is  as  an  instru- 
ment of  earthly  good,  and  not  of  "eternal  salvation." 
The  theology  of  Cervantes  is  like  a  bank-note.  Having 
no  occasion  to  cash  it,  its  true  value  is  unknown. 

The  genius  of  Cervantes  is  for  the  universal  human 
race.     It  is  immortal   as  the  civilization  of  man.     It  is  a 


212  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

stream  of  brightness,  an  atmosphere  of  delight,  or  a  calm, 
beautiful  sea  reflecting  all  the  radiance  of  its  surround- 
ings, while  its  gentle  waves  are  forever  breaking  away  the 
dark-browed  cliiGfs  of  superstition. 

Mysteries  and  Moralities. 

To  understand  Marlowe  and  Shakspere  one  must  un- 
derstand that  majestic  vehicle,  the  drama,  through  which 
they  poured  the  splendor  of  their  genius. 

It  is  surprising  to  discover  that  these  dramas,  so  in- 
tense with  humanity,  originated  with  the  "  mysteries  "  of 
the  church  and  are  an  evolution  of  its  ancient  miraculous 
and  supernatural  shows. 

The  Christian  church  was  opposed  to  the  Greek  and 
Roman  drama,  and  gradually  effected  its  extinction,  but 
modes  of  scenic  representation  sprang  up  within  the 
church  itself.  The  Mvsteries  at  first  were  mere  para- 
phrases in  dialogue  of  scriotural  narratives  or  ecclesias- 
tical legends,  and  were  without  dramatic  action  or  scenic 
play.  Later  on  came  picturesque  representations  of  the 
life  of  Christ.  Afterwards  legends  of  pagandom  were  em- 
ployed. Allegory  became  a  mode  of  teaching  morality. 
Virtue,  Vice,  Indolence,  Luxury,  were  personified.  Mingled 
with  the  cliaracters  of  the  Bible  were  Juno,  Orpheus, 
Ganymede,  Proserpine,  Eurydice,  and  Deucalion,  and  even 
Ovid's  Metamorphoses  were  used  for  Christian  edifica- 
tion. In  this  way  were  diffused  among  the  people  some 
rudiments  of  classical  literature.  The  relation  of  these 
Mysteries  and  Moralities  to  Freethovight  is  thus  explained 
by  Owen  : 

"What  is  remarkable  in  these  plays  and  what  we  have 
to  note  for  our  purpose  is  their  participation  in  the  Free- 
thought  which  marks  other  departments  of  intellectual 
activity  in  the  eleventh  and  two  following  centuries.  The 
secularization  of  tlie  old  religious  drama  is  a  process 
pretty  distinctly  marked.     First  we  observe  interwoven  in 


MYSTERIES  AND  MORALITIES.  213 

the  sacred  representation  a  certain  admixture  of  pagan 
elements,  and  we  find  a  growing  increase  of  allusions  to 
heathen  characters,  divinities,  and  events.  In  a  miracle 
play  of  the  twelfth  century  we  have  songs  in  celebration  of 
Yenus  and  of  Love.  Representations  of  a  half-clerical, 
half-secular  character  began  to  be  observed  in  which  the 
burlesque  element  preponderated  to  such  an  extent  as 
almost  to  render  them  caricatures  of  religious  ceremonies. 
Such  are  the  'Feast  of  Apes,'  'Feast  of  Fools,'  etc.  The 
dialogue  also  becomes  more  elaborate  and  free,  the  dra- 
matic action  assumes  additional  complexity.  Laymen 
Degin  to  take  part  as  characters  in  the  sacred  dramas,  and 
probably  also  in  their  composition.  And — a  still  more 
significant  token  of  transition — the  language  of  the  old 
mysteries  was  being  changed.  As  early  as  the  eleventh 
century  we  have  a  mystery  in  which  Latin,  Proveng^l  and 
French  are  simultaneously  used.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  theater,  like  other  forms  of  culture,  was  now  grad- 
ually separating  itself  from  the  church  and  was  starting 
on  the  course  of  freedom  and  independence  which  of  right 
pertains  to  it.  Accordingly  we  see,  as  the  next  step  in  the 
transition,  mysteries  and  nominally  sacred  dramas  repre- 
sented outside  the  church.  The  employment  of  profane 
languages  continued  to  increase.  We  need  not  follow  the 
course  of  dramatic  development  any  further,  inasmuch  as 
in  the  following  centuries  we  have  abundant  examples  of  a 
purely  secular  drama.  Farces,  moralities,  and  burlesques 
were  both  written  and  acted  by  laymen.  Guilds  and  com- 
panies of  players,  sometimes  clerical  and  sometimes  lay, 
were  now  organized,  'these  contributed  much  to  the 
artistic  development  of  the  drama  as  well  as  its  enfran- 
chisement from  ecclesiastical  domination.  In  fact  the 
theater  becomes  the  chief  medium  for  the  popular  expres- 
sion of  Freethought,  and  of  determined  hostility  against 
the  Eomish  church.  The  ambition  and  greed  of  the  pope, 
the    immorality    of   the    clergy,  were,  of  course,  favorite 


214  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

objects  of  stage  invective.  The  speculative  doctrines  of 
Christianity  were  not  always  spared.  The  ordinary  theory 
of  divine  justice,  the  belief  in  hell  and  purgatory,  were 
canvassed  with  unreserve,  and  sometimes  with  bitter 
scorn  and  mockery.  This  is  how  Judas  Iscariot  re- 
proaches God  in  an  old  Breton  mystery  : 

"  '  Why  has  God  created  me  to  be  damnet]  on  his 
account?  It  is  the  law  of  the  world  that  good  and  evil 
must  dominate,  according  to  their  principle  and  essence, 
every  created  thing.  Hence  I  cannot  be  j^ermanently 
righteous  in  whatever  state  I  am,  if  I  am  made  of  evil 
matter.  God  is  then  unrighteous.  To  us  he  is  neither 
impartial  nor  a  true  judge.  Far  from  that,  he  is  per- 
fidious and  cruel  in  having  made  me  of  a  matter  destined 
to  cause  my  fall.'  " 

In  an  old  Cornish  miracle  play  there  is  a  criticism  of 
the  doctrine  of  Atonement : 

"  If  God  above  was  his  father. 

He  could,  through  his  grace,  have  saved  rich  and  poor 
Without  being  dead.     Of  thy  assertion,  shame  is  ; 
What   need  was  there   for   God's  son   to  be   slain   like   a 
hart  ?" 

We  thus  see  how,  after  the  extinction  of  Greek  and 
Roman  drama,  there  grew  from  the  very  bosom  of  the 
church  a  much  varied  and  powerful  dramatic  development. 
The  plays  of  Shakspere  are  not  a  reproduction  of  ancient, 
classical  forms,  like  the  dramas  of  Racine  and  Cornielle. 
They  are  an  entirely  new  growth.  They  originated  from 
the  miracle  plays  of  tlie  church  itself,  and  still  in  Shak- 
spere do  we  see  remnants  of  the  primitive,  supernatural 
machinery,  but  secularized.  Even  the  witches  of  Shak- 
spere miglit  be  said  to  be  "secular"  witches.  They  are 
entirely  subservient  to  the  interests  of  humanity  in  this 
world.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  "  other  Avorldliuess  "  in 
Shakspere's  so-called  supernatural  characters. 


MYSTERIES   AND  MORALITIES.  215 

The  plays  of  Sliakspere,  like  Sbakspere  himself,  are 
"the  long  result  of  time."  We  can  trace  through  cent- 
uries the  selections  and  adaptations  by  which,  from  the 
religious  drama,  has  been  developed  this  mighty  secular 
literature.  It  might  be  said  to  be  the  child  of  the  people. 
This  developing  theater  was,  to  the  people,  wliat  the 
schools  and  universities  were  to  the  scholars,  and  while 
the  people  made  it,  and  changed  it,  and  broadened  it,  and 
finally  took  it  outside  the  church,  it,  at  the  same  time,  was 
the  educator  of  the  people.  It  gave  them  Freethought. 
It  took  the  place  of  the  newspaper  of  to-day.  It  gave 
information.  It  discussed  every  question.  It  criticised 
even  God,  and  allowed  Judas  to  express  his  opinion.  It 
burlesqued  the  church  doctrines.  It  raked  the  pope  and 
clergy  with  wit  and  sarcasm.  It  was  the  common  school 
of  the  masses.  These  strolling  players  Avent  everywhere, 
and,  as  Hamlet  says,  were  the  "abstract  and  brief  chron 
iclers  of  the  time." 

Thus  from  the  stupid,  almost,  and  we  might  say  en- 
tirely, senseless  miracle  play,  b}-  natural  process,  has  come 
the  vast  and  magniticent  drama  of  Shakspere.  It  is  an 
evolution"  whose  every  variation  and  "  survival  of  the 
fittest"  can  be  traced,  but  what  a  metamorphosis  there  is! 
It  is  the  winged  beauty  from  the  sluggish  worm.  It  took 
five  centuries  to  create  the  dramas  of  Shakspere  and  his 
contemporaries.  "  The  drama,"  says  Taine,  "  extended 
over  all  the  provinces  of  history,  imagination,  and  fancy, 
expanded  so  as  to  embrace  comedj',  tragedy,  pastoral  and 
fanciful  literature,  to  represent  all  degrees  of  human  con- 
dition, and  all  caprices  of  human  invention,  to  express  all 
the  perceptible  details  of  actual  truth,  and  all  the  philo- 
sophic grandeur  of  general  reflection ;  the  stage,  disen- 
cumbered of  all  precept  and  freed  from  all  limitation, 
given  up  and  appropriated  in  the  minutest  particulars  to 
the  reigning  taste  and  public  intelligence  ;  all  this  was  a 
vast  and  manifold  work  capable,  by  its  flexibility,  its  great- 


216  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

ness,  and  its  form,  of  receiving  and  preserving  the  exact 
imprint  of  the  age  and  the  nation," 

Marlowe. -1564-1593. 

The  career  of  Marlowe  was  like  a  pathway  of  brief 
lightning.  He  died  when  he  was  only  thirty  years  of  age. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  shoemaker,  but  somehow  managed  to 
study  af;  Cambridge.  On  his  return  to  London  he  became 
an  actor,  but  having  broken  his  leg  he  remained  lame 
and  could  not  appear  upon  the  boards.  He  openly  avowed 
his  Infidelity.  He  declared  that,  "  if  he  were  to  write  a 
new  religion,  he  would  undertake  both  a  more  excellent 
and  more  admirable  method."  A  prosecution  was  begun 
against  him  which  would,  probably,  have  brought  him  to 
the  stake  but  for  his  early  death.  He  was  a  prodigious 
power  in  literature,  a  kind  of  "elemental  god,"  so 
thoroughly  did  he  exhibit  the  great  forces  of  natural 
genius.  He  was  a  wild,  rebellious,  and  magnificent  spirit, 
utterly  untrammeled,  and  swept  by  the  mightiest  passions 
of  the  human  heart.  He  poured  forth  poetry  as  the 
heavens  pour  forth  a  storm,  with  mingled  terror,  grandeur, 
gloom,  and  exquisite  beauty.  He  was  responsive  to  nature's 
loftiest,  ruggedest,  and  sweetest  aspects.  Life,  indeed, 
was  a  battle  to  him,  and  in  the  end  a  crushing  defeat.  He 
was  like  a  lion  at  ba^^  in  the  strength  and  plenitude  of  his 
powers.  He  was  rash,  ill-regulated,  a  fermentation  of 
genius.  There  was  something  of  "  chaos  and  old  darkness" 
about  him,  as  if  he  were  a  Titan  flung  into  civilized  life 
and  scorning  all  its  laws.  There  is  a  Niagara-like  ferocity 
in  his  poetry,  a  whirling,  surging,  impetuous,  indomitable 
rush,  as  if  by  pure  energy  he  would  sweep  away  every 
barrier,  reckless  of  disaster.  When  we  first  read  him  his 
pages  are  like  the  passage  of  a  furious  flood.  They  are 
-crowded  with  pictures  that  seem  to  clash  with  one  another 
in  manifold  confusion,  as  if  the  poet  wrecked  his  very 
l)rain  in  the  dramatic  fervors  of  his  speech,  and  the  exal- 


ERNESTINE    L.  ROSE  (p.  795). 


MARLOWE.  217 

tations  and  agonies  of  his  characters ;  and  yet,  as  we 
brood  over  these  pages,  what  art,  what  melody,  is  revealed  ; 
what  reaches  of  thought,  what  elevation  of  imagination  ; 
what  sincerity,  what  bravery,  what  gentleness,  what  deep 
intuitions  of  humanity  !  There  never  was  so  tumultuous 
a  poet  as  Marlowe,  one  so  torn  and  rended  by  real  passion, 
to  whom  every  moment  was  a  fiery  ordeal,  who  actually 
lived,  or  tried  to  live,  the  immensities  of  thought  within 
him  ;  a  very  child  in  the  masterful  play  of  his  emotional 
being,  and  yet  he  is  a  creator  in  literature,  an  artist,  melo- 
dious and  beautiful.  There  is  method  in  his  madness. 
His  genius  obeys  a  true  law  of  harmony.  In  his  very 
ravings  he  sings  with  ravishing  note.  His  frenzy  is  a 
"  fine  frenzy,"  and  breaks  not  the  poetic  rhythm.  Of  his 
stormful,  thunderous  intensity,  we  can  say  : 

"O  night, 
And  storm,  and  darkness,  thou  art  wondrous  strong. 
Yet  lovely  in  thy  strength  as  is  the  light 
Of  a  dark  eye  in  woman." 

Is  there  not  something  of  the  delicious  music  of  Avon's 
bard  in  Faust's  passionate  exclamation  to  Helen  : 

"  Was  this  the  face  that  launched  a  thousand  ships, 
And  burnt  the  topless  towers  of  Ilium  ? 
Sweet  Helen,  make  me  immortal  with  a  kiss  ; 
Her  lips  suck  forth  my  soul — see  where  it  flies ; 
Come,  Helen,  come,  give  me  my  soul  again  ; 
Here  will  I  dwell,  for  heaven  is  in  these  lips, 
And  all  is  dross  that  is  not  Helen. 
O  thou  art  fairer  than  the  evening  air 
Clad  in  the  beauty  of  a  thousand  stars." 

Of  course,  Marlowe  was  not  a  scientific  Atheist,  not  a 
calm,  grand  philosopher  who  recognizes  the  limits  of 
human  knowledge  and  seeks  not  to  transcend  them  ;  who 
makes  the  best  of  a  universe  that  is  by  no  means  perfect. 


218  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Marlowe  did  not  reach  the  benignant  heights  of  Goethe, 
nor  did  he  have  the  poetic  faith  of  Bruno  and  Shelley, 
while  disdaining  God.  He  was  an  arch-rebel.  He  was 
satisfied  with  nothing.  While  he  believed  in  no  god,  he 
himself  would  be  a  god.  He  was  a  Lucifer-spirit.  He 
poured  his  angry  defiance  even  upon  nature  herself.  But 
with  all  his  faults  and  vices  he  was  a  great  and  splendid 
character.  We  can  but  admire  him  in  his  superb,  athletic 
and  deathly  struggle  with  fate.  He  perishes,  but  he 
perishes  like  a  giant  who  has  struck  mighty  blows,  whose 
sword  was  indeed  flashing  like  King  Arthur's  ;  and  though 
scarcely  more  than  a  boy  in  his  passionate  death,  he  wins 
imperishable  renown  in  the  most  brilliant  era  of  the 
world's  history.  He  is  the  prelude  to  Shakspere.  He 
opens  the  door  for  that  imperial  genius  to  enter  in  and 
reign.  With  surpassing  skill  he  makes  English  verse 
ready  for  the  manifold  transformations  of  that  universal 
bard,  who  can  strike  every  string  of  human  emotion,  who< 
circumnavigates  the  world  of  thought. 

Shakspere  is  the  sea.  We  might  say  Marlowe  is  a 
rushing,  roaring  cataract.  He  overleaps  the  precipice.  He 
plunges  into  the  ab3"ss.  Over  his  course  shine  the  beauti- 
ful rainbow  arches.     Beyond  is  the  illimitable  ocean. 

Shakspere.— 1564-1616. 

Of  the  age  of  Shakspere,  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning 
writes  :  "  It  was  full  of  poets,  as  the  summer  days  are  of 
birds.  Never  since  the  first  nightingale  brake  voice  in 
Eden  arose  such  a  jubilee  concert ;  never  before  nor  since 
has  such  a  crowd  of  true  poets  uttered  such  true  poetic 
speech  in  one  day.  Why,  a  common  man  walking  the 
earth  in  those  days  became  a  poet  by  position." 

What  were  the  influences  which  made  this  age  so 
beautiful  and  crowded  it  with  music?  It  was  an  age  of 
boundless  hope,  of  eager  looking  forward.     The  bark  of 


SHAKSPERE.  219 

Columbus  had  moored  beneath  the  shadow  of  ludiaii 
groves.     Balboa  with  eagle  eyes  had 

"Stared  at  the  Pacific,  and  all  bis  men 
Looked  at  each  other  with  a  wild  surmise, 
Silent  upon  a  peak  in  Darien." 

Magellan  had  crept  about  the  huge  rotuntlity.  Vast  em- 
pires were  revealing  their  antique  wealth  ;  heroic  spirits 
were  everywhere  on  the  alert.  The  Saxon  blood  was 
kindling  with  the  rest ;  the  heart  of  England  throbbed 
with  the  swelling  excitement ;  her  mariners  drank  in 
the  farthest  breath  of  the  new  world  ;  her  flag  floated 
over  seas  that  had  never  been  plowed  by  keel  before. 
Sir  Walter  Kaleigh  and  his  compeers  lived  a  life  of 
romance  of  which  we  to-day  can  scarcely  conceive  the 
freshness  and  delight,  for  never  since  the  old  Greeks  sped 
along  the  blue  ^Egean  did  such  glittering  prospects  rise 
upon  the  adventurer's  path — continents  and  isles  and  seas 
and  rivers  that  seemed  endless  in  their  pomp,  and  giving 
a  fair  welcome  to  the  bold  invader.  The  vision  of  mau 
was  broadening.  The  earth  was  more  excellent  than  he 
had  ever  dreamed  it  to  be,  and  he  felt  that  a  mighty  in- 
heritance was  indeed  his. 

He  was  beginning  also  to  be  conscious  of  his  inward 
powers  as  well  as  outward  possessions.  Bacon  was  over- 
throwing the  empty  formularies  of  the  schools.  Da  Vinci, 
gifted  as  Apollo,  while  he  clothed  the  dead  past  with 
beauty,  unlocked  the  secrets  of  a  mightier  future.  Coper- 
nicus, Galileo,  Tycho  Brahe,  and  Kepler  were  explaining 
the  laws  and  motions  of  the  sun  and  planets,  and  catching 
hints  of  the  interminable  glories  beyond.  The  nations, 
too,  were  throwing  off  the  chains  of  superstition.  The 
surge  of  the  Reformation  had  swept  along  and  freedom 
■was  the  cry.  The  printing  press  was  diffusing  intelli- 
gence. All  Europe  was  in  the  midst  of  a  far  breaking 
dawD,  and  the  mingling  lights  of  a   thousand   new  prom- 


220  FOUR  HUNDRED  TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

ises  stirred  Immanity  to  unwonted  endeavor.  Never  be- 
fore had  there  been  such  infinite  longings  and  such  splen- 
did activities. 

But  the  old  life  was  not  yet  gone.  Indeed,  it  was 
more  fresh  than  ever.  Ancient  custom  and  belief  had  not 
hasted  to  their  setting.  Their  primeval  beauty  was 
intact ;  the  new  rather  gave  them  an  added  luster ;  it  had 
not  blasted  with  excess  of  light.  The  belated  traveler  still 
saw  fairies  dancing  in  the  greenwood  ;  ghosts  haunted  the 
moonlight  ;  witches  rode  upon  the  air  ;  the  devil  made 
bargains  for  human  souls ;  the  sujpernatural  flung  its 
somber  glories  into  the  natural ;  a  golden  heaven,  a  blaz- 
ing hell,  were  still  vivid  in  the  minds  of  men,  and  Pales- 
tine, where  those  "  blessed  feet "  had  trod,  was  lighted 
with  an  inefl'able  halo.  The  church  in  some  form  or 
other  was  supreme.  Men  were  adventurous,  pushing, 
going  to  the  far-off  Ind  in  search  of  gold  and  empire, 
but  they  were  not  deeply  skeptical.  The  fountain  of 
immortal  youth  still  lured  them  on.  They  toiled  for  the 
philosopher's  stone.  They  sought  to  read  their  destiny 
in  the  stars.  Wherever  the  warrior  went  the  priest  was 
by  his  side  to  receive  his  share  of  the  spoils,  and  by  the 
fluttering  tent  of  the  one  began  the  massive  cathedral  of 
the  other.  With  all  their  onward-looking,  men  still  wor- 
shiped the  past.  All  were  "  passionate  pilgrims  "  who 
expected  from  their  widest  wanderings  to  return  to  the 
shrine  of  their  infancy,  and  pour  their  dearest  treasures 
beneath  its  venerable  shade. 

There  was,  indeed,  a  rare  combination  of  the  old  and 
the  new.  It  was  a  choice  moment  in  human  histor3\  The 
world  will  never  look  upon  its  like  again.  The  past  and 
the  present  met  in  a  focus  of  splendid  poesy,  whose  uu- 
equaled  radiance  will  be  witnessed  no  more.  Then,  in- 
deed, was  there  "  large  discourse."  The  mind  of  man 
'•  looked  before  and  after."  Ou  all  sides  round  were 
wonders.     Men's  thoughts   leaped  from  earth  to  heaven 


SHAKSPERB.  221 

and  heaven  to  earth.  Heaven  was  a  reality  whose  mag- 
nificeuce  filled  the  empyrean,  and  earth,  even  iu  its  rudest 
aspect,  was  divinely  crowned.  There  were  "  tongues  in 
the  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks,  sermons  in  stones, 
and  good  in  everything."  Then  the  poets'  fine  frenzy 
had  room  and  verge  enough,  whether  it  brooded  and 
triumphed  in  human  griefs  and  joys,  or  swept  beyond  the 
flaming  bounds  of  space  and  time.  There  wab  nothing  to 
chain  the  flight  or  dim  the  vision. 

The  olden  temples  were  glorious,  but  they  did  not  sub- 
due. The  new  lights  flashed  in  gorgeous  floods,  but  did 
not  reveal  the  weakness  of  the  accepted  faith.  All  things 
blended  in  harmony.  The  true  was  beautiful  and  the 
beautiful  was  true.  Emotion  gave  the  law  to  thought,  and 
thought,  eager  and  vast  as  it  was,  gladly  ministered  to 
the  heart  and  made  real  its  wildest  aspiration. 

And  in  this  age  Shakspere  was  born.  But  not  in  soli- 
tary greatness,  not 

"  Like  lone  Soracte's  height. 
That,  like  a  long-swept  wave,  heaves  from  off  the  plain." 

He  was  the  chief  of  a  mighty  company,  and  not  without 
a  co-rival  does  he  wear  the  dignities  of  that  favored  hour. 
There  were  giants  in  those  days  and  each  brow  was  aflame 
with  its  own  ardor.  Rare  Ben  Jonson,  Beaumont  and 
Pletcher,  Hayward,  Ford,  Massenger,  Decker,  Green, 
Chapman,  Webster — these  were  not  pale  reflections  of 
Shakspere.  Their  own  souls  touched  the  heavens  and 
earth,  and  from  the  heart  of  things  expressed  the  regnant 
Are.  They  grew  with  Sliakspere  and  not  out  of  him,  and 
the  music  of  their  thought  was  at  times  as  grand  and 
sweet  as  his.  It  was  not  Shakspere,  after  all,  that  was 
supreme,  but  the  Elizabethan  era — the  English  mind,  rich 
with  the  past  and  glittering  with  the  future,  gathering 
from  one  auspicious  moment  the  beauty  and  the  power 
that  will   never    again  come  within   the   grasp   of   man. 


222  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUaHT. 

There  was  not  one  only,  but  scores,  to  pluck  the  glistening 
fruit,  and  the  feast  of  which  all  ages  shall  partake  is  fur- 
nished by  many  a  glorious  spirit.  It  is  the  whole  age 
that  dowers ;  it  is  a  hundred  larks  that  pour  their  music 
from  the  skies.  There  was  something  in  the  bloom  of 
that  wondrous  day  that  out-Shakspered  Shakspere  ;  some- 
thing more  marvelous  than  himself  that  overflowed  his. 
bounds  and  sparkled  in  many  a  line  that  he  never  traced. 
In  all  the  poets  of  that  period  there  is  something 
which  reminds  us  of  Shakspere,  which  the  greatest  poets 
of  to-day,  with  all  their  witchery  of  words,  cannot  give; 
and  so  these  elder  bards  did  not  take  their  glow  from  Shak- 
spere, but  from  that  fiery  fountain  out  of  which  Shakspere 
himself  burst.  They  were,  not  because  Shakspere  was,  but 
all  were  because  the  mind  of  man  was  exultant  with  a 
thrill  that  Time's  daintiest  touch  had  liberated  from  be- 
nignant stars.  One  could  not  write  like  Shakspere  to-day 
even  if  he  were  intellectually  his  superior,  for  the  heavens- 
and  earth  have  changed,  and  our  hearts  cannot  beat  with 
the  joy  which  was  so  mighty  then  and  which  so  flooded  the 
world  that  the  dullest  expressed  something  of  its  flame  and 
became  a  poet  by  position.  We  can  scarcely  realize  it 
now,  and  our  noblest  bards  give  no  strain  of  that  enchant- 
ing melody  which  even  a  drunken  Caliban  could  pour 
forth.     Even  he  could  say  : 

"  The  isle  is  full  of  noises. 
Sounds,  and  sweet  airs  that  give  delight  and  hurt  not ; 
Sometimes  a  thousand  twangling  instruments 
Will  hum  about  mine  ears;  and  sometimes  voices 
That  if  I  then  had  waked  after  long  sleep. 
Will  make  me  sleep  again;   and  then,  in  dreaming. 
The  clouds,  methought,  would  open  and  show  riches 
Ready  to  drop  upon  me;  that  when  I  waked, 
I  cried  to  dream  again." 


ELIZUH    WRIGHT  (p.  828). 


SHAKSPERE.  223 

Who  but  an  Elizabethan  poet  coiihl  fling  into  the  very 
lap  of  horror  this  beauteous  picture  in  Macbeth : 

"  This  guest  of  summer, 
The  temple-haunting  martlet,  does  approve, 
By  his  loved  mansionry,  that  the  heaven's  breath 
Smells  wooingly  here;    no  jutty,  frieze,  buttress, 
No  coigne  of  vantage,  but  this  bird  hath  made 
His  pendant  bed  and  procreant  cradle;  where  they 
Most  breed  and  haunt,  I  have  observed,  the  air 
Is  delicate." 

Or  this  in  Hamlet : 

"  Some  say  that  ever,  'gainst  that  season  comes 
Wherein  our  savior's  birth  is  celebrated, 
This  bird  of  dawning  singeth  all  night  long. 
And  then,  they  say,  no  spirit  dares  stir  abroad  ; 
The  nights  are  wholesome,  then  no  planets  strike. 
No  fairy  takes,  no  witch  hath  power  to  charm. 
So  hallowed  and  so  gracious  is  the  time." 

And  win  but  a  Shaksperean  lover  would  pour  forth  his 
heart  like  Romeo  : 

"  O  speak  again,  bright  angel,  for  thou  art 
As  glorious  to  this  night,  being  o'er  my  head, 
As  is  a  winged  messenger  of  heaven 
Unto  the  white,  upturned,  wondering  eyes 
Of  mortals  that  fall  back  to  gaze  on  him 
When  he  bestrides  the  lazy-pacing  clouds. 
And  sails  upon  the  bosom  of  the  air." 

Shakspere  wrote,  not  with  the  mature  resolve  of  a 
critic,  but  with  the  glad  impulse  of  a  child,  pouring  his 
whole  being  into  his  varied  creations.  They  are  not  mere 
receptacles  of  his  wit  and  wisdom — the  bare  effluence  of 
his  pen.  They  are  his  own  protean  self  in  the  tragedies 
and  comedies  of  life.     It  is  not  the  master-hand  of  a  mere 


224  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

artist  that  we  see  shaping  out  curious  and  sublime  figures, 
but  a  living  spirit  flashing  in  manifold  joy  and  power  and 
beauty,  like  the  ocean,  indeed.  Everywhere  it's  the  same 
mighty  deep  that  lowers  and  shines.  Milton  is  like  a  star, 
but  Sliakspere  is  like  the  sea.  Nothing  else  can  so  sym- 
bolize not  only  his  intellectual  being,  but  the  sweep  of 
its  activity. 

Through  what  vast  action  we  pass  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  his  majestic  dramas !    There  is  an  ever-progressive 
motion.     When  we   finish  reading  Byron  or  Tennyson,  we 
are  just  where  we  were  Avhen  we   began.     We  have  simply 
been  lookers  on,  gazing  at  pictures,  images,  flowing  by  in 
ever-changing  wonder   and   delight.     But   when  we  finish 
reading  Hamlet,   Macbeth,    Lear,   Eomeo,   why,   by   some 
enchanter's  wand,  we  seem  to  have  lived  years.     We  have 
not   simply  listened   to  a  flow  of  language,  as  musical,  as 
bright  as  Apollo's  lute  strung  with  his  hair  ;  we  have  seen 
the   human   being  in  infinite   movement,  and  a    thousand 
new  visions  have  dawned  upon  us,  such  as  no  mere  words 
could  give,  be  they  ever  so  witching;  though  we  should 
not  despise  words,  for  they  are  not  mere  shallow  sounds. 
Each  word  has  a  history.     It  springs  out  of  the  depths  of 
human  experience.     It  is  freighted,   oftentimes,  with  the 
tenderest  and  grandest  accumulations  of  human  progress  ; 
and  he  is  indeed  a   mighty  poet  who  can  unlock   their 
wealth,  and  make   the  common  words  we  use  radiant  with 
some  new  meaning,  resetting  them  so  that  a  fresh  brilliance 
flashes  from  their  familiar  forms.     But  action  is  above  lan- 
guage, for  it  creates  language,  and  he  who  creates  some 
new  action,  who  puts  the  human  being  where  it  never  was 
before,  and  utters  its  original  thought,  is  indeed  a  poet,  a 
maker,    a    creator.      This    is    the    transcendent    facult}-. 
There  have  been  thousands  of  singers,  but  how  few  cre- 
ators ;  thousands  who  have  poured  forth  melody  and  light, 
making  the  old  things  beautiful,  but  how  few  who,  gifted 
with  song,  have  yet,  by  pure  thought,  added  something  to 


SHAKSPBRB. 


225 


the  life  of  tlie  race,  whose  poetry,  like  the  steam  engine, 
the  telegraph,  opens  a  new  era ;  which  does  not  only  make 
old  things  new,  but  actually,  out  of  the  hitherto  unknown, 
brings  a  fresh  wonder,  "  like  a  new  planet  swimming  on 
the  ken."  Such  is  Shakspere's  poetry.  It  is  a  creative 
energy,  and  since  Shakspere  the  world  has  been  richer, 
not  in  language  only,  not  in  ideas  only,  but  in  life.  He 
has  moved  us  on  into  new  realms  of  being.  He  has  not 
only  broadened  our  view ;  he  has  enhanced  our  power. 

In  Shakspere  we  see  something  more  than  the  char- 
acters. The  poet's  soul  seems  to  be  breathing  all  about 
them,  pouring  forth  a  joyous  abundance  of  unlanguaged 
poetry,  which  haunts  the  page  with  infinite  suggestion, 
and  one  can  dream  by  the  hour  over  a  single  line,  roaming 
away  into  regions  far,  for  the  characters  and  incidents  are 
but  the  bright  and  palpable  phenomena  of  a  measureless 
domain,  as  real  as  the  world  about  us  with  its  sun  and  sky 
and  flowers. 

It  is  well  thus  to  realize  the  supremacy,  universality, 
and  unequaled  richness  of  Shakspere's  genius,  for  it  is  a 
fact  of  immense  significance  that  he  was  entirely  non- 
Christian.  There  is  not  a  single  cardinal  orthodox  doc- 
trine emphasized  anywhere  in  his  pages,  no  total  depravity, 
vicarious  atonement,  not  even  G'od  and  immortality.  All 
these,  if  mentioned  at  all,  are  purely  dramatic  and  inci- 
dental ;  they  make  no  motive ;  they  create  no  character ; 
they  inspire  no  poetry ;  they  originate  no  ideas.  Taine 
says  that  Shakspere  is  pagan.  He  is  pagan  if  by  pagan 
one  means  that  which  is  non-religious  and  natural.  But 
Shakspere  is  not  a  pagan  in  a  religious  or  even  literary 
sense.  He  is  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile.  He  is  neither 
Christian  nor  heathen.  He  is  simply  a  man  of  all  times, 
and  the  fact  that  this  man  is  neither  Christian  nor  relig- 
ious shows  that  Christianity  and  religion  itself  are  not 
universal  elements  of  human  nature,  but  special  elements. 
Shakspere  is  not  distinctively  a  Freethinker;  he  is  not 


226  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FRBETHOUGHT. 

iinti-  anything ;  he  does  not  specialize  himself  at  any 
point ;  he  is  always  the  comprehensive  genius,  the 
myriad-minded  and  many-sided.  But  if  Christianity  is 
what  it  claims  to  be — the  supreme  meaning  of  human 
life — then  Shakspere,  by  his  very  universality,  should 
have  been  the  greatest  of  Christians,  and  every  page 
should  have  glowed  with  Christian  teachings.  But  the 
very  universality  of  Shakspere  is  what  makes  him  non- 
Christian,  and  this  is  an  unanswerable  argument  against 
the  claims  of  Christianity,  and  declares  it  to  be  merely  an 
incident  in  history  and  not  a  central  force.  Shakspere 
uses  it  as  he  would  any  custom  or  institution.  There  is 
no  purpose,  no  teleology,  in  Shakspere,  no  end  outside  of 
his  plays.  He  writes  merely  to  express  himself,  to  ex- 
press life,  as  the  river  flows  and  the  wind  sweeps.  He 
has  no  heroes  and  no  favorites  ;  there  is  no  perfect  man 
m  Shakspere.  As  Emerson  says,  Shakspere  is  a  reporter, 
and  he  reports  things  exactly  as  they  are,  and  does  not 
change  them  for  any  moral  purpose  whatsoever.  Tlie 
Greek  tragedies  are  different.  They  are  written  for  a 
purpose.  They  elaborate  a  religious  or  moral  idea.  In 
tliem  the  gods  are  living  powers,  and  man  is  in  relation 
with  them,  and  his  destiny  is  bound  with  them,  and  these 
sombre  dramas  are  written  to  express  these  awful  con- 
ceptions. God  is  of  no  special  account  with  Shakspere, 
and  he  uses  the  other  world  merely  as  an  appendix  to  this. 
Shakspere  is  a  Secular  poet  throiagli  and  through. 
He  never  preaches,  he  never  poses.  He  simply  tells  a 
story,  a  story  of  human  life  here  and  now.  He  does  not 
tell  us  that  the  wrong  will  ever  be  righted.  There  is  no 
"  divine  providence  "  in  his  pages.  There  is  no  "  fall  " 
and  no  "  redemption."  Beyond  this  Avorld  no  hope,  no 
joy,  no  restitution.  Shakspere  reveals  the  wonderful 
riches  of  the  present  moment,  its  pains  and  passions, 
hopes  and  fears,  sorrows  and  joys,  its  grandeur,  its  weak- 
ness, its  romance,  its  heroism,  its  tenderness,  its  love  ;  he 


SHAKSPERE.  227 

reveals  the  opulence  of  this  material  world,  all  the  flo\ver^> 
that  bloom,  all  the  colors  that  shine,  all  the  sounds  that 
thrill  ;  and  in  this  vast  theater  man  is  the  splendid,  titful, 
crowding  personage,  while  God  is  only  a  scene-shifter  or 
supernumerary  in  the  illustrious  drama. 

It  is  a  remarkakle  testimony  to  the  little  practical 
value  of  the  Christian  religion,  that,  in  its  most  favored 
land,  the  greatest  of  poets  should  almost  wholly  ignore  its 
claims,  and  that  it  shows  not  one  particle  of  influence  in 
the  development  of  his  magnificent  genius.  "  He  that  is 
not  for  me  is  against  me  "  is  the  dictum  of  the  church, 
and  it  is  sound  logic.  According  to  this,  Sliakspere  is 
one  of  the  supreme  Freethought  forces  of  the  world,  as 
nature  itself  is  Freethought  when  we  really  understand 
its  movement. 


CHAPTEK  XII. 

Gibbon.— 1737-1794 

Of  Gibbon  we  might  say  tliat  he  is  one  who  makes 
history  as  well  as  one  who  writes  history,  for  he  gave  a 
new  method  of  history — the  evolutionary.  At  least  he 
was  the  beginner  in  this  direction.  Before  his  time,  his- 
tory was  only  a  mass  of  events.  There  was  but  little  effort 
to  connect  these  events.  There  was  no  study  of  cause  and 
effect.  Things  seemed  simply  to  happen,  and  occurrences 
and  personages  of  a  superior  order  were  supposed  to  have 
a  supernatural  origin.  Myth  and  miracle  prevailed.  There 
was  no  correlation,  no  sequence  and  consequence.  History 
was  a  jumble,  more  a  record  of  opinions  than  of  facts.  It 
was  a  kind  of  phantasmagoria.  There  Avas  no  process,  no 
growth,  no  law.  In  fact,  tliere  was  no  science,  mainly  the- 
ology. It  Avas  "  God  in  history  "  and  not  man  in  history, 
and  fables  abounded.  Sheridan's  hon  mot  against  his  ora- 
torical opponent  might  be  applied  to  the  would-be  his- 
torian :  "He  depended  upon  his  imagination  for  his  facts, 
and  upon  his  memory  for  his  wit."  Of  course  there  were 
great  writers,  but  history  in  their  hands  was  a  kind  of 
poetry,  a  drama  around  some  important  personality  or 
race,  and  it  was  partial  and  not  universal. 

Wendell  Phillips  truthfully  says  : 

"  Historv  is,  for  the  most  part,  an  idle  amusement,  the 
day-dream  of  pedants  and  triflers.  The  details  of  events, 
the  actors'  motives,  and  their  relation  to  each  other  are 
buried  with  them.      The  world  and  affairs  have  shown  me 


938 


a 


STEPHEN  PEARL  ANDREWS  (p.  689). 


GIBBON.  229 

that  one-half  of  history  is  loose  conjecture  and  much  of 
the  rest  is  the  writer's  opinion,  and  most  men  see  facts, 
not  with  their  eyes,  but  with  their  prejudices.  We  are 
tempted  to  see  facts  as  we  think  they  ought  to  be,  or  wish 
they  were." 

This  certainly  applies  to  history  before  the  time  of 
Gibbon.  Gibbon  made  an  effort  to  change  this,  to  make 
history  natural — not  to  give  events  only,  but  causes,  to  give 
the  life  of  the  people,  out  of  which  vast  transactions  came, 
as  the  tree  grows,  or  volcanoes  burn.  Gibbon  is  not  so 
admirable  in  this  respect  as  many  of  his  successors,  but 
they  had  more  ample  material  and  a  better  science.  They 
had  the  advantage  of  coming  after  him,  but  to  Gibbon  cer- 
tainly must  be  given  the  honor  of  trying  to  write  history 
according  to  these  principles.  He  may  have  made  mistakes 
in  the  application  of  his  method,  as  Bacon  and  Darwin 
did  in  the  application  of  their  methods,  but  it  must  not  be 
denied  that  Gibbon  gave  a  direction  to  history  which  in 
these  modern  days  has  been  wonderfully  fruitfuL  Gibbon 
must  ever  remain  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  historians,  not 
provincial  but  cosmopolitan,  who  endeavored  to  get  at  the 
facts  of  the  case,  and  the  reason  of  the  facts.  He  was  not 
an  advocate,  but  a  true  recorder  of  a  most  important 
period  of  the  world's  history.     Says  J.  C.  Morrison  : 

"  Gibbon's  private  opinions  may  have  been  what  they 
were,  but  he  has  approved  his  high  title  to  the  character  of 
a  historian  by  keeping  them  well  in  abeyance.  When  he 
turned  his  eyes  to  the  past  and  viewed  it  with  intense 
gaze  he  was  absorbed  in  the  spectacle,  his  peculiar  preju- 
dices were  hushed,  he  thought  only  of  the  object  before 
him  and  of  reproducing  it  as  well  as  he  could.  His  faith- 
ful transcript  of  the  past  has  come  in  consequence  to  be 
regarded  as  a  common  mine  of  authentic  facts." 

We  can  hardly  estimate  to-day  the  tremendous  task 
which  lay  before  Gibbon  and  the  masterful  genius,  as  well 
as  prodigious  learning,  which  was  required  to  bring  order 


230  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

out  of  confusion.  There  was  a  vast  cliasm  between  the 
old  world  of  Greece  and  Rome  and  the  new  world  of 
Europe.  No  one  had  spanned  that  chasm.  It  was  un- 
utterable confusion.  Milton's  description  applies  to  it — a 
dark 

"  Illimitable  ocean,  without  bound, 
Without  dimension,  where  length,  breadth,  and  height, 
And  time  and  place,  are  lost ;  where  eldest  night 
And  chaos,  ancestors  of  nature,  hold 
Eternal  anarchy  amidst  the  noise 
Of  endless  wars,  and  by  confusion  stand." 

I  believe  Gibbon  read  every  Greek  and  Roman  author, 
no  matter  how  obscure,  in  order  to  gather  material.  He 
allowed  nothing  to  escape  his  searching  glance.  Since 
Gibbon  scarcely  any  new  fact  has  been  discovered.  He 
knew  whatever  could  be  known  of  this  vast  theme.  Ever}'^ 
fact  was  imbedded  in  a  mass  of  fiction. 

This  must  be  cleared  away.  Then  the  facts  must  be 
coordinated  and  expressed  with  dramatic  unity  and  literary 
power,  and  this  Gibbon  has  accomplished.  His  style  is 
admirable,  majestic,  3'et  easy  flowing  like  a  river.  His 
descriptions  are  most  lively  and  picturesque.  He  can  re- 
port a  battle,  or  theological  discussion,  with  equal  accuracy 
and  fervor.  It  is  a  wonderful  panorama  that  he  unfolds, 
and  there  is  no  part  of  it  but  what  his  comprehensive 
genius  grasps  and  explains.     Milman  savs  : 

"  It  is  in  the  sublime  Gothic  architecture  of  his  work, 
in  which  the  boundless  range,  the  infinite  variety,  the,  at 
first  sight,  incongruous  gorgeousness  of  the  separate  parts, 
nevertlieless,  are  all  subordinate  to  one  main  and  predomi- 
nant idea  that  Gibbon  is  unrivalled.  We  cannot,  but  ad- 
mire the  manner  in  which  he  masses  his  material,  and 
arranges  his  facts  in  successive  groups,  not  according  to 
chronological  order,  but  to  their  moral  and  political  con- 
nections, the  distinctness  with  which  he  marks  the  grad- 


GIBBON.  231 

ually  increasing  periods  of  decay.  In  Gibbon  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  bear  in  mind  the  exact  dates,  but  the  course 
of  events  is  ever  clear ;  like  a  skillful  general,  though  his 
troops  advance  from  the  most  remote  and  opposite 
quarters,  they  are  constantly  concentrating  themselves  on 
one  point,  that  which  is  still  occupied  by  the  name  and 
by  the  waning  power  of  Rome. 

"  But  the  amplitude,  the  magnificence,  and  the  har- 
mon}'  of  design  are,  though  imposing,  yet  unworthy  claims 
on  our  admiration,  unless  the  details  are  filled  up  with 
correctness  and  accuracy.  No  writer  has  been  more 
severely  tried  on  this  point  than  Gibbon.  He  has  under- 
gone the  triple  scrutiny  of  theological  zeal,  quickened  by 
resentment  of  literary  emulation,  and  of  that  mean  and 
invidious  vanity  which  delights  in  detecting  errors  in 
writers  of  established  fame." 

Guizot  says  :  "  In  my  first  reading  and  criticism  of 
Gibbon,  I  was  far  from  doing  adequate  justice  to  the  im- 
mensity of  his  researches,  the  variety  of  his  knowledge, 
and,  above  all,  the  truly  philosophic  discrimination  which 
judges  the  past  as  it  would  the  present;  and  that  events 
took  place  eighteen  centuries  ago  as  they  take  place  in 
our  days." 

Mr.  Freeman  also  says:  "That  Gibbon  should  ever  be 
displaced  seems  impossible.  That  wonderful  man  monop- 
oplized,  so  to  speak,  the  historical  genius  and  the  his- 
torical learning  of  a  whole  generation,  and  left  little 
indeed  of  either  for  liis  contemporaries.  He  remains  tlie 
one  historian  of  the  eighteenth  century  whom  modern  re- 
search has  neither  set  aside  nor  threatened  to  set  aside. 
We  may  correct  and  improve  from  the  stores  which 
have  been  opened  since  Gibbon's  time ;  we  may  write 
again  large  parts  of  history  from  other,  and  often  truer 
and  more  wholesome,  points  of  view ;  but  the  work  of 
Gibbon,  as  a  whole,  as  the  encj'clopedic  history  of  1300 
years,  as   the  grandest  of  historical  designs,  carried  out 


232  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FRBETHOUGHT. 

alike  with  wonderful  power,  and  with  wonderful  accuracy, 
must  ever  keep  its  place.  Whatever  else  is  read,  Gibbon 
must  be  read,  too." 

Such  are  the  testimonies  to  the  value  of  Gibbon,  per- 
haps next  to  Shakspere  the  greatest  literary  power  in 
England.  No  man  has  changed  our  ideas  of  human  his- 
tory like  Gibbon.  His  influence  in  this  respect  is  like 
that  of  Darwin  in  science.  He  stands  at  the  beginning  of 
a  new  era,  whereby  the  past  becomes  interpenetrated  with 
the  light  of  the  present;  where  human  nature  is  revealed, 
and  not  the  holy  ghost ;  where  natural  causes  take  the 
place  -of  miracles  ;  where  God  becomes  an  unnecessary 
factor,  and  exists  by  the  suflerance  of  faith,  and  not  the 
logic  of  events.  As  Darwin  remands  the  supernatural 
from  science,  so  Gibbon  remands  it  from  histoiw. 

No  writer  has  struck  a  greater  blow  at  Christianity 
than  Gibbon.  He  has  destroyed  its  historic  basis.  It  has 
no  longer  any  record  of  divinity.  It  marches  in  tlie  com- 
mon course.  It  is  the  result  of  conditions,  and  ncit  of 
supernal  intervention.  It  takes  its  place  among  all  the 
other  religions  of  the  world,  and  is  to  be  judged  by  the 
same  standard. 

Yet  those  very  writers  who  praise  the  impartiality  of 
Gibbon,  his  vast  and  accurate  knowledge,  his  philosophi- 
cal discrimination,  his  generous  justice  even  to  Christian 
characters — for  Dr.  Newman  admits  that  "Athanasius 
stands  out  more  grandly  in  Gibbon  than  in  the  pages 
of  the  orthodox  ecclesiastical  historians " — these  same 
writers  accuse  Gibbon  of  prejudice,  weakness,  and  error 
on  this  one  point,  while  on  all  others  he  is  preeminently 
fair-minded. 

Is  this  an  exce]ition  to  the  surpassing  merits  of  Gibbon, 
or  is  it  really  his  noblest  exhibition  of  historic  genius? 

It  certainlv  required  courage  of  a  high  order  to  do 
what  Gibbon  did.  Hi^  opposed  himself  to  the  Avhole 
Christian  world.     He  has  brought  upon   himself  a  storm 


GIBBON.  233 

of  criticism  which  no  other  historian  has  endured.  A 
vast  effort  has  been  made  by  some  of  the  greatest  scholars 
to  impeach  his  acumen  on  this  point,  while  affirming  it 
on  all  others.  It  has  been  one  of  the  battle-grounds  of 
Freethought. 

I  call  attention,  first  of  all,  to  a  remarkable  statement 
of  Dean  Milman  : 

"No  argument  for  the  divine  authority  of  Chris- 
tianity has  been  urged  with  greater  force,  or  traced  with 
higher  eloquence,  than  that  deduced  from  its  primary 
development,  explicable  on  no  other  hypothesis  than  a 
heavenly  origin  ;  and  from  its  rapid  extension  through  a 
great  part  of  the  Roman  empire.  But  this  argument,  one 
when  confined  within  reasonable  limits  of  unanswerable 
force,  becomes  more  feeble  and  disputable  in  proportion  as  it 
recedes  from  the  birthplace,  as  it  were,  of  the  religion.  The 
farther  Christianity  advanced,  the  more  causes  purely  human 
ivere  enlisted  in  its  favor  ;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  those 
developed  with  such  artful  exclusiveness  by  Gibbon  did  concur 
most  essentially  to  its  establishment.'' 

In  this  statement  there  are  two  notable  propositions — 
first,  that  the  only  really  divine  manifestation  or  proof  of 
Christianity  is  at  its  beginning,  and  that  after  the  first  su- 
pernatural impulse  it  advances  by  human  methods ;  second, 
that  when  we  come  to  these  purely  human  methods  Gibbon 
is  right,  and  this  is  certainly  a  giving  away  of  the  whole 
question  on  the  part  of  theology,  and  yet  in  no  other  way 
could  Dean  Milman  escape  the  historic  dilemma. 

It  must  be  understood  that  Gibbon  does  not  under- 
take to  discuss  the  absolute  origin  of  the  Christian 
religion,  any  more  than  Darwin  discusses  the  absolute 
origin  of  life.  Gibbon  explains  the  development  of  Chris- 
tianity after  its  origin,  as  Darwin  explains  the  develop- 
ment of  life  after  its  primitive  origin.  Gibbon  takes 
Christianity  at  the  time  it  comes  into  his  historic  domain, 
and  shows  that  it  advances   from   that   period  to  its   final 


234  FOUR  HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

triumph  by  purely  human  means  ;  and  this  is  granted  to  be 
correct.  In  the  pages  of  Gibbon  Christianity  needs  no 
divinity  for  its  progress  ;  Milman  admits  this,  and  the 
hyijothesis  of  a  heavenly  origin  only  hold  good  at  the  birth 
of  Christianity. 

This  is  certainly  narrowing  the  divine  effluence  of 
Christianity  to  a  very  small  space  of  human  history.  It  is 
a  strange  God  that  cannot  watch  over  his  offspring  better 
than  that,  and  leaves  it  almost  immediately  after  its  ad- 
vent to  the  "  cold  mercies  "  of  this  world,  and  the  facile 
pen  of  a  Gibbon.  It  is  a  poor  shred  of  comfort  that  Mil- 
man  offers  the  believer — God  at  the  beginning  and  Gibbon 
afterwards. 

Gibbon  traces  five  causes  as  the  source  of  Christian 
advancement  and  power. 

The  first  cause  is  "  the  inflexible  and  intolerant  seal  of 
the  Christians," 

Our  experience  to-day  in  the  American  Republic  proves 
the  potency  of  this  cause.  It  has  forced  Congress  to  pass 
an  unconstitutional  Sabbath  law,  while  the  vast  majority 
of  the  people  are  constantly  violating  that  law.  A 
zealous  minority  will,  oftentimes,  defeat  an  indifferent 
majority. 

The  second  cause  is  "  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life,  im- 
proved by  every  additional  circumstance  which  could  give 
weight  and  efficacy  to  this  important  truth."  The  doctrine 
of  immortality,  as  held  by  early  Christians,  was  a  bright 
and  beautiful  belief,  as  compared  to  that  of  the  Greeks, 
Romans,  and  Egyptians.  It  was  a  bodily  immortality,  an 
immortality  of  human  life  and  affections;  it  was  an  immor- 
tality of  sunlight  and  glory,  and  not  the  vague,  shado\vy, 
indefinite  immortality  of  the  elder  faiths,  which  certainly 
had  very  litle  attraction  for  the  common  mind.  The  im- 
mortality of  the  early  Christianity  was  an  earthly  immor- 
tality, an  immortality  of  flesh  and  blood  on  the  bosom  of 
this   green  earth.     It  was  an  immortality  with  the  gods, 


ABNER    KNEKLaNI'  (p   755). 


GIBBON.  235 

and  not  in  hades.  Christ  was  to  come  and  reign  here,  and 
the  saints  with  him.  It  was  something  tangible,  compre- 
hensible, material.  It  was  a  city,  a  crown,  a  harp,  a  throne, 
a  river  of  water,  verdant  fields,  aud  golden  fruitage.  Such 
a  belief  must  have  a  powerful  effect  in  that  age  of  tyranny 
and  poverty,  before  science  iiad  given  its  noble  promise, 
and  millions  were  in  despair.  Without  question,  such  a 
belief  must  have  had  a  tremendous  sway  in  that  credulous, 
unhappy,  and  transitional  age. 

The  belief  in  immortality  among  Christians  to-day  is 
much  like  that  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Komans,  meta- 
physical, spiritual,  and  indefinite.  But  in  the  times  por- 
trayed by  Gibbon,  it  was  a  burning  faith;  it  appealed  to 
the  senses,  not  merely  to  the  intellect;  it  was  physical,  not 
metaphysical,  it  was  a  resurrection,  and  not  a  dim  continu- 
ance of  an  intangible  ghost,  and  hence  it  was  vital,  and 
being  once  accepted,  must  have  advanced  with  amazing 
rapidity. 

The  third  cause  is  the  miraculous  powers  ascribed  to 
the  primitive  church.  For  miracles  to  influence  the  hu- 
man race  in  faith  or  action,  it  is  only  necessary  that  they 
should  be  believed  in,  not  that  they  should  really  happen. 
That  there  was  a  widespread  belief  in  miracle  is  beyond 
question,  and  Christianity  had  the  benefit  of  this  belief. 

The  fourth  cause  is  the  virtues  of  primitive  Christians. 
These  virtues  were  mainly  of  an  ascetic  order,  and  in  times 
of  disaster  and  terror  have  a  somewhat  superior  influence. 
This,  however,  is  the  weakest  of  the  causes  enumeiated  by 
Gibbon. 

The  fifth  cause  was  the  union  and  discipline  of  the 
Christian  republic.  This  remarkable  organization  of  the 
early  church,  together  with  the  belief  in  immortality,  are 
really  the  transcendent  causes  of  the  triumph  of  Chris- 
tianity. Without  these  it  never  could  have  triumphed, 
and  with  these  it  would  have  triumphed,  without  the 
cooperation   of  the   others.     The   zeal,   the    miracles,   and 


236  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  austerities  would  liave  amounted  to  nothing  without 
that  most  perfect  organization  whicli  the  work!  has  ever 
seen,  and  faith  in  immortality,  not  some  invisible  world, 
but  in  this  very  world  itself,  with  all  its  material  splendors 
consecrated  to  the  happiness  of  the  saints. 

Gibbon,  therefore,  has  given  good  and  sufficient  reasons 
for  the  natural  evolution  of  Christianity. 

But  it  is  said  that  these  causes,  ascribed  by  Gibbon, 
are  also  effects.  What  made  these  causes,  what  maile  the 
zeal,  the  belief  in  immortality  and  miracles,  the  virtues 
and  the  order  and  discipline  ? 

The  answer  of  the  theologian  is  that  the  cause  of  these 
effects  must  be  supernatural 

With  exquisite  irony  Gibbon  disclaims  any  intention 
of  answering  these  questions.     He  says  : 

"  The  theologian  may  indulge  the  ple.asing  task  of  de- 
scribing religion,  as  she  descended  from  heaven,  arrayed 
in  her  native  purity;  a  more  melancholy  duty  is  imposed 
upon  the  historian.  He  must  discover  the  inevitable  mix- 
ture of  error  and  corruption,  which  she  contracted  in  a 
long  residence  upon  earth." 

The  task  which  Gibbon  accepted,  he  certainly  per- 
formed with  masterly  ability. 

As  to  the  miraculous  origin  of  Christianity,  Hume  has 
forever  destroyed  its  claims  to  that,  for  in  the  old  sense  of 
the  word  miracle,  that  is,  a  violation  of  the  hiws  of  nat- 
ure, no  miracle  is  possible.  In  the  new  sense  of  the  word, 
miracle,  that  is,  an  extraordinary  event,  there  must  be  for 
its  proof  an  extraordinary  amount  of  evidence,  but  in  this 
case  no  such  evidence  exists.  Gibbon  has  ample  evidence 
as  to  tlie  existence  of  its  causes  and  their  results,  but 
what  is  the  evidence  for  the  ''heavenly  origin"  of  Chris- 
tianity? Milman  only  calls  it  an  "  In-pothesis,"  and  it  can 
only  be  an  hypothesis.  There  can  be  no  demonstration  of 
the  historic  basis  of  Christianity.  We  do  not  know  what 
reallv  happened,  and  hence  we  can  arrive  at  no  cause. 


GIBBON.  237 

Wendell  Phillips  says  :  "  How  impossible  to  learn  the 
exact  truth  of  what  took  place  yesterday  under  your  next 
neighbor's  roof.  Yet  we  complacentlj'  argue  and  speculate 
about  matters  a  thousand  miles  off,  and  a  thousand  years 
ago,  as  if  we  knew  them." 

Spedding,  in  his  "  Life  of  Bacon,"  says  :  "  The  records 
of  the  past  are  not  complete  enough  to  enable  the 
most  diligent  historian  to  give  a  connected  narrative  in 
which  there  shall  not  be  some  parts  resting  on  guesses  or 
inferences  or  unauthenticated  rumors.  He  may  guess 
himself,  or  he  may  report  other  people's  guesses,  but 
guesses  there  must  be." 

I  admit  that  it  is  perfectly  logical  for  the  Christian 
critic  to  ask  for  the  sources  of  these  causes  enumerated  by 
Gibbon,  since  the  same  critic  admits,  with  Gibbon,  the  ex- 
istence of  the  causes  and  their  predominant  influence  in 
the  development  and  exaltation  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion. 

But  note  this :  It  is  altogether  illogical  to  afiirm  a 
supernatural  or  extraordinary  source  to  these  causes,  since 
for  the  establishment  of  such  a  source  there  must  be  an 
equally  extraordinary  mass  of  evidence,  Avhich  evidence 
is  totally  lacking.  So  far  as  real  history  is  concerned^ 
what  have  we  concerning  the  origin  of  Christianity  but,  as 
Spedding  says,  "  guesses  or  inferences  or  unauthenticated 
rumors  ?  " 

Therefore  we  are  estopped  by  the  very  logic  of  the 
situation  from  affirming  any  "  heavenly  origin." 

We  may  not  have  to-day  and  never  have  sufficient  in- 
formation to  exactly  trace  the  origin  of  the  zeal,  the 
beliefs,  the  virtues,  and  the  disciplined  order  of  the  early 
Christians  ;  but,  whatever  that  origin,  we  are  compelled  by 
modern  philosophy  and  modern  science  to  ascribe  a 
natural  and  human  origin.  The  "  hypothesis  "  of  a  "  heav- 
enly origin  "  is  forever  untenable,  for  the  mass  of  testi- 
mony necessary  to  its  establishment  is  forever  lacking. 


238  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Theology,    therefore,    has   nothing    to    say.     Sociological 
science  only  can  settle  the  question,  if  it  is  settled. 

A  modern  illustration,  however,  will  throw  some  light 
upon  the  subject.  E-enan,  in  his  life  of  St,  Paul,  states 
that  at  the  death  of  this  apostle  there  were  only  about 
one  thousand  Christian  believers  in  the  world.  This 
simplifies  the  problem  greatly,  for  we  have  not  to  account 
for  the  belief  of  millions,  but  only  of  one  thousand,  for 
after  the  death  of  St.  Paul  even  theologians  grant  there 
were  no  miracles  and  that  Christianity  developed  by 
natural  means ;  and  given  one  thousand  firm,  uncompro- 
mising, passionate  believers  in  Christianity,  with  our 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  it  is  easy  enough  to  see  how 
they  would  multiply  and  becomes  millions. 

So  the  real  question  is  this  :  Why,  at  the  end  of  St. 
Paul's  career,  did  one  thousand  people  believe  in  the  life, 
death,  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  ? 

Is  this  such  an  extraordinary  phenomenon  ?  In  our 
own  age,  amidst  the  vary  blaze  of  civilization,  with  electric 
lights  turning  night  into  day  ;  with  railroads,  telegraphs 
and  telephones  ;  time  and  space  annihilated  in  our  means 
of  communication  with  one  another  ;  in  this  age  of  sur- 
passing and  almost  universal  knowledge,  in  the  very  heart 
of  our  land  there  has  sprung  up  a  belief  in  a  "divine 
revelation,"  Avhich  in  the  same  space  of  time  that  Chris- 
tianity attained  only  one  thousand  believers,  has  attained 
a  hundred  thousand  believers ;  and  yet  what  scientific 
mail  or  Christian  theologian  will  admit  that  Mormonism 
has  a  "  heavenly  origin,"  although  it  presents  to  the  phi- 
losopher and  historian  a  far  greater  puzzle  than  the  prim- 
itive belief  of  the  Christians?  It  is  much  easier  to  account 
for  one  thousand  Christian  believers  at  the  death  of  St. 
Paul,  than  for  the  existence  of  one  hundred  thousand 
Mormon  believers  at  the  death  of  Brigham  Young. 

Remember  that  it  is  not  miracles  that  we  are  to  ac- 
count for,  but  a  helief  in  miracles.     There  is  not  a  particle 


GIBBON.  239 

of  historic  testimony  that  the  miracles  ever  occurred.  We 
have  only  historic  testimony  as  to  a  belief  in  them,  but  it 
is  the  height  of  presumption  to  affirm  that  because  people 
believe  in  a  miracle,  therefore  the  miracle  occurred.  If 
the  Christian  asks  :  Why  did  one  thousand  people  believe 
in  Jesus  in  the  lirst  century?  I  ask  :  Wliy  do  two  hun 
dred  thousand  people  believe  in  Joe  Smith  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  ?  My  question  is  by  far  the  more  difficult 
to  answer,  and  when  my  question  is  answered  the  Cliris- 
tiau's  question  is  also  answered.  If  Mormonism  is  a 
natural  evolution,  then  Christianity  must  be  likewise. 

The  position  of  Gibbon,  therefore,  is  impregnable.  He 
deals  with  causes  as  they  are,  and  his  conclusions  are  un- 
deniable. He  has  shown  Christianity  as  it  really  is.  Says 
Milm;in :  "  It  is  idle,  it  is  disingenuous,  to  deny  or  dis- 
semble the  early  depravations  of  Christianity."  Chris- 
tianity never  had  a  more  candid  treatment  than  from 
Gibbon.  He  recognized  whatever  merits  it  possessed. 
As  he  was  perfectly  unprejudiced  in  his  treatment  of  Julian, 
the  non-Christian  emperor,  detecting  his  weakness,  as 
well  as  his  greatness,  so  he  was  equall}^  unprejudiced  in 
his  treatment  of  Christianity  ;  and  he  displays  the  same 
acumen,  the  same  learning,  and  the  same  impartial  judg- 
ment in  these  two  famous  chapters,  which  have  been  so 
ferociously  attacked  by  the  church,  as  in  all  the  other 
parts  of  his  work.  Gibbon  has  won  the  day.  His  method 
is  accepted.  The  historic  weakness  of  Christianity  from 
his  time  has  been  manifest.  Its  myths  and  miracles  have 
no  longer  any  recognized  position.  Gibbon  has  thus  con- 
ferred an  inestimable  benefit  upon  humanity.  To  under- 
stand history  aright  is  one  of  the  noblest  triumphs  of 
human  genius. 

It  is  well  in  this  history  to  give  some  of  the  very  latest 
results  of  historic  criticism  which  have  come  from  the 
method  adopted  by  Gibbon. 

The  following  has   been   selected.     It   is   remarkable 


240  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

both  in  itself  and  the  occasion  of  its  utterance.  Says 
Holyoake  : 

"  A  more  original  or  succinct  account  of  this  event  has 
rarely  been  given.  Its  origin  is  as  singular  as  the  account 
itself.  The  writer  is  a  doctor  of  law  of  great  attainments, 
and  holding  an  official  position  in  a  well-known  English 
town,  himself  a  Conservative  and  a  leader  of  Conserva- 
tives, wlio  are  mostly  as  bigoted  in  piety  as  in  politics. 
Yet  the  bold  writer  casts  the  following  extraordinary 
statement  into  the  midst  of  them.  It  was  done  in  the  course 
of  an  argument  in  favor  of  their  political  prejudices 
against  Mr.  Gladstone's  great  Home  Kule  bill.  It  would 
seem  th;it  there  must  be  greater  latitudinarism  in  the 
center  of  political  orthodoxy  than  is  commonly  supposed. 
The  learned  doctor's  kinsmen  were  related  to  Thomas 
Paine's  great  friend,  Clio  Hickman.  This  may  account  for 
the  courage  and  thoroughness  of  t]ie  opini(ms  which  fol- 
low, but  this  does  not  diminish  the  strangeness  of  their  ex- 
pression under  the  circumstances  I  have  named. 

"The  Christian  superstition  consists  of  a  huge  mass  of 
legendary  tales  iucrusting  a  small  nucleus  of  fact,  which, 
of  itself,  would  have  been  too  insignificant  to  be  termed 
historical,  but  which  may  be  conjectured  to  have  been 
about  as  follows  :  The  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great 
had  long  been  waging  desultory  wars  against  the  S3mitic 
Syrian  tribes,  including  the  Jews,  all  refractorv  to  the 
spread  of  Greek  culture.  To  this  kind  of  warfare  the 
Komans  succeeded,  after  they  had  absorbed  various  domin- 
ions carved  out  of  the  Macedonians'  empire.  Judea  was 
vanquished  by  Pompey  and  received  Poman  governors. 
Put  a  state  of  disaffection  and  unrest  prolonged  itself  for 
long  after,  much  as  the  same  condition  has  continued  in 
Ireland  after  its  absorption  by  Great  Pritain.  A  young 
man  inspired  with  these  species  of  disaffection,  but  in 
v\'hom  mental  excitement  had  passed  the  bounds  of  sanity, 
became  possessed  of  the  hallucination   that  he  was  des- 


JAMES    PARTON  (p.  784). 


GIBBOX.  241 

tined  to  overthrow  the  Roman  rule  and  reestablish  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  David.  He  was  a  home-ruler  of  his 
age  and  nation.  His  attempt  of  course  failed.  He  was 
impaled  upon  a  cross,  but  whether  his  wounds  were  mortal 
has  been  doubted,  and,  for  the  present  purpose,  the  ques- 
tion is  unimportant.  What  is  of  importance  is  that  among 
the  excited  and  credulous  populace  of  the  Levant  he  ob- 
tained a,  following,  and  this  destructive  superstition,  to 
borrow  the  words  of  the  Roman  historian,  continued  to 
ferment,  expanded  about  the  close  of  the  Antonine  era 
into  great  dimensions,  and  installed  itself  as  the  state 
religion.  But  its  triumph  was  bought  by  the  ruin  of 
ancient  civilization.  The  thousand  years  of  its  unques- 
tioned supremacy,  from  Constantine  until  the  invention  of 
printing  and  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation,  are  known  as 
the  Dark  Ages.  Thought  in  every  form  of  development 
was  prostrate  under  the  Christian  faith.  The  Protestant 
Reformation  made  the  first  breach  in  the  huge  edifice  of 
mediaeval  superstition.  It  is  not  needful  to  value  tliis  event 
higher  than  by  saying  that  it  made  the  first  great  rift  in 
the  dark  pall  of  superstition  and  credulity,  and  that  the 
rays  of  nature  and  reason  streamed  in  upon  men  through 
the  rents  and  fissures  which  the  Reformation  had  made, 
and  have  kindled  the  torch  of  progress  upon  various 
fields  of  human  activity,  scientific,  political,  and  econom- 
ical." 

In  a  more  comprehensive  manner  Mr.  T.  B.  Wakeman 
has  given  the  origin  of  Christianity  in  accordance  with  the 
method  of  Gibbon,  but  with  the  advantage  of  later  learn- 
ing.    Christianity  is  simply  a  natural  evolution. 

''  Christianity  was  born  from  the  union  of  the  Messiah 
idea  of  the  Jews  with  the  '  the  Word, '  or,  in  Greek,  the 
Logos,  which  was  the  spirit  and  the  God  idea  of  the  Neo- 
Platonists,  the  Essenes,  the  Therapeutse,  the  Nazaranes 
and  probably  other  ascetic  or  eclectic  sects  of  Palestine 
and  Egypt.    This  union  was  brought  about  by  the  incarna- 


242  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

tion  of  both  tlie  Messiah  and  the  Logos  in  a  name,  Jesus 
(in  Hebrew,  Joshua),  whom  tradition  had  found  or  made 
to  be  one  of  the  many  unfortunate  and  slain  Hebrew  rebels 
against  the  Roman  and  priestly  power.  Gradually  it  was 
assumed,  and  then  believed,  that  this  Jesus  Avas  the  Mes- 
siah or  anointed  one  of  Hebrew  prophecy,  and  finalh'  at 
Autioch,  some  fifty  years  after  his  supposed  death,  his  fol- 
lowers were  called  '  Christians.'  It  was  believed  ^hat  he 
would  come  in  the  clouds  and  execute  judgment  during  the 
lifetime  of  those  then  living.  This  prediction  was  falsified 
by  the  event,  then  the  belief  was  spiritualized  to  a  judg- 
ment at  death,  or  at  some  future  end  of  the  world,  when 
those  who  believed  in  'the  Christ'  should  be  saved  in 
heaven  with  him,  while  those  who  did  not  believe  and  ac- 
cept him  as  sovereign,  should  have  no  part  in  the  celestial 
realm,  but  be  damned  as  rebels.  This  scheme  and  the 
need  of  it,  evidently  applied  to  the  poor  and  the  oppressed 
of  tha  empire  at  large,  as  well  as  to  the  Jews  and  Egyp- 
tians, and  so  it  was  extended  by  St.  Paul  and  others,  over 
the  East.  It  raised  the  wretched  in  heart  and  hope,  above 
the  fortunate  of  the  world,  for  it  gave  them  a  new  integra- 
tion and  an  infinite  importance  compared  with  any  earthly 
ties  of  empire  or  of  kindred.  The  wretched  were  the  ma- 
jority, and  this  faith,  in  three  hundred  years,  controlled 
the  empire,  and  made  Constantine  see  that  he,  as  emperor, 
would  have  no  power  behind  him  unless  he  became  the 
master  of  the  integration  of  the  at  first  despised  Nazarene. 
Thus  the  empire  fell  under  the  sway  of  the  Christian 
priests  and  the  chief  of  these  became  of  course  the  pope 
or  Poutifex  Maximus  of  the  empire  itself. 

"In  this  new  spiritual  scheme  the  pope  became  the 
chief  of  all  of  the  powers  on  earth,  and  the  City  of  God, 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  in  time  sup])lanted  the  empire 
itself  in  all  except  the  name.  Here  we  have  the  materials, 
the  motive,  and  the  very  means  by  which  this  union  of 
elements  worked  out  this  religion  of  earthly  sorrow  and 


aiBBON.  243 

celestial  hope,  and  made  it  triumphant  over  the  religion 
of  Polytheistic  heroism  which  liad  been  the  soul  of  Rome. 

"  Do  not  the  facts  bear  out  this  view  ?  All  the  world  and 
especially  Judea  was  welterinpr  under  Roman  oppression. 
See  in  Daniel  and  the  Maccabees,  and  the  mention  of 
Theudas  and  other  unfortunate  rebels,  how  the  Jews  ex- 
pected and  longed  for  their  new  Joshua,  /.  e.,  Messiah- 
Jesus,  who  should  be  their  deliverer  and  Emanuel.  Jose- 
phus  tells  of  one  Jesus  stoned  to  death.  That  others  were 
crucified  there  is  every  reason  to  believe.  The  Christ 
forgeries  in  Josephus  are  too  patent  to  be  referred  to  here. 

"  Now  look  at  the  other  factor  in  the  problem,  the  Logos 
or  '  the  Word,'  which  '  was  with  God  and  was  God  and 
was  made  flesh,'  as  the  Fourth  Gospel  says.  Josephus 
and  Philo  and  Eusebius  tell  the  whole  story  of  these 
Essenes  and  similar  sects,  whose  God  idea  or  logos,  was 
plainly  thus  married  to  the  Messiah  Etnanuel,  tlie  An- 
ointed, the  Deliverer,  or  '  God  with  us.'  The  incarnation 
of  deities  had  become  familiar  to  these  sects  from  India 
and  Egypt  where  such  returns  and  incarnation  of  gods 
were  matters  of  course. 

"  That  this  traditional  Jesus  should  return  to  earth 
and  be  seen  by  his  followers  was  not  strange  at  that 
period  of  practical  spiritualism  among  peoples  inflamea 
with  these  beliefs.  Spirits  and  ghosts  and  devils  and  gods 
were  commonplace  appearances  under  the  old  iuill-i[\QovY 
of  the  world  among  ignorant  and  excited  people. 

"  These  were  the  materials,  yet  they  might  have  been 
comparatively  insignificant,  but  for  the  third  factor,  viz., 
the  visions,  dreams,  and  apparitions  of  this  Christ  to 
Paul,  Peter,  John,  Stephen,  and  their  companions.  Such 
visions  combined  these  Messiah-logos  materials  and  in- 
carnated the  deliverer  King  and  'Word'  into  the  ascended 
and  spiritual  Christ-Jesus,  and  extended  his  name  from 
the  Jews  to  the  world  at  large. 

'*  Of  these  apparitions  those  to  St.  Paul  on  his  journey 


244  FOUR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

to  Damascus  ;  his  being  '  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven  ; ' 
the  great  sheet  with  animals  let  down  from  heaven  to 
Peter ;  the  gift  of  tongues  and  fire  ;  the  Revelation  now 
placed  at  the  end  of  the  New  Testament — are  tj'pical.  They 
show  what  was  going  on  at  that  time  in  hundreds  of  heads 
and  hearts.  By  such  means,  who  could  not  be  converted 
and  overwhelmed  with  proofs  directly  from  heaven  ?  Cat- 
alepsy, as  in  the  case  of  Mohammed  ! — who  could  argue  with 
that  ?  It  was  easier  to  take  the  disease.  Such  things  as 
historical  facts  or  evidence  were  scarcely  inquired  for.  St. 
Paul  received  all  of  his  proofs  and  information  about  '  the 
Christ-Jesus'  directly  from  'the  Lord  in  heaven.'  He 
scorned  to  even  ask  of  men  (brethren?)  who  might  have 
known  of  this  Messiah  tradition,  what  Jesus  it  was,  or 
what  he  had  done,  and  yet  he  became  the  chief  promul- 
gator of  and  Avitness  to  the  new  faith. 

"Those  who  were  slain,  like  Stephen,  were  called 
martyrs,  that  is,  witnesses,  not  because  they  had  wit- 
nessed any  historical  or  actual  facts,  but  because  they  had 
witnessed  facts  in  these  visions.     Those  were  the  proofs ! 

"  Transpose  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  to  the 
order  in  which  they  were  really  written  and  you  will  have 
the  proofs  of  all  this.  First  come  the  Epistles,  especially 
those  of  Paul,  admitted  to  have  been  written  about  A.  D.  60, 
some  thirty  years  after  Christ's  supposed  crucifixion. 
Then  at  or  about  the  same  time  comes  the  'Revelation'  at 
the  end  of  the  book  ;  and  then,  some  fifty  to  a  hundred 
years  after,  the  various  '  Gospels  '  and  *  the  Acts  '  take  form 
and  the  four  Gospels  (or  five,  including  the  Acts),  now  in 
the  New  Testament  have  been  preserved  as  most  con- 
ducive to  the  beliefs  that  the  collectors  entertained.  For 
that  seems  to  have  been  the  motive  of  their  selection  from 
many  other  gospels  then  extant. 

"It  is  evident  from  these  faats  and  from  the  miraculous 
contents  of  the  Gospels  and  Acts,  that  they  are  unreliable 
historical  documents.     In  them  even  the  original  tradition 


aiBBON.  245 

of  Jesus,  uncertain  as  it  was,  has  been  overwhelmed 
by  the  visions,  the  revelations,  the  supposed  Messiah- 
prophecies,  the  Zo(/os-fancies,  and  the  Essenic  prayers, 
morals,  fables,  miracles,  teachings,  and  customs  which 
form  the  greater  part  of  them,  and  which  make  them  in- 
coherent and  inconsistent  as  they  are.  Such  were  the 
real  sources  and  materials  of  the  gospels,  and  in  this 
light  we  know  them  to  be  supposed  history  which  was 
woven  and  thrown  backward  some  hundred  years  around 
the  name  of  Jesus,  who  never  existed  as  the  gospel  be- 
lievers fancied  and  described,  and  who  never  could  have 
even  known  the  purposes,  deeds,  and  words  attributed 
to  him.  It  is  evolutionally  and  historically  certain  that 
Jesus,  if  he  ever  existed,  was  perfectly  ignorant  and  in- 
nocent, not  only  of  the  name  Christ,  but  also  of  all  that 
lias  come  down  to  us  under  the  name  of  Christianity. 
That  the  life  and  literature  of  the  Essenes  form  the  body 
of  the  Gospels  we  know  from  Eusebius  (chap,  xvii)  ;  that 
the  Messiah  conception  was  inwoven  we  know  from  the 
prophecies  and  the  claim  that  the  anointed  king  of  the 
Jews  had  come  and  been  crucified.  Dreams  and  visions 
and  miracles  did  the  rest.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  a 
special  revelation  to  St.  Paul  which  he  gives  as  such  in 
his  own  words,  but  which  words  are  afterwards  inserted 
in  Luke  when  that  gospel  came  to  be  compiled  (see  1 
Cor.  xi,  23,  26,  and  then  Luke  xxii,  19,  20).  So  the  revela- 
tion to  St.  Paul  about  the  end  of  the  world  (1  Tliess.  iv, 
15-18),  is  the  main  point  of  the  gospels  Matthew,  Mark, 
and  Luke  (Matt,  xxiv,  16,  28,  etc.  Mark  xiii,  30-36,  ix,  1 ; 
Luke  xiii,  30-36). 

"  But  when  the  Gospel  of  John  was  worked  out,  long 
after  the  synoptic  gospels,  the  fact  that  Jesus  had  not 
come  in  the  clouds  as  foretold  was  too  patent  to  be  faced, 
and  so  the  fact  of  tlie  promise  to  come  is  evaded  and  prac- 
tically denied  and  the  logos-idea  takes  its  place  and  sends 
the  comforter  !  (John  xvi,  xvii,  xviii,  etc.) 


246  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

"  Follow  out  these  hints  and  the  Bible  will  no  longer 
be  a  sealed  book.  But  first  read  the  books  of  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testaments  and  the  Apocrjphas,  too,  in  the 
order  in  which  they  were  written,  and  under  the  light  of 
contemporary  ideas,  facts,  and  history,  then  give  evolu- 
tion a  chance,  and  the  truth  about  the  Bible  will  be  your 
reward — that  is,  if  you  consider  the  game  to  be  worth  the 
candle.  Remember  that  the  Bible,  as  it  is  now  made  up 
and  labeled,  and  sold,  as  one  book,  is  a  practical  fraud,  at 
which  any  honest  man  should  blush.  It  is  utterly  unin- 
telligible in  that  order  and  shape. 

"  Under  the  view  just  stated  the  gospels  were  written 
backward  to  supply  a  vacancy  from  whence  history  had 
irrevocably  vanished,  if  it  ever  existed.  Thus  is  it  found 
to  be  with  every  other  religion.  Thus  Niebuhr  reads  the 
early  stories  in  Livy  of  Romulus  and  Remus.  Tlius  Grote 
disposes  of  the  early  myths  of  Greece.  Thus  Kuenen  ex- 
plains the  creation  myths  of  Adam  and  Noah. 

"  Thus  the  personal,  the  Messianic,  the  mythic,  and  the 
logos  or  Essenic  'origins  of  Cliristianity '  have  all  some- 
thing true  in  them.  They  all  contribute  to  the  true  and 
evolutional  origin  of  the  religion  of  the  King  of  the  Jews,, 
whose  death  and  ascension  is  believed  by  millions  to  have 
secured  them  a  City  of  God,  a  kingdom  of  heaven,  '  a  tab- 
ernacle not  made  with  hands,'  whose  foundation  in  '  the 
word'  antedated  the  world  itself.  It  had  in  its  early 
history  many  advantages  over  the  Roman  empire.  It 
founded  a  brotherhood  of  the  believers,  cemented  by  a 
higher  power  than  any  earthly  sanction.  It  made  them 
equal  before  the  throne  of  God.  It  made  human  life  in- 
finitely sacred.  It  was  in  fact  a  higher  integration,  a 
three-story  static  realm  of  heaven,  earth,  and  hell,  inspir- 
ing a  higher  patriotism  than  even  the  mighty  city  of 
Rome  itself.  And  because  of  that,  just  as  in  the  Arabian 
Nights,  the  ship  which  sailed  by  the  mountain  of  load- 
stone had  every  particle   of  iron  drawn  from  it,  so  fell 


J.   p.  MENDUM   (p.  772). 


GIBBON.  247 

the  empire  of  the  Caesars  when  Christianity  drew  away 
its  patriotism.  Gibbon  has  pictured  this  '  Decline  and 
Fall '  of  Rome  in  a  history  that  has  been  called  the  rain- 
bow spanning  the  dark  era  of  Christian  faith,  that  '  Middle 
Age,'  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern  civilizations  of 
Europe." 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

Voltaire,  the  French  Revolution,  Thomas  Paine. 

It  is  strange,  and  one  might  say  passing  strange,  that 
Gibbon,  of  wide  survey,  of  rare  insight,  of  profound  learn- 
ing, who  seemed  to  know  the  past  like  a  book,  this  same 
man  was  opposed  to  the  American  Revolution — saw  no 
glory  in  it — no  new  meaning  for  humanity.  As  for  the 
French  Revolution,  he  passes  to  doubt,  disgust,  and  horror 
at  this  "  new  birth  of  time."  It  was  much  the  same  with 
Hume,  the  boldest  philosopher  of  his  time.  It  only  sliows 
the  limitations  of  the  greatest  minds,  and  that  genius  is 
rather  for  special  purposes  than  for  universal  excellence. 
Even  Shakspere  had  no  voice  for  democracy. 

And  so,  after  Gibbon,  we  pass  on  to  the  greatest  polit- 
ical drama  of  all  human  history — to  Voltaire,  the  French 
Revolution,  and  Thomas  Paine. 

Voltaire. 
In  the  world  of  action  we  might  say  that  Voltaire  is 
the  supreme  man  of  the  human  race.  No  man  has  let 
loose  such  far-reaching,  potent  forces  of  human  develop- 
ment. Voltaire  will  not  rank  as  the  greatest  pliilosopher, 
or  the  greatest  poet,  or  the  greatest  historian,  but  he  will 
rank  as  the  greatest  agitator  of  all  time.  No  man  has  so 
stirred  the  human  mind.  No  man  has  been  such  a  revolu- 
tion in  himself.  In  him  were  the  seeds  of  the  mightiest 
progress  of  to-day.  He  was  an  electric  battery,  an  illum- 
inating flash.  He  was  wonderfully  fortunate.  He  was  no 
martyr,  yet  no  martyr  ever  wrought  so  valiantly  as  he. 


VOLTAIRE.  249 

He  was  richly  gifted.  His  mastery  of  language  was  un- 
surpassed. His  words  were  like  diamonds.  He  poured 
sunlight  upon  every  topic  he  touched.  His  knowledge 
was  universal — of  books  and  of  men.  He  was  complete 
master  of  himself.  His  wit  is  wisdom,  a  lightning-like 
process  of  reasoning.  He  was  no  clown,  but  a  teacher  of 
humanity.  We  can  scarcel}^  realize  to-day  the  immensity 
of  the  work  he  accomplished.  He  was  engaged  in  a  ter- 
rible combat,  yet  he  seemed  to  do  it  in  gorgeous  holiday 
attire.  He  was  a  shining  knight  in  the  lists,  and  victori- 
ous with  tremendous  odds  against  him.  His  opponents 
never  drew  blood,  nor  laid  his  beaming  forehead  in  the 
dust.  He  was  in  the  fashion,  and  yet  he  was  a  pioneer. 
Kings  were  among  his  friends,  and  yet  he  was  the  pre- 
lude of  democracy.     In  him  was  the  birth  of  republics. 

The  transcendent  power  of  Voltaire  was  the  power  of 
expression.  His  thought  was  crystal  clear.  His  intellect 
was  like  the  bright-blue  sky.  There  were  no  fogs  or  mists 
or  clouds.  From  the  ample  domain  of  his  piercing  vision, 
he  could  gather  a  thousand  thoughts  without  confusion. 
He  could  array  his  intellectual  forces  with  the  masterly 
generalship  of  a  Napoleon.  He  knew  where  to  strike. 
His  luminous  sentences  were  like  arrows,  and  went  home 
every  time. 

In  the  hands  of  Voltaire  language  was  like  the  sword 
of  Saladin.  It  gleamed,  glittered,  radiated,  and  cut.  It 
executed  so  deftly  that  the  victim  was  unaware  of  his  de- 
capitation. 

If  there  is  one  word  which  expresses  the  all-round 
ability  and  purpose  of  Voltaire,  it  is  not  the  word  philos- 
oph}-,  or  the  word  poetry,  or  the  word  politics ;  it  is  the 
word  humanit3^  Voltaire  was  passionately  sympathetic. 
He  hated  wrong  with  every  fiber  of  his  being.  Nothing 
would  arouse  him  like  a  flagrant  act  of  injustice  ;  and  the 
lowliest  of  human  beings  were  as  much  in  his  regard  as 
the  loftiest.     It   was   for   man   as   man   that    he    labored. 


250  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

Read  the  story  of  Jean  Galas  and  Chevalier  de  La  Barre. 
What  romances  these  are  of  devotion,  patience,  and  suc- 
cess, the  most  brilliant  in  human  historv.  Savs  Victor 
Hugo  : 

"  Before  the  revolution,  gentlemen,  the  social  structure 
was  this  : 

"At  the  base,  the  people  ; 

"Above  the  people,  religion  represented  by  the  clergy  ; 

"By  the  side  of  religion,  justice,  represented  by  the 
magistracy. 

"And,  at  that  period  of  human  society,  what  was  the 
people  ?  It  was  ignorance.  What  was  religion  ?  It  was 
intolerance.  And  what  was  justice  ?  It  was  injustice. 
Am  I  going  too  far  in  my  words  ?     Judge. 

"  I  will  confine  myself  to  the  citation  of  two  facts,  but 
decisive. 

"At  Toulouse,  October  13,  1761,  there  was  found  in  a 
lower  story  of  a  house,  a  young  man  hanged.  The  crowd 
gathered,  the  clergy  fulminated,  the  magistracy  investi- 
gated. It  was  a  siiicide  ;  they  made  of  it  an  assassination. 
In  what  interest?  In  the  interest  of  religion.  And  who 
was  accuseii  ?  The  father.  He  was  a  Huguenot,  and  he 
wished  to  hinder  his  son  from  becoming  a  Catholic.  There 
was  here  a  moral  monstrosity  and  a  material  impossibility  ; 
no  matter !  This  father  had  killed  his  son  ;  this  old  man 
had  hanged  this  young  man.  Justice  travailed,  and  this 
was  the  result.  On  the  month  of  March,  1762,  a  man  with 
white  hair,  Jean  Calas,  was  conducted  to  a  public  place, 
stripped  naked,  stretched  upon  a  wheel,  the  members 
bound  upon  it,  the  head  hanging.  Three  men  are  there 
upon  a  scaffold,  a  magistrate,  named  David,  charged  to 
superintend  the  punishment,  a  priest  to  hold  the  crucifix, 
and  the  executioner  with  a  bar  of  iron  in  his  hand.  The 
patient,  stupefied  and  terrible,  regards  not  the  priest,  and 
looks  at  the  executioner.  The  executioner  lifts  the  bar  of 
iron,  and  breaks  one  of  his  arms.     The  victim  groans  and 


VOLTAIRE.  251 

swoons.  The  magistrate  comes  forward ;  thej  make  the 
condemned  inhale  salts ;  he  returns  to  life.  Then  another 
stroke  of  the  bar  ;  another  groan.  Ciilas  loses  conscious- 
ness ;  they  revive  him,  and  the  executioner  begins  again  ; 
and,  as  each  limb  before  being  broken  in  two  places  re- 
ceives two  blows,  that  makes  eight  punishments.  After 
the  eighth  swooning  the  priest  offers  him  the  crucifix  to 
kiss ;  Galas  turns  away  his  head,  and  the  executioner  gives 
him  the  coup  de  grace ;  that  is  to  say,  crushes  in  his  chest 
with  the  thick  end  of  the  bar  of  iron.  So  died  Jean 
Galas. 

"  That  lasted  two  hours.  After  his  death,  the  evidence 
of  the  suicide  came  to  light.  But  an  assassination  had 
been  committed.     By  whom?     By  the  judges. 

"Another  fact.  After  the  old  m.ui,  the  young  man. 
Three  years  later,  in  1765,  at  Abbeville,  the  day  after  a 
night  of  storm  and  high  wand,  there  was  found  upon  the 
pavement  of  a  bridge  an  old  crucifix  of  worm-eaten  wood, 
which  for  three  centuries  had  been  fastened  to  the  para- 
pet. Who  had  thrown  down  this  crucifix  ?  Who  com- 
mitted this  sacrilege?  It  is  not  known.  Perhaps  a  passer 
by.  Perhaps  the  wind.  Who  is  the  guilty  one  ?  The 
Bishop  of  Amiens  launches  a  monifoire.  Note  what  a. 
monitoire  was  :  it  was  an  order  to  all  the  faithful,  on  pain 
of  hell,  to  declare  what  tliey  knew  or  believed  they  knew 
of  such  or  such  a  fact ;  a  murderous  injunction,  when  ad- 
dressed by  fanaticism  to  ignorance.  The  monitoire  of  the 
Bishop  of  Amiens  does  its  work  ;  the  town  gossip  assumes 
the  character  of  the  crime  charged.  Justice  discovers,  or 
believes  it  discovers,  that  on  the  nigh^  when  the  eiucifix 
was  thrown  down,  two  men,  two  officers,  one  named  La 
Barre,  the  other  d'Etallonde,  passed  over  the  bridge  of 
Abbeville,  that  they  were  drunk,  and  that  they  sang  a 
guard-room  song.  The  tribunal  was  the  Seneschalcy  of 
Abbeville.  The  Seneschalcy  of  Abbeville  was  equivalent 
to  the  court  of  the  Gapitouls  of  Toulouse.     It  was  not  less. 


252  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

just.  Two  orders  for  arrest  were  issued.  D'Etallonde 
escaped,  La  Barre  was  taken.  Him  they  delivered  to 
judicial  examination.  He  denied  having  crossed  tbe 
bridge ;  lie  confessed  to  having  sung  the  song.  The 
Seneschalcj  of  Abbeville  condemned  him  ;  he  appealed 
to  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  He  was  conducted  to  Paris ; 
the  sentence  was  found  good  and  confirmed.  He  was  con- 
ducted back  to  Abbeville  in  chains.  I  abridge.  The 
monstrous  hour  arrives.  They  begin  by  subjecting  the 
Chevalier  de  La  Barre  to  the  torture,  ordinary  and  extra- 
ordinary, to  make  him  reveal  his  accomplices.  Accom- 
plices in  what  ?  In  having  crossed  a  bridge  and  sung  a 
song.  During  the  torture  one  of  his  knees  was  broken; 
his  confessor,  on  hearing  the  bones  crack,  fainted  away. 
The  next  dav,  June  5,  1766,  La  Barre  was  drawn  to  the 
great  square  of  Abbeville,  where  flamed  a  penitential  fire ; 
the  sentence  was  read  to  La  Barre  ;  then  they  cut  off  one 
of  his  hands  ;  then  they  tore  out  his  tongue  with  iron  pin- 
cers ;  then,  in  mercy,  his  head  was  cut  off  and  thrown  into 
the  fire.  So  died  the  Chevalier  de  La  Barre.  He  was 
nineteen  years  of  age. 

"Then,  O  Voltaire!  thou  didst  utter  a  cry  of  horror, 
and  it  will  be  thine  eternal  glory ! 

"  Then  didst  thou  enter  upon  the  appalling  trial  of  the 
past ;  thou  didst  plead,  against  tyrants  and  monsters,  the 
cause  of  the  human  race,  and  thou  didst  gain  it.  Great 
man,  blessed  be  thou  forever!" 

Bruno,  we  might  say,  was  the  first  persistently  to  de- 
clare the  modern  doctrine  of  human  rights.  In  the  old  days 
there  were  no  rights- -only  mights.  Bights  is  a  modern 
conception.  Jesus  never  taught  universal  human  rights, 
nor  any  of  the  philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The 
church  certainly  never  respected  human  rights,  and  the- 
ology never  discovered  them.  According  to  the  old  the- 
ology, there  can  be  no  rights  of  man,  for  God  is  a  tyrant 
and  man  is  a  slave.     Man  is   a  totally  depraved  being,  in 


HORACE  SEAVER  (p.  803). 


VOLTAIRE.  253 

himself  absolutely  worthless ;  he  is  born  a  coudemned 
prisoner ;  he  is  under  ban.  His  righteousness  is  but  iilthy 
rags,  and,  therefore,  what  can  liis  rights  be  ?  Man  is  but 
cla}-  iu  the  hands  of  the  potter,  and  what  rights  has  clay  ? 
Tlie  old  theology  was  necessarily  the  annihilation  of  hu- 
man liberty  and  human  rights. 

But  the  magnificent  Pantheism  of  Bruno  necessarily 
affirmed  human  rights,  for  it  affirmed  human  value  and 
human  dignity.  According  to  Bruno,  man  was  identical 
with  God.  He  was  iu  God  and  God  was  in  him.  There 
was  no  essential  difference  between  man  and  God.  Tiie 
glory  of  the  one  was  the  glory  of  the  other.  Bruno's  phi- 
losophy did  not  annihilate  man  in  God,  but  elevated  and 
ennobled  man  by  the  universal  equality  of  existence.  In 
every  man  was  the  divine  spark,  the  divine  exaltation, 
and,  therefore,  each  in  his  essential  nature  must  be  free 
and  a  sovereign  individual.  Thus,  in  Bruno,  first  of  all.  I 
think,  do  we  find  the  germ  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence :  "  All  men  are  created  equal,  and  endowed  by 
their  creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights,  among  which 
are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Bruno,  in 
his  martyrdom  and  in  the  splendor  of  his  genius,  not  only 
represents  the  beginning  of  the  era  of  science,  but  also  of 
the  era  of  man.  He  gives  us  not  only  the  wonderful  con- 
ception of  the  infinity  of  worlds,  but  also  the  modern  con- 
ception of  man — man  clothed  with  rights  by  the  very 
virtue  of  his  existence,  each  man  the  equal  of  every  other 
man  because  equal  with  God  himself.  Natural  rights,  the 
dignity  of  human  nature,  its  freedom,  its  glory,  the  founda- 
tion principles  of  triumphant  democracy — it  was  these 
that  Bruno  flashed  forth  upon  the  world  and  made  im- 
mortal with  the  fires  of  his  glorious  death. 

More  distinctly  and  predominantly  than  Bruno,  Voltaire 
affirmed  the  natural  rights  of  man.  The  mystical,  pan- 
theistic element  of  Bruno  was  not  in  Voltaire.  Bruno 
affirmed  human  rights  on  the  basis  of  universal  divinity, 


254  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP  PREETHOUGHT. 

Voltaire  on  the  basis  of  universal  humanity.  While  Vol- 
taire was  in  form  Deistical,  he  was  essentially  Atheistical. 
He  was  the  incarnation  of  common  sense.  He  reasoned 
on  the  basis  of  this  world.  Bruno  insisted  more  upon  the 
rights  of  thought,  Voltaire  upon  the  rights  of  action,  and, 
therefore,  it  is  that  Voltaire  is  preeminently  the  apostle  of 
political  libert}'.  If  we  go  back  into  the  depths  of  time 
we  might  justly  affirm  that  Bruno  and  Voltaire  are  the 
fathers  of  the  American  republic  ;  that  in  them  originates 
the  spirit  of  modern  freedom ;  that  from  them  originates 
that  mighty  stream  ■ttdiich  is  constantly  sweeping  away 
thrones  and  tiaras.  Greater,  indeed,  does  Bruno  tower 
in  the  vistas  of  the  past  as  the  first  to  declare  the  rights 
of  man,  than  as  the  daring  man  of  science,  or  the  enthu- 
siastic philosopher  ;  for  what  are  all  the  stars  to  us,  and 
all  the  gods,  if  man  is  to  be  a  slave,  if  man  has  no  natural 
worth,  if  he  is  simply  the  creature  of  circumstance,  if  he 
is  born  merely  by  a  freak  of  fortune  to  wear  a  crown  or 
wear  a  chain,  and  either  is  right  if  such  is  the  original 
condition  ?  Surely  the  magnificence  of  modern  progress 
is  primarily  in  the  affirmation  of  human  liberty  and  rights, 
and  other  progress  is  useless  and  turns  to  dust  and  ashes 
unless  it  makes  man  more  free,  and  emphasizes  the 
essential  grandeur  of  each  individual  human  being.  Out 
of  the  fiery  heart  of  Bruno,  and  his  illuminated  brain, 
exalted  not  only  by  the  wonder  of  the  stars,  but  by  the 
greatness  and  glory  of  man,  flows  and  sparkles  the  sublim- 
est  hope  of  the  future  ;  and  the  radiant  genius  of  Voltaire 
bore  onward  this  undying  light,  flaming  in  horror  and  de- 
struction, butpointiugthrough  storm  and  peril  to  the  noblest 
and  sweetest  happiness  of  which  mankind  is  capable. 

Does  it  not  appear  that  Bruno,  as  the  first  to  articulate 
the  inalienable  rights  of  each  human  being,  because  in  the 
unity  of  the  universe  there  must  be  equality  for  all — does 
it  not  appear  that  he  was  in  the  mind  of  the  most  glorious 
poet  of  modern  times,  when  he  sang : 


VOLTAIRE.  255 

"  A  farewell  look  of  love  be  turned, 
Half  calming  me  ;  then  gazed  awhile, 
As  if  through  that  black  and  massy  pile, 
And  through  the  crowd  around  him  there, 
And  through  the  deuse  and  murky  air, 
And  the  thronged  streets,  he  did  espy 
What  poets  know  and  prophesy  ; 
And  said,  with  voice  that  made  them  shiver. 
And  clung  like  music  to  my  brain, 
And  which  the  mute  walls  spoke  again, 
Prolonging  it  with  deepened  strain,  ' 

Tear  not  the  tyrants  shall  rule  forever. 
Or  the  priests  of  the  evil  faith  ; 
They  stand  on  the  brink  of  that  mighty  river 
Whose  waves  they  have  taiuteil  with  death  ; 
It  is  fed  from  the  depths  of  a  thousand  dells, 
Around  them  it  foams  and  rages  and  swells, 
And  their  swords  and  their  sceptres  I  floating  see. 
Like  fVrecks  on  the  surge  of  eternity,'  " 

There  was  not  in  Voltaire's  life  the  tragical  element  of 
Bruno's.  This  was  not  because  Voltaire  was  any  less  de- 
voted to  humanity,  but  because  of  the  noble  fortune 
which  attended  him  all  his  life  long,  and  made  his  career 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  shining  in  human  his- 
tory. So  long  as  he  lived  the  priests  cowered  before  his 
genius.  They  could  not  extinguish  its  fire.  It  flamed 
over  Europe. 

Only  in  death  did  the  power  of  the  church  proclaim 
itself.  That  was  a  strange  flight  of  his  dead  body  in  the 
midnight  darkness  to  a  place  of  burial.  How  the  "  priests 
of  an  evil  faith  "  would  have  gloated  over  his  dust  if  they 
could  have  laid  their  hands  upon  it  before  it  reached  a 
consecrated  grave.  Voltaire  cannot  be  blamed  for  revolt- 
ing against  this  martyrdom  after  death,  when  indeed  the 
cruelty    of    the    church    is    most    horrible.      The    fate    of 


256  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Adrienne  Lecouvveur  was  before  his  eyes,  a  pathetic 
tragedy  which  brands  the  church  with  eternal  disgrace 
among  those  who  love  art  and  beauty  and  genius.  Living, 
Voltaire  could  confront  the  church  with  the  radiance  of 
his  undaunted  spirit,  but  dead  he  must  flee  before  the 
terrible  wild  beast  that  would  tear  and  rend  his  inani- 
mate body.  No  one  has  painted  this  strange  flight  with 
nobler  felicity  than  our  own  Ingersoll. 

"His  death  was  kept  a  secret.  Tlie  Abl)e  Mignot  made 
arrangements  for  the  burial  at  Romilli-on-tlie-Seine,  more 
than  one  hundred  miles  from  Paris.  On  Sunday  evening, 
on  the  last  day  of  May,  1778,  the  bod}^  of  Voltaire,  clad  in 
a  dressing-gown,  clothed  to  resemble  an  invalid,  posed  to 
simulate  life,  was  placed  in  a  carriage  ;  at  its  side,  a  ser- 
vant, whose  business  it  was  to  keep  it  in  position.  To  this 
carriage  were  attached  six  horses,  so  that  people  might 
think  a  great  lord  was  going  to  his  estates.  Another  car- 
riage followed,  in  which  were  a  grand  nephew  and  two 
cousins  of  Voltaire.  All  night  they  traveled,  and  on  the 
following  day  arrived  at  the  courtyard  of  the  Abbey.  The 
necessary  papers  were  shown,  the  mass  was  performed  in 
the  presence  of  the  body,  and  Voltaire  found  burial.  A 
few  moments  afterward,  the  prior,  who  '  for  charity  had 
given  a  little  arth/  received  from  his  bishop  a.  menacing 
letter  forbidding  the-  burial  of  Voltaire.     It  was  too  late. 

"Voltaire  was  dead.  The  foundations  of  State  and 
Throne  had  been  sapped.  The  people  were  becoming  ac- 
quainted Avitli  the  real  kings  and  with  the  actual  priests. 
Unknown  men  born  in  misery  and  want,  men  whose  fathers 
and  mothers  had  been  pavement  for  the  rich,  were  rising 
toward  the  light,  and  their  shadowy  faces  were  emerging 
froui  darkness.     Labor  and  thought  became  friends." 

And  how  glorious  was  the  return  of  this  immortal 
man,  regent  even  in  his  coffined  dust,  and  swaying  millions 
as  if  an  emperor  in.  royal  robes.  It  is  said  that  a  live  ass 
is  better  than  a  dead  lion,  but  in  this  case  the  dead  lion 


1 


VOLTAIRE.  257 

was  more  potent  than  ten  thousand  living  asses  in  the 
church.  How  they  trembled  before  that  imperial  dust,  in 
lowly  corruption,  yet  lofty  as  the  stars  in  its  resplendent 

majesty !    Says  IngersoU  : 

"A  funeral  procession  of  a  hundred  miles ;  every  vil- 
lage with  its  flags  and  arches  in  his  honor ;  all  the  people 
anxious  to  honor  the  philosopher  of  France — the  savior 
of  Galas — the  Destroyer  of  Superstition. 

"  On  reaching  Paris  the  great  procession  moved  along 
the  Rue  St.  Antoine.  Here  it  paused  and  for  one  night 
upon  the  ruins  of  the  Bastille  rested  the  body  of  Voltaire 
— rested  in  triumph,  in  glory — rested  on  fallen  wall  and 
broken  arch,  on  crumbling  stone  still  damp  with  tears,  on 
rusting  chain  and  bar  and  useless  bolt — above  the  dun- 
geons dark  and  deep,  where  light  had  faded  from  the  lives 
of  men  and  hope  had  died  in  breaking  hearts. 

"  The  conqueror  resting  upon  the  conquered.  Throned 
upon  the  Bastille,  the  fallen  fortress  of  Night,  the  body  of 
Voltaire,  from  whose  brain  had  issued  the  Dawn. 

"For  a  moment  liis  ashes  must  have  felt  the  Prome- 
thean fire,  and  the  old  smile  must  have  illumined  once 
more  the  face  of  death." 

To  sum  up  the  career  of  this  man,  read  the  burning 
words  of  Victor  Hugo  : 

"  Voltaire  conquered  ;  Voltaire  waged  the  splendid  kind 
of  warfare,  the  war  of  one  alone  against  all ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  grand  warfare.  The  war  of  thought  against  matter, 
the  war  of  reason  against  prejudice,  the  war  of  the  just 
against  the  unjust,  the  war  for  the  oppressed  against  the 
oppressor,  the  war  of  goodness,  the  war  of  kindness.  He 
had  the  tenderness  of  a  woman  and  the  wrath  of  a  hero. 
He  was  a  great  mind  and  an  immense  heart. 

"  He  conquered  the  old  code  and  the  old  dogma.  He 
conquered  the  feudal  lord,  the  gothic  judge,  the  Roman 
priest.  He  raised  the  populace  to  the  dignity  of  people. 
He  taught,  pacificated,  and  civilized.     He  fought  for  Sir- 


258  FOUR   HUNDREP   YEAP^S   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

ven  and  Montbailly,  as  for  Calas  and  La  Barre  ;  he  ac- 
cepted all  the  menaces,  all  the  outrages,  all  the  persecu- 
tions, calumny,  and  exile.  He  was  indefatigable  and 
immovable.  He  conquered  violence  by  a  smile,  despotism 
by  sarcasm,  infallibility  by  irony,  obstinacy  by  persever- 
ance, ignorance  by  truth." 

And  Goethe  says  of  his  greatness : 

"  If  you  wish  depth,  genius,  imagination,  taste,  reason, 
sensibility,  philosophy,  elevation,  originality,  nature,  in- 
tellect, fancy,  rectitude,  facility,  flexibility,  precision,  art, 
abundance,  variety,  fertility,  warmth,  magic,  charm,  grace, 
force,  an  eagle  sweep  of  vision,  vast  understanding,  in- 
struction rich,  tone  excellent,  urbanity,  suavity,  delicacy, 
correctness,  purity,  cleanness,  eloquence,  harmony,  bril- 
liancy, rapidity,  gaiety,  pathos,  sublimity  and  universality, 
perfection  indeed,  behold  Voltaire." 

How  Voltaire  Died. 

The  life  of  Voltaire  is  well  known.  It  is  blazoned  in 
the  path  of  centuries.  None  can  misunderstand  its  mean- 
ing. His  death  is  somewhat  shrouded.  The  light  burns 
low  amidst  the  clouds  of  bigotry  and  the  barbarism  of 
the  times.  The  mind  is  still  triumphant.  It  is  the  poor 
body  that  must  be  guarded,  that  it  may  be  peacefully 
received  into  its  mother  earth. 

Mr.  Eugene  M.  Macdonald  has  carefully  recorded  this 
closing  tragedy  of  a  great  life,  and  it  is  too  important  a 
document  to  be  omitted  in  this  history  of  Freethought: 

Upon  this  subject  so  much  has  been  said  that  is  un- 
true, and  so  little  that  is  authentic  is  accessible  to  the 
general  reader,  that  the  editor  of  the  "  Truth  Seeker  An- 
nual "  has  thought  it  advisable  to  put  the  principal  facts 
of  the  case  here  in  a  form  adapted  at  once  for  ready  refer- 
ence and  for  preservation. 

Perhaps    the   person    in    the   deepest  darkness  with 


D.  M.  BENNETT  (p.   694). 


VOLTAIRE.  259 

regard  to  what  really  occurred  just  previous  to  the  death 
of  the  great  French  heretic  is  the  editor  of  the  "  Cliristian 
Statesman."  In  that  paper,  some  time  ago,  occurred  this 
paragraph : 

"Voltaire's  renunciation  of  infidelity. 

"  Let  it  be  distinctly  understood  as  forever  beyond 
question  that  Voltaire  fully  recanted  his  Infidel  principles 
and  professed  his  belief  in  the  Christian  religion.  The 
new  Life  of  Voltaire  by  James  Parton  settles  this  point 
beyond  contradiction.  Mr.  Parton  cannot  be  suspected  of 
an  undue  bias  for  orthodoxy,  and  it  is  only  after  a  patient 
search  and  candid  study  of  authorities  that  he  gives  this 
confession  to  the  world.  Mr.  Parton  says  :  '  The  profes- 
sion of  faith,  written  in  Voltaire's  own  hand,  was  as  fol- 
lows :  "I,  the  undersigned,  declare  tliat  having  been  at- 
tacked four  days  ago  by  a  vomiting  of  blood,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four  years,  and  being  unable  to  get  to  church,  the 
cure  of  Saint-Sulpice  being  willing  to  add  t-o  his  good 
works  that  of  sending  to  me  the  Abbe  Gaultier,  priest,  I 
have  confessed  to  him,  and  declare  further  that  if  God  dis- 
poses of  me  I  die  in  the  Catholic  religion  in  which  I  was 
born,  hoping  from  the  divine  mercy  that  he  will  deign  to 
pardon  all  my  faults,  and  that  if  I  have  ever  scandalized 
the  church  I  ask  pardon  of  God  and  of  it.  Signed,  Vol- 
taire, March  2,  1778,  in  the  house  of  the  Marquis  de  Vil- 
lett  in  the  presence  of  the  Abbe  Mignot,  my  nephew,  and 
of  the  Marquis  de  Villevielle,  ray  friend."  '  " 

Tennyson  has  said  that — 

"  A  lie  which  is  all  a  lie  may  be  met  and  fought  with  out- 
right, 
But  a  lie  which  is  part  a  truth  is  a  harder  matter  to 
fight." 

The  ''Christian  Statesman's"  presentation  of  the  case 
is  partly  true,  but  at  the  same   time  it  is  half  a  lie,  and  is 


260  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

meant  to  deceive.  Mr.  Partou  does  not  say  that  Voltaire 
recanted.  Neither  does  any  other  honest  person  who 
knows  the  circumstances  of  his  death.  It  is  true  that  Mr. 
Parton  gives  the  foregoing  "  profession  of  faith,"  which  is 
undoubtedly  genuine.  Mr.  Parton  tells  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  so  far  as  he  knows 
it.     He  has  given  us  the  life  of  Yoltaire  just  as  it  was. 

It  has  never  been  pretended  that  Voltaire  was  a  saint, 
but  take  him  all  in  all,  put  his  work  for  humanit}'  in  one 
side  of  the  scales  and  his  personal  faults  in  the  other,  and 
he  must  be  conceded  to  be  the  grandest  man  of  his  time. 
He  believed  in  God,  hated  superstition,  and  loved  his 
fellow-man.  He  did  more  than  anyone  else  to  break  the 
hold  the  church  had  upon  the  people  of  Europe.  He 
was  a  man  of  letters,  of  science,  a  lover  of  art,  a  patron  of 
the  drama.  In  his  personal  affairs  he  was  a  man  of  the 
world,  yet  a  good  deal  better  and  more  moral  than  the 
kings  and  courtesans — all  good  Cliristians — among  whom 
he  lived.  He  braved  the  anger  of  the  church,  when 
although  "living  virgins  were  merchandise  which  the  king 
himself  bought,  a  light  song  about  the  Virgin  could  bring 
a  man  to  the  fire." 

Voltaire's  "  profession  of  faith"  was  written  and  signed 
simply  that  when  dead  he  might  not,  as  he  expressed  it, 
be  "thrown  into  the  sewer."  He  knew  what  could  be 
expected  for  a  heretic.  The  sight  of  the  burial  of  poor 
Adrienne  Lecouvreur  never  left  him.  The  great  actress 
was  a  warm  friend  of  his,  and  when  she  went  one  night 
from  the  scene  of  her  triumphs  at  the  theater  "  to  die  after 
four  days  of  anguish,  Voltaire  hastened  to  her  bedside,  and 
watched  near  her  during  her  last  struggle  for  life  ;  and 
when  she  was  seized  with  the  convulsions  that  preceded 
her  death  he  held  her  in  his  arms  and  received  her  last 
breath.  Being  an  actress  and  dying  without  absolution, 
she  was  denied  '  Christian  burial,'  and  the  gate  of  every 
recognized  burial  ydace  in  France  was  closed  against  her 


VOLTAIRE.  261 

wasted  body,  the  poor  relic  of  a  gifted  and  bewitching 
woman,  whom  all  that  was  distinguished  and  splendid  in 
the  society  of  her  native  land  had  loved  to  look  upon.  At 
night  her  body  was  carried  in  an  old  coach  (fiacre)  a  little 
way  out  of  town,  just  beyond  the  paved  streets,  to  a  spot 
near  the  Seine  now  covered  by  the  house  No.  109  Rue  de 
Burgoyne.  The  fiacre  was  followed  by  one  friend,  two 
street  porters,  and  a  squad  of  the  city  watch.  There  her 
remains  were  buried,  the  grave  was  filled  up,  and  the  sjDot 
remained  uninclosed  and  unmarked  until  the  city  grew 
over  it  and  concealed  it  from  view. 

"  The  brilliant  world  of  which  she  had  been  a  part 
heard  of  this  unseemly  burial  with  such  horror,  such  dis- 
gust, such  rage,  such  '  stupor,'  as  we  can  with  difficulty 
imagine,  because  all  those  ties  of  tenderness  and  pride  that 
bind  families  and  communities  together  are  more  sensitive, 
if  not  stronger,  in  France  than  with  our  ruder,  robuster 
race.  The  idea  of  not  having  friendly  and  decorous 
burial,  of  not  lying  down  at  last  with  kindred  and  fellow- 
citizens  in  a  place  appointed  for  the  dead,  of  being  taken 
out  at  night  and  buried  at  a  corner  of  a  road  like  a  dead 
cat,  was  and  is  utterly  desolating  to  the  French  people. 
Voltaire,  for  example,  could  never  face  it ;  he  lived  and 
died  dreading  it." 

It  is  no  wonder  he  wished  to  avoid  such  a  burial  as 
that ;  most  Frenchmen  would  have  done  a  great  deal  more 
than  sign  such  a  "  profession  of  faith  "  to  have  avoided  it. 
All  that  the  "  profession  "  says  at  most  is  that  "  if  God  dis- 
poses of  me,  I  die  in  the  Catholic  religion,"  and  it  is  not 
hard  to  belong  to  that  institution  if  one  wants  to.  A  very 
slight  ceremony  will  suffice,  and  a  change  of  faith  is  in  no 
wise  necessary.  The  clause  that  "  if  I  ever  scandalized  the 
church,  I  ask  pardon  of  God  and  of  it,"  was  added  at  the 
reqidsition  of  tlie  priest,  and  as  Voltaire  said,  "  to  have  peace.''^ 
This  "  profession  of  faith  "  is  not  a  "  profession  "  at  all.  In 
it  Voltaire  nowhere  retracts  what  he  had  all  his  life  been 


262  FOUR    HUNDRKL)    YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

saying,  that  the  church  is  a  monster  sapping  the  life  of 
nations,  and  shouhl  be  crushed.  He  had  his  reasons  for 
doing  what  he  did,  which  cannot  be  better  stated  than  by 
quoting  Partou. 

When  he  returned  to  Paris  after  his  long  exile  he  was 
overwhelmed  with  work,  so  much  so  that  "  his  health 
visibly  declined."  "  Standing  so  many  hours  every  day  to 
receive  company  caused  his  feet  to  swell,  for  he  had  been 
accustomed  at  home  to  spend  most  of  the  working  day 
upon  his  bed.  Other  painful  and  menacing  symptoms 
warned  him  of  the  risk  he  was  incurring,  and  he  began  to 
foresee  the  need  of  making  arrangements  in  Paris  to  avoid 
the  indignity  of  being  denied  burial.  Ferney  being  five 
days'  laborious  journey  from  Paris,  if  he  were  taken  sick, 
he  could  sca.rcely  hope  to  be  again  in  a  condition  to  travel 
so  far.  He  had  had  visits  from  several  unbeneficed 
priests,  besides  the  one  whose  coming  he  related  to 
Madame  du  Deffand.  One  of  these  Wagniere  had  had  the 
pleasure  of  hustling  out  of  the  room ;  but  there  was 
another,  the  Abbe  Gaultier,  who  seemed  more  tolerable 
than  the  rest,  and  him  he  had  received  very  politely,  as  a 
good-natured  simpleton,  who  would  be  content  with  the 
minimum  of  concession  from  a  penitent  like  himself. 
About  February  20,  when  he  had  been  ten  days  in  Paris, 
he  consulted  D'Alerabert  upon  the  delicate  pcniit  in  ques- 
tion, and  in  a  letter  to  the  king  of  Prussia  D'Alembert 
mentioned  the  advice  he  gave  : 

"  '  He  asked  me,'  wrote  D'Alembert,  '  in  the  course  of 
a  confidential  conversation,  how  T  should  advise  him  to 
proceed  if,  during  his  stay  in  Paris,  he  should  happen 
to  fall  dangerously  ill.  My  reply  was  such  as  every  pru- 
dent (sage)  man  would  have  made  in  my  place,  that  he 
would  do  well  to  conduct  himself,  in  that  case,  like  all  the 
philosophers  who  had  preceded  him  ;  among  others,  like 
Fontenelle  and  Montesquieu,  who  had  followed  the  usage, 
"  and  received  you  hioio  ivhat  loitli  much  reverence.''    He  much 


VOLTAIRE.  263 

approved  my  reply.  "  I  think  the  same,"  said  he  to  me  ; 
"  for  I  must  not  be  thrown  into  the  kennel,  as  I  saw  poor 
Lecouvreur."  He  had,  I  know  not  why,  much  aversion  to 
that  manner  of  being  interred.  I  avoided  combating  this 
aversion,  desiring  that,  in  case  we  sliould  lose  him,  all 
should  pass  without  trouble  and  without  scandal.' 

"  Fortified  thus  bj  the  advice  of  the  most  eminent  of 
his  co-workers,  he  looked  to  the  Abbe  Gaultier,  chaplain 
to  the  Hospital  for  the  Incurable,  as  the  man  upon  whom 
to  call  in  case  of  need.     That   unhapp}"  case  soon  arrived. 

"February  25th,  his  fifteenth  day  at  Paris,  about  noou^ 
as  he  was  dictating  in  bed  to  Wagniere,  he  coughed  vio- 
lently three  times,  and  a  moment  after  cried  out, '  Oh  !  oh  ! 
I  am  spitting  blood.'  The  secretary  turned  toward  him, 
and  saw  blood  bursting  from  his  nose  and  mouth,  '  with 
the  same  violence,'  he  says,  as  when  the  faucet  is  turned 
of  a  fountain  upon  which  there  is  pressure.'  Wagniere 
rang,  and  Madame  Denis  came.  Dr.  Tronchiu  was  sent  for. 
All  the  household  came  running  in,  and  the  room  was 
soon  filled  with  people.  '  He  ordered  me,'  says  Wagniere, 
'  to  write  to  the  Abbe  Gaultier,  to  ask  him  to  come  and 
speak  to  him,  as  he  did  not  wish  to  be  thrown  into  the 
sewers.  I  avoided  sending  my  letter,  not  wishing  to  have 
it  said  that  M.  de  Voltaire  had  shown  weakness.  I 
assured  him  that  the  abbe  could  not  be  found.  Then  he 
said  to  the  persons  in  the  room,  "At  least,  gentlemen,  you 
will  be  witness  that  I  have  asked  to  fulfil  what  are  here 
called  our  duties"  [devoirs].' 

"  For  three  or  four  da3-s  the  patient  was  extremely 
weak,  and  sufficiently  obedient  to  the  doctor's  orders. 
Yery  slowly,  and  with  frequent  relapses,  he  gained  a  little 
strength.  Several  of  the  notes  which  he  wrote  and  dic- 
tated to  Dr.  Tronchin  during  his  dubious  convalescence 
have  been  preserved,  all  of  which  contain  gleams  of  his 
wonted  gaiety  and  complaisance.  An  ill  turn,  however, 
ii;iduced  him  to  send  again  for  the  Abbe  Gaultier.     Upon 


264  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREflTHOUGHT. 

his  arrival  the  patient  said  to  him :  '  Some  days  ago  I  in- 
vited 3'ou  to  come  and  see  me  for  you  know  what.  If  you 
please,  we  will  at  once  transact  that  little  business.'  The 
abbe  replied  :  '  Yery  willingly,'  and  requested  all  present 
to  leave  the  room.  '  The  patient  wished  us  to  remain,' 
says  Wagniere,  '  but  the  Abbe  Gaultier  did  not.'  So  they 
all  went  out,  and  left  the  priest  alone  with  his  penitent 
for  an  hour.'  On  that  morning  D'Alembert  visited  him, 
und  his  narrative,  as  given  in  his  letter  to  the  king  of 
Prussia,  is  the  last  source  of  our  information  concerning 
what  followed  : 

"  Finding  himself  worse  than  usual  on  one  of  the  d&js 
of  his  sickness,  he  bravely  took  the  part  of  doing  what  he 
had  agreed  upon.  During  a  visit  which  I  paid  him  in  the 
morning,  as  he  spoke  to  me  with  considerable  vehemence, 
and  as  I  begged  him  to  be  silent  in  order  not  to  distress 
his  chest,  he  said  to  me  laughing,  '  Talk  I  must,  whether  I 
wish  it  or  not ;  don't  you  remember  that  I  have  to  con- 
fess? The  moment  has  come,  as  Henry  IV.  said,  to  make 
the  perilous  leap  ;  so  I  have  sent  for  the  Abbe  Gaultier, 
and  I  am  waiting  for  him.'  This  Abbe  Gaultier,  sire,  is  a 
poor  devil  of  a  priest,  who,  of  his  own  motion  and  from 
mere  good  will,  introduced  himself  to  M.  de  Voltaire  some 
days  before  his  sickness,  and  offered  him,  in  case  of  need, 
his  ecclesiastical  services.  M.  de  Voltaire  accepted  them, 
because  this  man  appeared  to  him  more  moderate  and 
reasonable  than  three  or  four  other  wretched  priests 
[cajielans'],  who,  wdthout  being  sent  for,  and  without  any 
more  knowing  Voltaire  than  the  Abbe  Gaultier,  had  come 
to  his  room  to  preach  to  him  like  fanatics,  to  announce  to 
him  hell  and  the  judgments  of  God,  and  whom  the  old 
patriarch,  from  goodness  of  heart,  had  not  ordered  to  be 
thrown  out  of  the  window.  This  Abbe  Gaultier  arrived, 
then,  was  shut  up  an  hour  with  the  sick  man,  and  came 
out  so  well  satisfied  that  he  wished  to  go  at  once  to  get  at 
the  parish   church  what  we  call  the  bon  Dieu.     This  the 


PARKER  PILLSBURT  (p.  787). 


VOLTAIRE.  265 

sick  man  did  not  wish,  '  for  the  reason,'  said  he,  '  that  I  am 
spitting  blood,  and  I  might  by  ill  chance  spit  out  some- 
thing else.'  He  gave  to  this  Abbe  Gaultier,  who  asked 
him  for  it,  a  profession  of  faith,  written  entirely  with  his 
own  hand,  and  by  which  he  declared  that  he  wished  to  die 
in  the  Catholic  religion,  in  which  he  was  born,  hoping 
from  the  divine  mercy  that  God  would  deign  to  pardon  all 
his  faults ;  and  added  that,  if  he  had  ever  scandalized  the 
church,  he  asked  pardon  from  God  and  from  it.  He  added 
this  last  article  at  the  requisition  of  the  priest,  'and,''  said 
he,  'to  have  peace.'  He  gave  this  profession  of  faith  to  the 
Abbe  Gaultier  in  the  presence  of  his  family  and  those  of 
his  friends  who  were  in  his  chamber,  two  of  whom  signed 
as  witnesses  at  the  bottom  of  the  profession." 

"  Wagniere,  being  a  Protestant,  and  in  extreme  ill- 
humor  with  the  persons  surrounding  his  'dear  master,' 
regarded  this  transaction  with  such  sorrow  and  indignation 
that,  when  Voltaire  asked  him  what  was  the  matter  witli 
him,  he  could  not  command  his  voice  to  reply.  Four  days 
before  this  ceremonial,  at  a  moment  when  it  appeared  cer- 
tain that  the  patient  could  not  recover,  and  he  felt  sure 
himself  that  he  was  dying,  Wagniere  begged  him  to  state 
precisely  his  'way  of  thinking.'  He  asked  for  paper  and 
ink ;  then  wrote,  signed,  and  gave  to  his  secretary  the  fol- 
lowing declaration  : 

"  '  /  die,  adoring  God,  loving  my  friends,  not  hating  my 
enemies,  and  detesting  superstition.     February  28,  1778. 

Voltaire.' 

"  With  this  paper  in  his  possession,  and  having  Swiss 
ideas  of  the  sanctity  of  the  seriously  spoken  word  of  a 
dying  man,  poor  Wagniere  was  aghast  at  the  tone  of  the 
company  on  this  occasion.  '  When,'  he  says,  '  the  Abbe 
Gaultier  invited  us  to  re-enter  the  room,  he  said  to  us, 
"  M,  de  Voltaire  has  given  me  a  little  declaration,  which 
does  not  signify  much.  I  beg  you  will  be  so  good  as  to 
sign  it  also."     The  Abbe  Mignot  and  tlie  Marquis  de  Ville- 


266  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP   FREETHOUfiHT. 

vielle  signed  it  without  hesitation  and  without  knowing 
its  contents.  The  abbe  then  came  to  me,  and  asked  me  to 
do  the  same  thing.  I  refused  hjm.  He  insisted  much. 
M.  de  Voltaire  observed  with  surprise  the  vivacity  with 
which  I  spoke  to  the  Abbe  Gaultier.  I  replied  at  last^ 
tired  of  this  persecution,  that  I  neither  would  nor  could 
sign,  as  I  was  a  Protestant.  He  then  let  me  alone.  He 
next  proposed  to  the  sick  man  to  give  him  the  communion. 
He  replied,  "  Mr.  Abbe,  observe  that  I  coutinually  spit 
blood ;  I  must  beware  of  mingling  that  of  the  good  God 
with  mine."  The  confessor  did  not  reply.  He  was  asked 
to  retire,  and  he  went  out.'  Before  leaving  he  received 
from  his  penitent  a  gift  of  twenty-five  louis  for  '  the  poor 
of  the  parish  ;'  which  also  was  according  to  polite  usage. 

"  He  said  to  the  Abbe  Duvernet, '  They  ivill  not  throiv  me 
into  the  kennel,  for  I  have  confessed  to  the  Ahb^  Gaulfier.^  " 

Voltaire,  having  thus  prepared  to  die,  got  strong  again 
and  enjoyed  many  triumphs.  Later  when  he  was  again 
upon  the  sick-bed,  and  knew  he  must  pass  away,  he  wanted 
no  religious  ministrations.  He  had  made  his  bargain,  and 
more  hypocrisy  than  was  necessary  to  accomplish  his  ends 
was  distasteful  to  him.  If  necessary  to  get  a  decent  burial 
he  would  have  kissed  the  pope's  toe,  but  having  fulfilled 
his  share  of  the  contract  he  wanted  to  hear  no  more  about 
it.  He  knew,  and  the  priest  knew,  why  he  did  it.  and  it 
was  no  use  to  make  sentiment  out  of  a  purely  business 
transaction.  He  lay  dying  for  several  days,  getting  weaker 
and  weaker,  but  suffering  little  pain.  "  He  recognized," 
says  Parton,  "  some  of  his  old  friends  when  they  came  near 
his  bedside  or  spoke  to  him.  'I  visited  him  when  he  was 
in  this  condition,'  says  D'Alembert,  '  and  he  always  knew 
me.  He  even  used  some  expressions  of  friendship ;  but, 
immediately  after,  Avould  fall  again  into  his  stupor,  for  he 
was  in  a  continual  slumber.  He  awoke  only  to  complain, 
and  to  say  that  he  had  come  to  Paris  to  die.' 

"Two days  after  the  incident  of  the  Count  de  Lally,  the 


VOLTAIRE.  267 

Abbe  Mignot,  who  was  a  considerable  personage,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Grand  Council,  as  well  as  the  titular  and  bene- 
ficed head  of  an  abbey,  called  upon  the  cure  of  Saiut- 
Sulpice,  and  explained  to  him  his  uncle's  condition.  With 
regard  to  what  followed  the  best  authority  is  the  narrative 
drawn  up  by  D'Alembert  for  the  information  of  the  king 
of  Prussia — a  narrative  which  is  confirmed  by  all  the  eye- 
witnesses who  placed  their  observations  on  record  : 

"The  cure  of  Saint-Sulpice  replied  to  the  Abbe  Mignot 
that,  since  M.  de  Voltaire  had  lost  his  recollection,  it  was 
useless  to  visit  him.  The  cure  declared,  however,  that  if 
M.  de  Voltaire  did  not  make  a  public,  solemn,  and  most 
circumstantial  reparation  of  the  scandal  he  had  caused,  he 
could  not  in  conscience  bury  him  in  holy  ground.  In  vain 
the  nephew  replied  that  his  uncle,  while  he  still  enjoyed 
the  possession  of  all  his  faculties,  had  made  a  profession 
of  faith,  which  the  cure  himself  had  recognized  as  authen- 
tic ;  that  he  had  always  disavowed  the  works  imputed  to 
him  ;  that  he  had,  nevertheless,  carried  his  docility  for 
the  ministers  of  the  church  so  far  as  to  declare  tliat,  if  he 
had  caused  any  scandal,  he  asked  pardon  for  it.  The  cure 
replied  that  that  did  not  suffice  ;  that  M.  de  Voltaire  was 
notoriously  the  declared  enemy  of  religion  ;  and  that  he 
could  not,  without  compromising  himself  with  the  clergy 
and  with  the  archbishop,  accord  to  him  ecclesiastical  burial. 
The  Abbe  Mingot  threatened  to  apply  to  the  parliament 
for  justice,  which  he  hoped  to  obtain  with  the  authentic 
documents  he  had  in  his  possession.  The  cure,  who  felt 
he  was  supported  by  authority,  told  him  that  he  could  do 
as  he  pleased. 

•  •  •  "  On  Saturday,  May  30th,  the  day  of  his  death, 
some  hours  before  that  fatal  moment,  the  Abbe  Gaultier 
o£fered  his  services,  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  Abbe 
Mignot,  who  went  at  once  in  quest  of  the  Abbe  Gaultier 
aud  the  cure  of  Saint-Sulpice.  The  cure  approached  the 
sick  man,  and  pronounced  in  his  hearing  the  words  Jesus 


268  FOUR    HQXDRED    YEARS   OF    FRKETliOUGHT. 

Christ.  At  these  words  M.  de  Voltaire,  who  was  still  in  a 
stupor,  opened  his  eyes,  and  made  a  gesture  with  his  hand, 
as  if  to  send  the  cure  awa}' ;  and  said,  'Let  me  die  in 
peace.'  The  cure,  more  moderate  on  this  occasion  and 
more  reasonable  than  usual  with  him,  turned  toward  those 
who  were  present  and  said,  '  You  see  plainly,  gentlemen, 
that  he  has  not  his  head.' 

"  At  this  moment,  however,  he  had  complete  posses- 
sion of  his  reason  ;  but  the  persons  present,  as  you  may 
well  believe,  sire,  took  no  pains  to  contradict  the  cure. 
That  pitiful  parson  (capelan)  then  retired  from  the  cham- 
ber, and  in  the  conversation  which  he  held  with  the 
family,  he  was  so  maladroit  as  to  betray  himself,  and  to 
prove  clearl}^  that  all  his  conduct  was  an  affair  of  vanity. 
He  told  them  that  they  had  done  very  ill  to  summon  the 
Abbe  Gaultier,  who  had  spoiled  everything ;  that  they 
should  have  addressed  themselves  to  him  alone,  the  parish 
priest  of  the  sick  man  ;  that  he  would  have  seen  him  in 
in  private  without  witnesses ;  and  that  he  would  have 
arranged  everything." 

"  The  Abbe  Gaultier's  narrative  does  not  materially 
differ  from  that  of  D'Alembert. 

*'  Belle-et-Bonne,  who  never  left  his  bedside  during 
these  last  days,  said  to  Lady  Morgan  in  Paris  forty  years 
afterwards,  as  she  did  to  every  one  with  whom  she  ever 
conversed  on  the  subject :  '  To  his  last  moment  everything 
he  said  and  did  breathed  the  benevolence  and  goodness  of 
his  character  ;  all  announced  in  him  tranquillity,  peace, 
resignation,  except  a  little  movement  of  ill-humor  which 
he  showed  to  the  cure  of  Saint  Sulpice,  when  he  begged 
him  to  withdraw,  and  said  :  "Let  me  die  in  peace."  ' 

"  He  lingered  until  late  in  the  evening.  Ten  minutes 
before  he  breathed  his  last,  he  roused  from  his  slumber, 
took  the  hand  of  his  valet,  pressed  it,  and  said  to  him, 
'  Adieu,  my  dear  Morand ;  I  am  dying.'  These  were  his 
last  words.     He  died   peacefully  and  without  pain,  at  a 


VOLTAIRE.  269 

quarter  past  eleven,  on  Saturday  evening,  May  30,  1778, 
aged  eighty-three  years  six  mouths  and  nine  days." 

The  sentiment  entertained  by  Voltaire  for  the  useless 
rites  he  was  obliged  to  submit  to  is  shown  in  his  letter  to 
the  king  of  Prussia,  written  seven  years  before  his  death  : 

"  I  do  not  fear  death,  which  approaches  apace  ;  but  I 
have  an  unconquerable  aversion  for  the  manner  in  which 
we  have  to  die  in  our  holy,  Catholic,  apostolic,  and  Koman 
religion.  It  seems  to  me  extremely  ridiculous  to  have 
myself  oiled  to  depart  to  the  other  world  as  we  grease  the 
axles  of  our  wagons  before  a  trip.  This  stupidity  and  all 
that  follows  is  so  repugnant  to  me  that  I  am  tempted  to 
have  myself  carried  to  Neufchatel  to  have  the  pleasure  of 
dying  within  your  dominions  "     (Voltaire  in  Exile,  p.  49). 

In  the  year  1777,  but  a  little  while  before  his  death,  he 
wrote  to  the  same  person  :  "  I  have  more  aversion  than 
ever  for  extreme  unction  and  those  who  administer  it." 

Mr.  Parton's  work  is  almost  without  comment  on  Vol- 
taire's motives  in  summoning  a  priest.  All  the  way 
through  the  reader  is  left  to  form  his  own  conclusions 
upon  Voltaire.  The  truth,  so  far  as  ascertainable,  is 
stated,  and  when  the  authority  for  anything  is  doubtful 
Mr.  Parton  has  no  hesitancy  in  saying  so. 

One  of  the  best  proofs  that  Voltaire  did  not  recant  is 
that  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  who  were  over  the  "  poor 
devil  of  a  priest,"  Gaultier,  denied  Voltaire  sepulture,  and, 
although  his  bones  were  laid  in  the  Abbey  of  Scellieres,  it 
was  only  because  they  arrived  there  a  little  ahead  of  the 
prohibition  of  the  Bishop  of  Troyes.  The  prior  of  the 
abbey  was  very  nearly  expelled  for  permitting  Voltaire's 
body  to  be  received.  He  was  compelled  to  visit  Paris, 
and  it  was  only  after  much  trouble  that  he  overcame  the 
persecution  of  his  brother  church  officials. 

For  thirteen  years  the  bod}-  of  Voltaire  remained  in 
the  vault  of  the  village  church  in  Champagne.  Then  by  a 
grand    triumphal   procession   it   was   removed   to   Paris, 


270  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

where  it  rested  one  night  and  part  of  the  next  day  upon 
the  ruins  of  the  Bastille  on  the  very  spot  where,  wlien  liv- 
ing, he  had  been  confined.  All  Paris  visited  the  spot  and 
paid  its  tribute  of  love  and  respect  to  him.  The  body  was 
transported  in  magnificent  procession  to  the  Pantheon, 
where  it  remained  until  the  return  of  the  Bourbon  king  to 
Paris,  after  the  departure  of  Bonaparte  to  Elba.  In  1814 
the  royalists  represented  to  the  ministry  that  the  presence 
of  Voltaire's  remains  m  the  ancient  church  of  Sainte- 
Genevieve  was  an  outrage  not  to  be  borne  by  the  church, 
and  "one  night  in  the  month  of  Ma}',  1814,  the  bones  of 
Voltaire  and  of  Rousseau  were  taken  out  of  their  coffins  of 
lead,  tumbled  into  a  common  sack,  and  placed  in  a  hack- 
ney coach  stationed  in  the  rear  of  the  church.  The  car- 
riage moved  away  slowly,  accompanied  by  five  or  si::  per- 
sons, and  went  out  of  town  by  unfrequented  streets  to  the^ 
barrier  De  la  Gare,  opposite  Bercy.  Near  that  barrier 
there  was  then  an  extensive  piece  of  waste  ground  inclosed 
by  a  board  fence,  public  property,  not  yet  put  to  any  use 
whatever.  Near  the  middle  of  the  inclosure  a  deep  hole 
had  been  previously  dug  by  persons  who  were  then  wait- 
ing for  the  arrival  of  this  strange  burial  party.  The  sack 
of  bones  was  emptied  into  a  pit ;  a  sack  of  lime  was 
poured  upon  them.  The  hole  was  then  filled  up  with 
earth,  all  traces  of  the  meeting  were  obliterated  as  far  as 
possible,  and  the  party  then  separated  in  silence. 

"  The  secret  was  well  kept.  There  was  occasionally  a. 
rumor,  difficult  to  trace,  and  not  generally  believed,  that 
the  sarcophagus  was  empty.  In  186-4,  when  the  family  of 
the  Villettes  became  extinct,  the  heart  of  Voltaire  (which 
had  been  removed  from  the  body  when  it  was  embalmed, 
in  1778,  inclosed  in  a  silver  vase  and  given  by  Madame 
Denis  to  the  husband  of  Belle-et-Bonne)  became  the  prop- 
erty of  the  nation,  and  it  was  a  question  with  the  usurper 
what  should  be  done  with  it.  He  suggested  that  it  be 
placed  with  the  other  remains  of  the  poet  in  the  church  of 


ELLA   ELYIRA    GIBSON  (p.  743). 


VOLTAIRE. 


271 


Sainte-Geiievieve.  The  Archbishop  of  Paris,  who  was 
probably  acquainted  with  these  facts,  observed  that  it 
might  be  well  to  ascertain  first  whether  the  ashes  of  Vol- 
taire were  really  in  the  place  where  they  had  been  de- 
posited. An  examination  of  the  sarcophagus  was  ordered. 
It  was  opened,  and  found  to  be  empty.  Thus  the  fate 
actually  befell  the  remains  which  the  poet  had  dreaded 
from  tlie  time  when  he  saw  the  body  of  Adrienne  Lecouv- 
reur  carried  out  at  dead  of  night,  and  placed  in  an  un- 
marked grave  in  a  vacant  lot  on  the  outskirts  of  Paris  " 
(Parton's  Life  of  Voltaire). 

Thus  the  church  wreaked  her  cowardly  revenge  upon 
the  bones  of  her  great  enemy.  Voltaire  dreaded  this  fate, 
and  to  avoid  it  he  made  the  "  profession  of  faith  "  which 
has  been  quoted.  He  should  have  known  the  church 
better.  He  might  have  known  that  she  has  no  heart,  no 
conscience,  no  sense  of  honor.  None  knew  better  than 
he  that  her  course  for  centuries  had  been  deceit  and 
treachery.  As  well  might  he  have  suffered  himself  to  be 
embraced  by  a  serpent.  But  his  life  had  been  a  stormy 
and  tempestuous  existence.  He  had  been  exiled,  had 
been  in  the  Bastile  for  his  heresy.  He  had  seen  the  body 
of  poor  Adrienne  Lecouvreur  thrown  into  the  ground  like 
a  dog  because  she  did  not  believe  in  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. He  had  seen  the  unseemly  strife  of  priests  over 
corpses  which  had  not  received  the  sacrament  and  could 
not  be  buried  in  consecrated  ground.  The  priests  con- 
trolled the  bodies  of  the  people,  living  and  dead,  whoever 
controlled  their  souls.  Voltaire's  Avhole  being  revolted  at 
the  thought  of  being  treated  like  a  brute.  He  wanted  no 
wrangle  over  him  when  dying,  and  when  dead  he  wanted 
decent  sepulture.  That  he  could  not  got  outside  of  the 
church.  All  graveyards  were  consecrated,  and  the  only 
place  a  heretic's  bones  could  have  was  the  roadside  or  a 
waste  field.  And  so  he  played  the  hypocrite,  jesting  while 
he  did  so,  and  ridiculing  the  sacrament  he  was  receiving. 


272  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

Perhaps  it  would  have  been  better  had  Voltaire  never 
acted  the  part  he  did,  but  after  death,  at  least,  he  wanted 
peace.  The  horrid  burial  of  the  dead  actress  was  ever 
before  him,  and  he  could  see  the  lonely  cortege  going  out 
to  the  "  corner  of  a  road  "  in  the  night  to  bury  her  who  had 
died  without  absolution.  He  revolted  at  such  an  ending; 
and  who  can  blame  him  for  it?  If  by  the  simple  writing 
of  a  few  words  he  could,  as  he  thought,  secure  decent 
burial,  and  an  end  to  the  strife,  small  blame  can  attach  to 
one  who  sought  to  "  crush  the  monster  "  all  his  life.  He 
calmly  prepared  for  death,  and  in  order  not  to  be  thrown 
into  the  kennel  like  poor  Lecouvreur,  he  got  a  "  poor  devil 
of  a  priest,  a  good-natured  simpleton  who  would  be  con- 
tent with  the  minimum  of  concession,"  to  perform  some 
rites  which  would  let  him  into  a  decent  graveyard.  He 
drove  a  hard  bargain  with  the  church,  getting  what  he 
wanted  without  giving  an  equivalent,  and  it  is  well  he 
did,  for  the  church  repudiated  her  part  of  the  contract 
after  his  death. 

This  is  a  true  historv  of  the  death  of  Voltaire.  Ac- 
counts differ  in  some  minor  degree,  but  in  essentials  are  a 
unit.  Voltaire  never  "  recanted,"  and  those  who  say  lie 
did  speak  without  authority,  and  upon  a  subject  about 
which  they  have  taken  little  pains  to  inform  themselves. 

With  reference  to  the  foregoing  article,  Mr.  Parton, 
author  of  the  Life  of  Voltaire,  has  written  the  following 
to  the  editor  of  the  "  Truth  Seeker  :" 

Tour  article  upon  the  alleged  recantation  of  Voltaire 
covers  nearly  the  whole  ground,  but  not  quite.  Allow  me 
to  go  back  a  little  and  remind  you  of  events  that  occurred 
previous  to  his  last  triumphal  visit  to  Paris.  You  remem- 
ber that  after  a  contest  of  forty  years  with  the  hierarchy, 
in  which  he  displayed  more  wit,  more  tact,  more  audacity, 
more  of  everything  that  makes  a  man  victor  over  disad- 
vantages, than  was  ever  before  exhibited  by  mortal  man, 
he  conquered  for  himself  a  secure  home  on  the  soil  of  his 


VOLTAIRE.  273 

native  France.  This  home  was  Ferney,  within  a  few  min- 
utes' ride  of  three  foreign  dominions,  to  which  he  could 
escape  if  notified  of  danger  from  Paris.  Here,  during  the 
remaining  twenty  years  of  his  life,  he  assailed  the  despotic 
superstition  under  which  the  intellectual  life  of  Europe 
was  stifled  by  every  weapon  which  the  literary  art  has  de- 
vised ;  and  yet,  private  man  as  he  was,  living  in  the  king- 
dom of  France,  he  was  almost  as  safe  from  attack  as  he 
could  have  been  in  a  free  country.  This  security  was  due 
to  one  simple  maneuver  of  his — he  kept  on  his  side  the  in- 
dividual who  had  the  king's  ear  last  at  night,  first  in  the 
morning,  and  oftenest  the  rest  of  the  time. 

If  you  say  that  this  was  not  a  very  lofty  style  of  war- 
fare, I  answer  you  :  He  was  a  lone  man  in  a  wide  field, 
with  a  whole  herd  of  bulls  burning  to  destroy  him.  He 
had  to  trick  and  deceive  them  as  best  he  could.  He  was 
fully  resolved  not  to  let  them  get  the  better  of  him.  He 
was  not  disposed  to  be  a  martyr  and  leave  them  free  to 
rage  and  destroy. 

As  long  as  he  was  alive  he  knew  that  he  could  bajffle 
them.  But  all  men  must  die.  As  soon  as  he  had  fully 
secured  liis  earthly  abode  he  set  about  preparing  a  safe 
resting-place  for  his  bones.  He  built  a  tomb  in  his  parish 
church,  he  gave  a  small  pension  to  the  pastor  of  the  parish, 
and  he  depended  on  his  riglit  as  lord  of  the  manor  to 
secure  a  decent  burial  in  the  tomb  which  he  had  caused 
to  be  constructed.  He  had  not  merely  a  sentimental  ob- 
jection to  being  buried  in  the  highway  or  cast  into  the 
kennel  like  a  dead  dog.  His  chief  motive  was  to  deprive 
the  bishops  of  the  triumph  of  insulting  his  remains.  As 
he  had  defied  them  in  his  life,  he  desired  to  baffle  them 
after  his  death.  To  this  end  he  made  arrangements  to 
spend  his  last  hours  in  one  of  tlie  cantons  of  Switzerland, 
where  his  secretary  hired  a  house  for  the  purpose  ;  and 
in  case  there  should  be  any  difficulty  about  his  interment 
in  his  tomb,  he  ordered  his  secretary  to  place  his  remains 


274  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

in  a  portion  of  his  bath-house,  a  building  separate   from 
the  chateau. 

All  these  arrangements  were  rendered  unavailable 
through  his  dying  at  Paris.  Acting  upon  the  advice  of 
his  stanchest  friend,  D'Alembert,  he  deemed  it  best  to 
make  a  confession  to  the  priests,  as  the  least  of  many 
evils.  He  made  the  usual  formal  acknowledgment  in  the 
expectation  of  saving  his  famil}-,  his  friends,  and  the 
French  Academy  from  embarrassment  and  inconvenience 
after  his  death.  He  was  then  living  in  another  man's 
house,  in  a  city  which  was  four  days'  journey  from  his  own 
abode. 

Nevertheless,  I  wish  that  he  had  made  no  concession 
whatever  to  the  church.  I  wish  that  he  had  given  himself 
no  concern  about  his  barial,  and  that  when  the  breath  Avas 
out  of  his  body  the  family  had  thrown  upon  the  govern- 
ment the  responsibility  of  his  interment,  saying,  in  decent 
official  form  :  "  The  great  Voltaire  is  no  more.  A  parish 
priest  refuses  him  burial.  Dispose  of  his  remains."  Such 
a  course  would  have  reduced  the  government  to  a  dilemma 
of  an  embarrassing  character,  which  could  scarcely  have 
failed  to  benefit  the  cause  for  which  Voltaire  lived  and 
died. 

It  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  for  us  who  inherit 
the  results  of  his  labors  to  sit  here  in  peace  and  say  what 
ought  to  have  been  done  in  Paris  in  1778.  He  took  the 
course  that  then  seemed  best ;  and  the  more  intimately 
we  know  the  period  and  the  circumstances  the  less  we 
shall  be  surprised  at  what  he  did. 

Very  truly  yours,  James  Parton. 

EoussEAU.— 1712-1778. 

Rousseau,  we  might  say,  was  a  piece  of  Voltaire,  a  part 
of  him  electrified,  and  made  luminous  with  such  concen- 
trated energy  that,  at  times,  he  shines  with  even  more  in- 
tense  brilliance    than  Voltaire   himself.     He   is   narrower 


ROUSSEAU.  275 

tlian  Voltaire.  He  is  simply  volcanic,  towering  and  flam- 
ing, but  be  does  not  include  the  witle  spaces  of  Y<jltuire's 
universal  genius.  Rousseau  and  Diderot  both  are  ex- 
pressions of  Voltaire's  greater  mind,  not  echoes,  but 
streams  of  light  frbm  this  original  fountain  ;  forces  in 
themselves,  but  acquiring  momentum  and  radiance  from 
this  superior  power.  Voltaire  was  surrounded  by  great 
men,  but  he  himself  was  the  stimulating  atmosphere  ;  he 
was  the  deepest,  the  highest,  the  most  comprehensive- 
Like  Bruno,  he  touched  every  thought  of  his  age,  he  in- 
fused his  own  spirit  into  it.  He  was  the  thoroughly 
representative  man  of  that  extraordinary  era. 

As  Hugo  puts  it,  Rousseau  was  the  citizen,  Voltaire 
was  the  man,  the  universal  man,  broader  than  country^ 
than  any  state.  It  is  as  a  citizen,  mainly,  that  we  must 
contemplate  Rousseau  and  see  the  value  of  his  work.  It 
is  as  a  member  of  the  state  that  he  pours  his  greatest 
light  upon  humanity,  and  marks  out  tlie  patii  of  progress  ; 
not  the  broadest  path,  but  a  path  absolutely  necessary, 
even  though  it  passes  through  the  blood  and  horror  of 
the  Revolution. 

The  doctrine  of  human  rights,  although  in  the  seed- 
thoughts  of  Bruno  and  Voltaire  a  fructifying  and  growing 
concept,  and  pIso  declared  by  Hobbes,  the  great  English 
philosopher,  with  exquisite  eloquence,  yet  engendered  in 
the  fiery  soul  of  Rousseau,  became,  as  never  before,  a 
flaming  influence  in  the  minds  of  men.  It  became  a  tre- 
mendous conviction.  It  surged  and  rolled  like  a  lava-tide, 
and  its  vast  and  magnificent  results,  through  storm  and 
battle,  are  not  yet  witnessed. 

Well  may  Rousseau  be  called  the  prelude  of  the 
French  Revolution.  He  was  born  to  be  a  Lucifer.  He 
was,  in  his  very  nature,  a  soul  of  fire.  He  was  the  electric 
battery  which  flashed  forth  the  nascent  glory  of  what 
was  in  the  blind  and  struggling  masses.  Somewhere  there 
must  be  that  burning  focus,  and  Rousseau  was  this  focus. 


276  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

In  the  deepest  sense  of  the  term  he  was  an  impassioned 
instrument  of  the  thoughts  and  desires  of  millions  of  men, 
and  in  agony,  almost,  he  poured  forth  the  accumulating  in- 
tensities of  these  dumb  multitudes.  The  very  imperfec- 
tions of  Rousseau  constitute  his  surpassing  excellence. 
li:  made  him  a  live  man  instead  of  a  statue.  It  made  him 
mobile,  swift,  impetuous,  earnest,  reckless,  daring,  sincere, 
and  deeply  in  sympathy  with  the  world  about  him.  He 
dipped  his  pen  in  his  own  heart's  blood,  we  might  say, 
and  he  wrote  with  a  furious  disdain,  as  if  the  moment 
were  his  last  and  the  truth  must  be  spoken.  It  needed 
just  such  a  man  as  Rousseau  to  precipitate  the  elements 
of  that  fateful  period,  so  that  from  the  crystallized  forces 
should  begin  the  great  drama  of  modern  democracy.  He 
touched  the  springs  and  a  new  future  dawned  upon  hu- 
manity. 

The  doctrine  of  human  right  is  the  only  foundation  of 
the  state.  A  state  founded  on  auy  other  basis  is  an  out- 
rage. If  there  were  no  state,  tlien  there  were  no  need  of 
insisting  upon  rights.  If  human  society  flowed  harmo- 
niously along,  and  all  lived  their  life  unopposed  and  unin- 
vaded,  and  no  police  were  requisite,  then  the  words  "  nat- 
ural rights"  or  "equal  rights"  would  not  be  heard  of, 
any  more  than  medicine  would  be  heard  of  if  there  were 
no  disease.  But  since  a  state  is  to  be  formed,  a  product 
of  the  necessities  of  human  society,  then  there  can  be  no 
other  basis  for  that  state  but  the  freedom  and  equality  of 
all  men.  If  there  are  no  "  rights  of  man,"  then  certainly 
there  should  be  no  "state  ;"  but  if  there  is  to  be  a  "state," 
then  certainly  there  must  be  the  "  rights  of  man."  If 
rights  are  abolished,  then  the  htate  must  also  be  abolished. 
There  can  be  no  possible  foundation  for  a  political  struct- 
ure other  than  universal  human  rights.  If  one  man  is 
born  free,  then  all  men  are  born  free.  If  one  has  a  right 
to  life  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  Lappiness,  then  all  have 
the  same  right.     It  is  not  a  question  of  capacity,  of  mental 


CHARLES  WATTS  (p.  832). 


THE   PARIS  SALON.  277 

gifts,  of  fortunate  circumstances  ;  it  is  a  question  of  liuman 
nature,  of  what  it  essentially  is,  not  from  a  purely  scien- 
tific view,  or  metaphysical  view,  but  from  a  practical  po- 
litical view.  In  the  formation  of  a  state,  what  are  men  to 
be  taken  for,  as  slaves  or  free  beings?  There  is  no-ques- 
tion in  the  modern  mind  about  this.  The  state  must  be 
composed  of  freemen,  and  not  slaves,  and  its  voice  must 
be  the  voice  of  justice  to  all,  and  not  privileges  for  the 
few,  and  the  yoke  for  the  many.  This  was  the  message  of 
Bousseau,  startling,  imperious,  freighted  with  thunder  and 
war,  but  the  truest  and  grandest  message  ever  spoken  to 
human  ears,  for  in  it  is  the  glory  of  civilization  and  the 
real  majesty  of  nations. 

The  Paris  Salon. 

Perhaps  the  most  wonderful  thing  in  this  wonderful 
age  was  the  Paris  Salon.  Here  was  a  society,  a  truly 
anarchistic  society,  where  only  beauty  and  genius  reigned, 
flourishing  in  the  very  heart  of  despotism  and  doing  more 
than  anything  else  to  overthrow  all  authority.  Here  was 
wit  and  wisdom,  philosophy  and  poetry,  all  the  graces  and 
all  the  arts ;  here  was  courtesy,  fashion,  nobility,  culture, 
learning,  elegance,  and  wealth.  It  was  like  a  fairy  world 
indeed,  where  life  was  simply  luxury,  yet  a  fairy  world  of 
splendor  and  joy  on  the  very  bosom  of  a  volcano  ;  itself, 
in  fact,  creating  that  volcano,  its  very  atmosphere  of  de- 
light and  refinement  being  the  electric  force  to  make  lurid 
and  destructive  the  after  years.  Yet  they  knew  it  not, 
careless  and  unconscious,  rich  and  favored  beings ;  Free- 
thinkers, but  Freethinkers  simply  for  the  intense  pleasure 
of  mental  liberty,  criticising  and  overthrowing  beliefs, 
doubting,  questioning,  searching;  laughing  philosophers, 
to  whom  the  gods  were  only  sport  and  play.  Little  did  the 
inhabitants  of  this  brilliant  world  realize  what  thunder- 
bolts they  were  forging,  that  they  were  setting  the  world 
to  thinking  as  never  before,  that    they  were   destroying 


278  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGUT. 

the  vei}'  foundations  of  their  own  social  prestige.  They 
imagined,  perhaps,  it  was  all  among  themselves  that  these 
thoughts  flashed.  They  did  not  know  that  these  thoughts 
went  far  beyond  into  a  million  minds,  to  flame  eventually  in 
lio-htniug  splendor.  The  Paris  Salon  unconsciously  points 
the  index  finger  to  the  French  Eevolutioii.  In  it  is  the  mak- 
ing of  the  French  Revolution.  We  might  say  that  without 
the  salon  there  would  have  been  no  Revolution  ;  at  least, 
the  Revolution  would  not  have  contained  the  vast  intel- 
lectual power  that  it  did.  In  the  Paris  Salon  were  con- 
gregated the  most  famous  geniuses  in  Europe — wits, 
scholars,  poets,  artists  ;  politicians  like  Walpole,  philoso- 
])hers  like  Hume,  writers  like  Gibbon  ;  the  most  beautiful 
women  were  there,  gifted  and  royal  by  nature's  opulence. 
There  was  freedom  and  equality,  the  ideal  state  of  Rous- 
seau, for  each  was  welcomed  and  honored  for  Avhat  he 
was,  and  not  merely  for  rank  and  riches.  There  was  de- 
mocracy indeed  in  this  radiant  and  entrancing  circle.  It 
was  the  reign  of  intellect,  the  throne  of  genius,  the  scepter 
of  wit.  There  were  no  artiiicial  distinctions  after  entrance 
was  gained  to  this  kingless  realm,  for  one's  own  endow- 
ments and  acquirements  gave  the  badge  of  honor.  No 
wonder  this  became  a  potent  world,  no  wonder  it  became 
a  creative  power,  no  wonder  it  glittered  with  thoughts 
which  afterwards  thundered  to  the  nations  the  fall  of  the 
Bastile. 

This  world,  broad  as  the  universe  in  its  intellectual 
sweep,  was  narrow  in  its  social  range,  and  therefore 
doomed  to  destruction.  It  was  a  limited  and  not  a  uni- 
versal democracy,  but  for  tlie  time  in  which  it  flourished 
it  was  an  immense  blessing.  It  was  one  of  the  mightiest 
Freethought  forces  in  human  history.  It  struck  a  blow 
at  authorit}',  at  the  church,  at  the  throne,  from  which 
these  have  never  recovered  It  was  selfish,  luxurious, easy- 
going. It  ate,  drank,  and  was  merry.  It  was  animated 
by  no  sublime  purpose.     It  builded,  or  rather  it  destroyed, 


THE  PARIS  SALON.  279 

better  than  it  knew.  It  was  a  radiant  revelry,  but  it  was 
a  world  of  genius.  It  was  something  new,  original,  and 
magnificent.  In  the  midst  of  all  its  ornamental  surround- 
ings was  the  piercing  power  of  thought,  and  thus  it  be- 
came a  resplendent  and  powerful  instrument  of  human 
progress. 

Says  the  historian,  writing  of  Gibbon's  visit  to  Paris : 
■'  Gibbon  seems  to  have  been  little,  if  at  all,  aware  of 
the  extraordinary  character  of  the  society  of  wliich  he  be- 
came a  spectator,  and,  for  a  time,  a  member.  He  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  conscious  that  he  was  witnessing  one 
of  the  most  singular  social  phases  that  has  yet  been 
presented  in  the  history  of  man.  And  no  blame  attaches 
to  him  for  this.  No  one  of  his  contemporaries  saw  deeper 
in  this  direction  than  he  did.  It  is  a  remarkable  instance 
of  the  way  in  which  the  widest  and  deepest  social  move- 
ments are  veiled  to  the  eyes  of  those  who  see  tliem,  pre- 
cisely because  of  their  width  and  depth.  Foreigners, 
especially  Englishmen,  visited  Paris  in  the  latter  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century  and  reported  variously  of  their 
experience  and  impressions.  Some,  like  Hume  and  Sterne, 
are  deliojlited ;  some,  like  Gibbon,  are  quietly  and 
thoroughly  pleased  ;  some,  like  Walpole,  though  he,  per- 
haps, is  a  class  by  himself,  are  half  pleased  and  half  dis- 
gusted. They  all  feel  that  there  is  something  peculiar  in 
what  they  witness,  but  never  seem  to  suspect  that  nothing 
like  it  was  ever  seen  before  in  the  world.  One  is  tempted 
to  wish  they  could  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  or,  much 
more,  that  we  could  have  had  the  privilege  of  enjoying 
their  experience,  of  spendincr  a  few  months  in  that  singular 
epoch  when  "society,"  properly  so-called,  the  assembling 
of  men  and  women  in  drawing-rooms,  for  the  purpose  of 
conversation,  was  the  most  serious  as  well  as  the  most 
delightful  business  of  life.  Talk  and  discussion  in  the 
senate,  the  market-place,  are  cheap  ;  even  barbarians  are 
not  whollv  without  them.     But  their  refinement  and  con- 


280  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREBTHOUGHT. 

centration  in  the  Salon,  of  which  the  president  was  a 
woman  of  tact  and  culture,  this  is  a  phenomenon  which 
never  appeared  but  in  Paris  in  the  eighteenth  ceuturj-. 
And  yet  scholars,  men  of  the  world,  men  of  business, 
passed  through  this  wonderland  with  eyes  blindfolded. 
They  are  free  to  enter,  they  go,  they  come,  without  a  sign 
that  they  have  realized  the  marvelous  scene  that  they 
were  permitted  to  traverse.  One  does  not  wonder  that 
the}-  did  not  perceive  that,  in  those  graceful  drawing- 
rooms,  filled  with  stately  company  of  elaborate  manner, 
ideas  and  sentiments  were  discussed  and  evolved  which 
would  soon  be  more  explosive  than  gunpowder.  One  does 
not  wonder  that  they  did  not  see  ahead  of  them — men 
never  do.  One  does  rather  wonder  that  they  did  not  see 
what  was  before  their  eyes.  But  wonder  is  useless  and  a 
mistake.  People  who  have  never  seen  a  volcano  cannot 
be  expected  to  fear  the  burning  lava,  or  even  to  see  that  a 
volcano  differs  from  any  other  mountain." 

What  pictures  pass  before  the  mind  of  that  exciting 
period.  The  Jesuits  were  tottering  to  their  fall.  Free- 
thought  never  had  a  more  wily,  persistent,  far-reaching, 
and  diabolical  foe  than  the  Jesuit.  The  order  was  estab- 
lished in  154:0.  The  general  of  the  order  was  chosen  for 
life,  and  was  to  be  obeyed  as  God.  The  members  were 
vowed  t  >  poverty,  chastity,  obedience.  They  were  to  go 
wherever  commanded.  They  were  absolutely  subject  to 
the  pope,  and  not  to  the  church.  They  penetrated  into 
the  remr)test  corners  of  the  earth.  They  silently  en- 
grossed the  eilucation  of  the  young.  There  was  no  guise 
under  which  the  Jesuit  might  not  be  found — a  barefoot 
beggar,  a  learned  professor,  a  man  of  the  world.  They 
sat  in  the  cabinets  of  kings.  To  the  Jesuit  all  things  were 
proper  for  the  sake  of  the  church.  His  was  the  motto  : 
'The  end  justifies  the  me.ms."  Murder^  falsehood,  con- 
spiracy— anything  was  right  if  it  helped  the  cause.  They 
were  spies   upon   each   other;  and    under   o;ith    to   reveal 


THE  PARIS  SALON.  281 

everything  to  the  superior.  They  were  mixed  up  with 
almost  every  affair ;  were  at  the  bottom  of  every  intrigue. 
They  made  use  of  commerce,  business,  love,  disappoint- 
ment, hatred,  revenge,  every  human  passion  and  weakness, 
for  the  accomplishment  of  their  purpose. 

An  intolerable  apprehension  of  their  vast  and  unscru- 
pulous agency  made  all  Europe  put  them  down  at  last. 
Men  found  within  the  silken  glove  an  iron  hand.  It  was 
like  a  prodigious,  yet  invisible,  machine,  existing  in  the 
very  heart  of  society,  while  its  movements  were  unknown, 
except  some  event  flashed  to  the  surface.  The  organiza- 
tion was  known  to  exist,  with  enormous  wealth,  with  thou- 
sands committed  to  its  mandate  without  any  reserve ;  a 
unit  in  its  tremendous  potency;  and  yet  where  was  it? 
who  could  reach  it?  who  could  contend  against  it?  It 
was  like  a  shadow,  penetrating  like  a  baleful  pestilence, 
of  which  all  kings,  statesmen,  courtiers,  great  ladies,  and 
even  good  Catholics  who  were  not  within  that  secret 
circle,  were  in  terror,  and  knew  not  when  they  might 
be  smitten  by  that  awful  power.  They  Avere  suppressed 
by  the  parliament  of  Paris  in  1762;  and  by  the  edict  of 
the  king  in  November,  1764,  and  were  abolished  by  a 
papal  bull  in  1773.  Tfeey,  however,  have  again  been  re- 
stored ;  but  through  the  influence  of  Voltaire  and  the 
Encyclopedists  the  society,  at  this  time,  was  under  the 
popular  ban.  Voltaire,  in  his  early  life,  had  experience 
of  the  methods  and  spirit  of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and 
he  was  their  uncompromising  and  powerful  foe. 

The  Encyclopedia,  shining  over  the  fall  of  the  Jesuits, 
was  the  rising  power  for  freedom  and  progress. 

This  was  one  of  the  greatest  undertakings  in  literature, 
a  work  which  excited  extraordinary  attention,  and  ex- 
ercised a  marvelous  influence  on  men's  opinions  and  was 
dreaded  by  the  church,  not  only  for  its  learning  and 
genius,  but  for  the  revolutionary  ideas  which  sparkled 
upon   its   freighted   pages.     The   Jesuits   persecuted    its 


282  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

authors  and  sought  to  destroy  it.  Fortunately,  their 
power  was  waning,  and  the  perseverance  of  Diderot 
through  a  thousand  difficulties  completed  this  monumental 
work. 

Diderot  was  born  in  1713  and  died  in  1784.  "  Diderot," 
says  Victor  Hugo,  "  a  vast  intelligence,  inquisitive,  a  tender 
heart,  a  thirst  for  justice,  wished  to  give  certain  notions  as 
the  foundation  of  true  ideas,  and  created  the  encyclo- 
pedia." 

A  bookseller  applied  to  him  with  a  project  for  the 
translation  into  French  of  Chambers's  Cyclopedia.  He 
persuaded  the  bookseller  to  enter  on  a  new  project,  to 
collect  under  one  roof  all  the  active  writers,  all  the  new 
ideas,  and  the  new  knowledge  that  was  then  in  the  cul- 
tivated world.  In  1750  an  elaborate  prospectus  announced 
the  publication,  and  in  1751  the  first  volume  was  given  to 
the  press,  and  not  until  1772  was  the  final  volume  put 
forth.  There  were  over  four  thousand  subscribers.  The 
ecclesiastical  party  detested  the  Encyclopedia,  in  which  they 
saw,  and  rightly,  a  new  stronghold  for  their  philosophic 
enemies.  The  Encyclopedia  takes  for  granted  the  justice 
of  religious  tolerance  and  speculative  freedom.  It  asserts 
distinctly  the  democratic  doctrine  that  it  is  the  common 
people  in  a  nation  whose  welfare  ought  to  be  the  main 
concern  of  government.  From  beginning  to  end  it  is  one 
unbroken  exaltation  of  scientific  knowledge  and  peaceful 
industry. 

Among  the  contributors  to  the  work  were  Voltaire, 
Euler,  Marmontel,  Montesquieu,  D'Anville,  D'Holbach, 
and  Turgot.  Such  was  tlie  opposition  to  the  work  and 
the  indignities  heaped  upon  its  authors,  and  the  inter- 
ference of  governmental  authorities,  that  D'Alembert  and 
Turgot  withdrew.  Diderot  completed  the  work  as  best 
he  could.  For  seven  years  he  labored  like  a  slave  at  the 
oar.  He  wrote  several  hundred  articles.  He  wore  out 
his  eyesight   in   correcting   proofs.     He    was   incessantly 


GEORGE  W.  FOOTE  (p.  831>. 


THE  PARIS  SALON.  283 

harassed  by  alarms  of  a  descent  from  the  police  ;  and  at 
the  very  last  moment  he  suffered  the  crowning  mortifica- 
tion— the  bookseller,  Lebreten,  and  his  foreman  hastily, 
secretly,  and  by  night,  cut  out  whatever  appeared  daring 
or  likely  to  give  offense,  mutilated  most  of  the  best  articles 
and  burnt  the  manuscript  as  tliey  proceeded.  The  dis- 
covery put  Diderot  into  a  state  of  frenzy  and  despair  from 
rage  and  grief.  The  monument  to  which  he  had  given 
twenty  long  and  oppressive  years  was  thus  irreparably 
defaced.  The  annual  salary  of  Diderot  for  this  work  was 
one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  sterling.  "  And  to  think," 
says  Voltaire,  "  that  an  army  contractor  made  eight  hun- 
dred pounds  in  a  day." 

Mutilated  as  it  was,  however,  the  Encyclopedia  contained 
new  and  fruitful  ideas  for  every  field  of  intellectual 
interest.  No  encyclopedia  has  been  of  such  political  im- 
portance, or  occupied  such  a  place  in  the  civil  and  literary 
history  of  its  race.  It  sought  not  only  to  give  informa- 
tion, but  to  guide  opinion.  It  was  opposed  to  the  clergy, 
and  treated  dogma  historically.  It  attacked  the  despotic 
government  as  well  as  Christianit}'  itself.  No  work  was 
produced  under  greater  difficulties  or  exercised  more  wide- 
spread influence. 

Diderot's  special  department  was  philosophy,  arts,  and 
trades.  He  passed  whole  days  in  workshops,  and  began 
by  examining  a  machine  carefully  ;  then  he  had  it  taken 
to  pieces  and  x)ut  together  again  ;  th3n  he  watched  it  work 
and  finally  worked  it  himself. 

He  announced  the  principles  of  a  new  drama — the 
serious,  domestic,  bourgeois  drama  of  real  life — in  opposi- 
tion to  the  classic  French  stage.  He  gave  a  decisive  bias 
to  the  genius  of  Lessing,  which  has  exercised  so  powerful 
an  influence  upon  the  modern  theater. 

In  pictorial  art  the  criticisms  of  Diderot  are  fertile  in 
ideas.  His  Essay  on  Painting  is  justly  described  by  Goethe 
as  "  a  magnificent  work,  which  speaks  more  helpfully  to 


284  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  poet  than  to  the  painter,  though  to  the  painter  it  is 
as  a  blazing  torch."  "Before  Diderot,"  says  Madame 
Neckar,  "  I  had  never  seen  anything  in  pictures  except 
dull  and  lifeless  colors  ;  it  was  his  imagination  that  gave 
them  relief  and  life,  and  it  is  almost  a  new  sense  for  which 
I  am  indebted  to  his  genius." 

Diderot,  above  all  things,  was  interested  in  the  life  of 
men,  not  the  abstract  life  of  the  race,  but  the  incidents  of 
individual  character,  the  relations  of  concrete  motives,  the 
pathos  and  problems  of  common  life. 

Diderot  was  an  Atheist,  and  turned  for  the  hope  of  the 
race  to  virtue,  to  such  a  regulation  of  conduct  and  motive 
as  shall  make  one  tender,  pitiful,  simple,  contented.  He 
hated  the  political  system  of  France,  which  made  the 
realization  of  universal  domestic  tranquillity  so  hard,  since 
it  was  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  common  people. 

Along  with  Diderot  shine  other  great  figures — Buifon, 
the  founder  of  naturalism ;  Montesquieu,  who  discovered 
in  law  the  eternal  right ;  Helvetius,  whom  Voltaire  called 
his  "  Young  Apollo ; "  Condillac,  a  luminous  and  ad- 
mirable philosopher;  D'Alembert,  a  model  of  accurate 
thinking  and  elegant  composition,  who  did  not  conceal  his 
manly  hostility  to  the  Christian  religion.  He  was  a  found- 
ling. His  foster-mother,  who  tenderly  cared  for  him  for 
over  thirty  years,  did  not  much  rejoice  in  his  fame.  "  You 
will  never,"  she  said,  "  be  anything  but  a  philosopher.  And 
what  is  a  philosopher  ?  A  '  fool  who  plagues  himself  dur- 
ing his  life  that  men  may  talk  of  him  after  his  death.'  " 
D'Alembert  was  a  born  mathematician.  Neither  theology, 
law,  nor  medicine,  which  he  successively  studied,  could 
lure  him  from  his  first  love.  Satisfied  with  a  small  in- 
come, he  did  not  aspire  after  opulence  or  honors.  His 
fame  spread  rapidly  throughout  Europe.  After  the  death 
of  Voltaire  he  was  regarded  as  the  leader  of  the  phi- 
losophical party  in  the  Academy.  The  author  of  "  Biog- 
raphie  Universelle  "  says  :  "  D'Alembert  sh^onld  be  ranked 


THE  PARIS  SALON.  285 

as  high  as  any  contemporary  geometer,  when  we  con- 
sider the  difl&culties  he  overcame,  the  intrinsic  vahie  of 
the  methods  which  he  invented,  and  the  ingenuity  of  his 
ideas." 

Conspicuous  in  the  Salon,  around  wliose  table  gathered 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  time,  is  the  opulent  and 
elegant  D'Holbach.  What  a  world  of  wit  and  wisdom 
would  flash  upon  us  if  the  conversations  of  his  Sunday 
entertainments  could  be  reported.  There  was  revolution 
of  all  sorts — Deism,  Patheism,  and  Atheism.  The  most 
daring  theories  were  broached.  There  was  perfect  liberty. 
The  genial  host,  the  author  of  the  "  System  of  Nature," 
one  of  the  clearest  and  most  vigorous  books  ever  written, 
which  shocked  even  the  enlightened  skeptics  of  Paris, 
was  open-minded  to  every  doctrine,  however  radical  or 
absurd.  Diderot,  who  was  much  more  powerful  in  talking 
than  writing,  was  famous  for  his  inspirating  declamations. 
Rousseau  was  there,  Montesquieu,  D'Alembert,  all  con- 
tributing to  the  sparkling  thought  of  the  occasion. 
D'Holbach  was  a  man  of  the  world.  His  philosophy  was 
that  of  a  man  of  the  world.  He  regarded  religion  as  men 
of  the  world  regard  it,  as  a  superstition.  He  had  no  senti- 
ments or  fancies,  but  plain  common  sense.  He  was  fond 
of  amusement  and  social  entertainment.  He  was  shrewd 
enough  to  avoid  the  oppression  of  the  powers  that  be. 
He  published  his  works  anon5'^mousl3-.  He  lacked  the  en- 
thusiasm of  Rousseau,  the  vast  ability  of  Diderot,  the 
glittering  genius  of  Voltaire,  but  he  was  cultivated,  strong, 
bold,  and  a  consistent  thinker ;  and  he  was  undoubtedly, 
by  means  of  his  wealth,  culture,  amiability,  charming 
manners,  and  courageous  spirit,  one  of  the  great  forces  of 
that  disintegrating  era,  a  man  to  be  remembered  and 
honored  for  his  service  to  Freethought.  He  was  really 
the  most  advanced  intellect  of  his  time.  He  says  :  "Man 
is  the  work  of  nature.  He  exists  in  nature.  He  is  sub- 
mitted to  her  laws.     He  cannot  deliver  himself  from  them. 


286  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

He  cannot  step  beyond  them,  even  in  thouglit.  It  is  in 
vain  Lis  mind  would  spring  forward  beyond  the  visible 
world ;  an  imperious  necessity  ever  compels  his  return ; 
for  a  being  formed  by  nature,  who  is  circumscribed  by 
her  laws,  there  exists  nothing  beyond  the  great  whole  of 
which  he  forms  a  part." 

Woman  played  an  important  part  in  the  Paris  Salon. 
Her  geniTis  was  recognized,  applauded,  and  admired  as 
never  before  in  ain'  society  in  the  world.  She  was  ad- 
mitted as  an  equal.  She  swayed  b}'  virtue  of  her  talents. 
The  old  theological  idea  was  banished.  The  soul,  the 
genius,  the  learning,  as  well  as  the  grace  and  the  beauty 
of  woman,  were  acknowledged.  Woman  was  looked  upon 
as  an  intellectual  companion,  as  capable  of  giving  as  well 
as  receiving  the  treasures  of  human  thought.  Her 
"  rights "  were  never  questioned,  as  they  never  will  be 
questioned  in  any  ideal  society,  and  the  Paris  Salon,  so 
far  as  it  went,  was  a  truly  free  and  equal  commonwealth. 
There  were  no  "upper  classes,"  or  "lower  classes,"  or 
"  caste,"  or  "  sex ;"  it  was  a  society  of  congenial  minds, 
where  the  intellect  only  was  the  standard  of  the  man  and 
the  woman. 

There  were  the  salons  of  Madam  Geoffrin,  Madame 
Helvetius,  Madame  du  Deffand,  and  the  deep-eyed  de 
Lespinasse,  around  whom  hovers  the  romance  of  the  love 
and  friendship  of  D'Alembert.  What  a  picture  could  be 
given  of  the  world's  progress  in  its  deeper,  inner  currents 
if  we  could  look  upon  the  extraordinary  brilliancy  of 
these  gatherings,  under  the  auspices  of  these  beautiful 
women.  What  a  pathos  and  sublimity  about  these  lumi- 
nious  halls,  when  we  remember  the  after  results,  the  ruin 
and  tragedy  which  followed  ;  a  king  and  queen  executed, 
the  streets  of  Paris  drenched  in  blood,  and  many  a  fair 
and  noble  head  rolling  beneath  the  guillotine ;  when 
women,  young  and  old,  gray-beards  and  youth,  learned  to 
die  with  stoic  indifference. 


the  french  revolution.  287 

The  French  Ee volution. 

The  French  Revolution  burst  upon  the  world,  "  the 
greatest,  the  most  unmixed,  the  most  unstained  and 
wholly  perfect  blessing  Europe  has  had  in  modern  times, 
unless,  perhaps,  we  except  the  invention  of  printing,"  says 
Wendell  Phillips.  Victor  Hugo  calls  it  "  a  blest  and 
superb  catastrophe  which  formed  the  conclusion  of  the 
past  and  the  opening  of  the  future." 

Certainly  the  French  Revolution  is  the  greatest  event 
which  ever  took  place  in  human  history.  It  was  not  a 
transitory  cataclysm.  It  was  the  tremendous  result  of 
vast  processes  before,  of  thought,  of  sentiment,  of  phi- 
losophy, art,  and  literature.  It  was  an  incarnation  of 
poetic  justice.  Sudden  in  its  fury,  it  was  slow  in  its  ac- 
cumulations of  pover.  It  was  the  flowing  together  of 
many  streams.  It  was  a  display  of  genius  unapproachable 
in  grandeur  and  magnitude.  It  was  not  a  revolution,  so 
much  as  it  was  an  evolution,  the  profoundest  in  the  sweep 
of  time.  It  seemed  a  reversion  to  original  elements,  and 
yet  it  was  a  transformation  to  higher  life.  It  was  a  tidal 
wave  of  progress, 

'•  Now  dark,  now  glittering. 
Now  lending  splendor,  now  reflecting  gloom." 

It  was  a  universal  movement.  Every  throne  tottered 
and  every  slave  felt  a  thrill  of  hope.  Its  flame  en- 
circled the  planet.  Its  thunders  reverberated  to  dis- 
tant shores.  The  American  Revolution  which  preceded 
it  in  time  was  still  its  result  in  the  domain  of  ideas, 
for  before  its  palpable  birth  it  existed  in  the  chambers 
of  immortal  genius.  It  was  born  a  giant,  full-grown 
like  Minerva  from  the  brain  of  Jove.  The  fall  of  the 
Bastile  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence  are  con- 
temporary in  the  world  of  thought.  There  was  no  prece- 
dence, no  cause  and  effect,  no  antecedent  and  consequent. 


288  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

but  an  actualization  iu  each  of  what  had  already  been 
bodied  forth  in  the  mind  of  man.  The  intellectual  French 
Revolution  which  preceded  its  physical  manifestation  was 
what  created  the  American  republic.  Blind  is  he  who 
thinks  the  French  Revolution  was  simply  an  ebullition  of 
popular  discontent;  that  it  could  have  been  avoided  by 
some  trivial  compromise.  No  peace  was  possible  under 
the  circumstances.  Notliint;  could  have  sta,yed  that  on- 
ward march,  any  more  than  Saturn  by  strength  or  strategy 
could  have  stayed  the  triumphant  Jove.  A  new  era  was 
coming,  and  no  king  or  priest  or  political  juggler  could 
alter  that  imperious  destiny.  A  thousand  forces  were  in 
play.  From  martyr  fires,  and  dungeon  gloom  ;  from  rack 
and  fagot,  and  blazing  home,  and  bloody  field  ;  from  cries 
of  agony  and  tears  of  despair  ;  from  philosopher's  closet, 
the  poet's  burning  heart,  and  secret  cell  of  science  ;  from 
Galileo's  telescope  and  Ziska's  sword ;  from  the  skies  of 
Nolan  and  Taurisano  ;  from  the  halls  of  Feme}' ;  from  the 
workshop  and  the  student's  lamp  ;  from  the  palace  even  of 
the  king,  the  lint  of  the  mountaineer  and  the  vine-clad 
cottage  on  the  plain  ;  from  crowded  street  and  forest 
depth ;  from  ragged  multitude  and  jeweled  assembly  ; 
from  garret  and  drawing-room  ;  from  music  low  and  sweet 
on  lips  of  love,  and  martial  strain  ;  from  book  and  song  and 
speech,  came  the  creative  energies  of  this  surpassing  mo- 
ment. There  never  was  a  period  dowered  with  such  wealth 
of  meaning;  that  had  back  of  it  such  intensities  of  en- 
<leavor ;  such  potencies  and  glories  of  life ;  such  centuries  of 
heroism,  patience,  struggle,  sacrifice,  victory,  pain,  horror, 
despair,  hope,  defeat,  fruition,  eloquence,  melody,  beauty, 
nobleness,  fires  of  genius,  heights  of  thought,  tenderness 
and  magnificence  of  emotion.  In  all  these  things  is  foun- 
tained  the  French  Revolution ;  and  in  its  plenitude  of 
action,  velocity  of  achievement,  immensity  of  power,  and 
swiftness  of  destruction  is  seen  not  only  what  millions  of 
people  were  thinking  and  doing  in  that  "  grand  and  awful 


W.  STEWART- ROSS  (SALADIN)  (p.  832). 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  289 

time,"  but  what  millions  of  people  had  been  thinking  and 
drifting  to  and  sweeping  to  in  the  many  generations 
before  ;  and  this  was  not  the  outbreak  of  an  age  only,  but 
the  product  of  a  mighty  and  immeasurable  past. 

What  was  the  French  Revolution?  It  was  the  voice  of 
the  people.  It  was  the  equality  of  man.  It  was  liberty. 
It  was  justice.  It  was  the  breaking  down  of  oppression, 
the  overthrow  of  king  and  priest,  of  throne  and  church. 
It  was  the  abolition  of  the  dungeon,  of  the  rack,  the 
thumbscrew,  and  the  stake.  It  was  the  martyr's  crown, 
and  the  despot's  crack  of  doom.  It  was  the  light  of  rea- 
son— the  glory  of  science.     It  was  humanity. 

It  pointed  to  the  future.  It  awoke  the  nations.  It 
liberated  and  aroused  all  faculties.  It  gave  courage,  de- 
termination, and  sublime  hope  to  every  man.  It  was  the 
baptism  of  civilization  which,  without  this  renewal,  would 
have  rotted  to  the  core.  It  was  the  turning  point  of  hu- 
man history,  a  revealing  of  fresh  possibilities,  higher 
powers,  and  brighter  destinies.  It  was  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  race,  the  transformation  of  chains  into  rail- 
roads and  electric  wires.  It  was  the  advance  of  industry, 
and  the  illuminated  path  of  thought. 

And  3-et  the  old  orthodox  party,  linked  witli  the  dead 
past,  croaks  of  the  "  horrors "  of  the  French  Revolution 
and  "  The  E-eign  of  Terror."  Were  there  no  liorvors  be- 
fore in  the  path  of  the  Christian  church  ?  Mark  the 
bloody  way  of  the  Crusades,  the  slaughter  of  the  Wal- 
deuses,  the  drenched  soil  of  Bohemia,  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew.  Were  there  no  horrors  when  Cromwell 
took  the  throne?  Was  there  no  "reign  of  terror"  in  Bos- 
ton and  Salem  when  the  Puritans  were  obeying  the  man- 
date of  the  Bible,  "  Suffer  not  a  witch  to  live  ?"  The  gar- 
ments of  the  church  are  scarlet  and  sodden  with  blood, 
and  yet,  with  hypocritical  leer,  she  points  her  trembling 
linerer   at    the   horrors   of    the   French   Revolution,  where 


290  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

thousands  perished  indeed  ;  but  what  were  these  to  the 
millions  that  the  church  has  slain  ? 

Yes,  it  is  too  true  that  in  the  throes  of  the  French 
Revolution  the  terrific  lessons  of  orthodox}^  were  repeated. 
Orthodoxy  had  too  long  taught  the  art  of  murder  for 
even  the  revolutionist  to  escape  the  hereditar}-  influence. 
The  old  spirit  survived  amidst  the  overthrow  of  institu- 
tions, and  freedom,  so  suddenly  acquired,  did  not  throw  off 
from  men's  minds  the  ancient  intolerance.  We  cannot 
expect  perfection  at  once.  Justice  is  a  growth.  It  is  the 
choice  result  of  experience.  The  revolution  gave  a  chance 
for  the  learning  of  justice,  but  not  the  perfect  knowledge. 
The  horrors  of  the  Revolution  were  not  the  result  of  itself, 
but  of  its  antecedents.  They  were  the  inheritance  of  the 
church. 

Says  Paine  :  "  Why  did  they  practice  such  horrid  bar- 
barities ?  Because  of  the  centuries  of  such  examples  of 
cruelt}^  by  cruel  despotisms." 

And  Carlyle  writes  :  "  Fancy,  then,  some  five  full-grown 
millions  of  such  gaunt  figures,  with  haggard  faces,  in 
woolen  jupes,  with  copper-studded  leather  girths  and  high 
sabots,  starting  up  to  ask  their  washed,  upper  classes, 
after  long,  unreviewed  centuries,  virtually  this  question : 
How  have  ye  treated  us  ?  How  have  ye  taught  us,  fed  us, 
and  led  us  while  we  toiled  for  you?  The  answer  can  be 
read  in  flames  over  the  nightly  sky.  This  is  the  feeding 
we  have  had  of  you :  Emptiness  of  pocket,  of  stomach,  of 
head,  of  heart.  Behold,  there  is  nothing  in  %is ;  nothing 
but  what  nature  gives  her  wild  children  of  the  desert — 
ferocity  and  appetite;  strength  grounded  on  hunger.  Did 
ye  mark  among  your  rights  of  man  that  man  was  not  to 
die  of  starvation  while  there  was  bread  reaped  by  him  ? 
It  is  among  the  mights  of  man." 

It  was  partly,  also,  the  fruit  of  a  blind  and  desperate 
effort  at  self-defense.  It  must  be  remembered  that  em- 
battled Europe   was   against  France.      The  despots   were 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  291 

banded  together  and,  like  bloodhounds,  would  dash  upon 
the  new-born  child  of  liberty.  It  was  a  life  and  death 
conflict.  Never,  indeed,  has  one  nation  so  gloriously  vin- 
dicated its  sovereignty.  Never  was  such  a  magnificent 
spirit  of  patriotism  shown.  It  was  like  a  volcanic  fire  in 
every  heart.  Never  were  there  more  marvelous  deeds  of 
courage  and  endurance.  All  honor  to  France  for  the 
greatness  of  her  victories  in  this  hour  of  peril. 

But  the  imminence  and  vastness  of  the  danger  did 
create  something  of  that  dreadful  fear  which  would  make 
one  defend  himself  like  a  wild  animal  at  bay.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  France,  in  her  terror  of  secret  enemies, 
should  be  cruel,  unjust,  and  destructive  even  of  her  own 
best  citizens.  How  pathetic  it  all  is,  the  crimes  com- 
mitted in  the  name  of  liberty!  How  it  saddens  and 
almost  breaks  the  heart !  But  wisdom  says  that  the 
evils  of  liberty  can  only  be  remedied  by  liberty  itself. 
The  true  order  of  society,  which  is  the  child  of  liberty, 
will  some  day  appear.  Only  by  the  preservation  of 
liberty  can  we  attain  the  noblest  justice. 

Let  us  not  justify  one  crime  of  the  Revolution,  but 
let  us  place  the  origin  of  the  crime  where  it  belongs — in 
the  heart  of  despotism  itself. 

Let  us  remember  also  that  it  was  religion  per  se,  not 
the  Christian  religion,  I  admit,  but  religion  outside  of 
all  institutions,  that  was  the  direct  cause  of  the  "  Eeign  of 
Terror."  Robespierre  was  a  religious  man,  and  because  he 
was  a  religious  man  he  became  the  tyrant  of  the  hour. 
Robespierre  quoted  with  approval  the  saying :  "  If  there 
were  nO  God  it  would  be  necessary  to  make  one."  It  is  easy 
to  see  that  a  man  so  believing  would  be  a  bigot  and  despot. 
For  "  God  "  is  always  opposed  to  liberty.  If  the  French 
Revolution  had  been  absolutely  under  the  control  of 
Atheists,  there  would  never  have  been  any  reign  of  terror. 
It  is  a  historic  fact  that  believers  in  a  God  were  the  orig- 
inators of  these  terrific  crimes.    It  was  Robespierre's  senti- 


292  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

mental  belief  in  the  god  of  nature  that  made  him  so  cruel 
and  unrelenting.  It  was  this  "  God"  that  urged  him  on 
like  a  furj.  At  the  door  of  religion,  therefore,  we  la}'  all 
the  outrages  of  this  time.  It  was  the  deification  of  reason, 
and  the  deification  of  liberty,  that  made  the  wrong.  The 
deification  of  anything  is  wrong.  Reason  is  not  a  deity, 
liberty  is  not  a  deity,  and  it  was  this  very  religious  and 
deifying  element  in  the  Revolution  that  made  the  crime  of 
it  and  the  curse  of  it.  Let  us  take  reason  for  what  it  is 
worth,  but  not  make  a  god  of  it.  Use  liberty,  but  as 
means  unto  an  end,  not  as  a  deific  be-all  and  end-all,  which 
it  is  not.  Let  us  have  no  gods  of  any  kind,  not  even  a 
goddess  of  liberty.  It  is  all  a  sham.  All  things  that  we 
deal  with  are  human,  imperfect,  relative,  and  instru- 
mental, and  are  in  no  sense  to  be  gods.  Do  not  enthrone 
reason  even  ;  do  not  bow  down  to  it,  or  worship  it,  but 
simply  use  it.  Do  not  enthrone  liberty,  for  in  that  case  it 
becomes  static  and  not  dynamic.  Liberty  is  a  condition 
and  not  .a  command. 

The  example  of  Robespierre  shows  that  the  God  of 
Nature  is  no  better  than  the  God  of  the  Bible.  The  latter 
is  simply  a  reflex  of  the  former,  as  Bishop  Butler  demon- 
strates. The  only  logical  escape  from  Butler's  analogy  is 
pure  Atheism.  The  God  of  Nature  is  a  God  of  cruelty,  a 
God  of  war,  and  the  influence  of  a  belief  in  the  God  of 
Nature  is  shown  in  the  action  of  Robespierre.  The  free- 
dom of  man  is  not  accomplished  when  the  God  of  the 
Bible  disappears.     The  God  of  Nature  must  vanish,  too. 

The  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution  were  the  result 
of  religion,  not  of  reason  and  liberty  and  nature,  but  in 
the  deification  and  worship  of  these,  together  with  the  in- 
herited tendencies  of  the  Christian  religion  itself.  The 
religious  element  of  the  Revolution  was  not  its  predomi- 
nating or  profoundest  element.  It  was  the  human  element 
— the  human  powers  liberated  and  expanded — that  made 
the  glory  of  this  momentous  epoch 


TEE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  293 

But  the  "  horrors  "  of  the  French  Revolution  were  not 
all  on  one  side.  Behold  what  was  done  bj  the  nobles  in 
their  frantic  endeavor  to  destroy  the  reign  of  the  people. 

Van  Laun's  History  says :  "  But  the  peasants  do  not 
have  it  all  their  own  way,  the  nobles  make  desperate  at- 
tempts to  break  down  the  insurrection.  '  M.  de  Memmay, 
lord  of  Quincy,  invites  the  soldiers,  workmen,  and  peas- 
ants to  a  fete  at  his  chateau,  in  honor  of  triumphal  liberty. 
Scarcely  has  the  dancing  commenced  before  the  host  re- 
tires under  the  pretext  of  leaving  his  guests  to  their 
undisturbed  enjoyment,  in  reality  to  set  fire  to  a  match 
communicating  with  a  mine  dug  underneath  the  dancers' 
feet.  The  place  is  blown  up,  the  killed  and  wounded  be- 
strewing the  spot.' 

"  In  another  parish  the  lord  of  the  manor  confiscates 
the  only  existing  fountain  by  having  it  inclosed  within  a 
wall,  thus  denying  even  a  drop  of  water  to  the  wretched 
beings  who  have  not  a  crust  of  bread  to  still  their  gnaw- 
ing hunger.  Elsewhere  thirty  peasants  are  hanged  for 
having  taken  some  withered  twigs ;  at  Douai  Parliament 
executes  twelve  villagers  who  took  part  in  a  revolt  against 
the  monopolists ;  at  Macon,  twenty  peasants  who  were 
hungry,  and  refused  to  pay  the  tithes,  fell  under  the  axe 
of  the  feudal  executioner ;  the  nobles  of  Brest  want  to 
hand  over  the  town  to  the  English  ;  everywhere,  in  fact, 
the  nobles  conspire  against  the  people." 

But,  furthermore,  let  us  compare  the  establishment  of 
the  Church  of  England  with  that  of  the  French  Republic. 
This  church  has  been  called  "  the  beautiful  daughter  of  a 
beautiful  mother,"  and  yet  this  "  beautiful  daughter  "  was 
placed  in  power  with  far  greater  butcheries  than  accom- 
panied the  French  Revolution,  and  who  has  ever  heard  of 
the  "horrors"  of  the  reign  of  "Good  Queen  Bess?" 

"  More  Englishmen,"  says  Cobbett,  "  were  slaughtered 
in  one  year  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  for  offenses, 
made  such  by  Act  of  Parliament,  for  the  sole  purpose  of 


294  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

upholding  the  Church  of  England,  than  were  put  to 
death  for  all  offenses  whatsoever  during  the  whole  of  the 
reign  of  '  Bloody  Queen  Mary ;'  more  slaughtered  in  one 
year  for  offenses  made  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  support 
this  church,  than  were  slaughtered  even  in  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  if  we  include  the  deaths  in  prison 
and  the  deaths  occasioned  by  banishment.  The  historian, 
Strype,  tells  us  that  the  queen  executed  more  than  five 
hundred  criminals  in  one  year,  and  was  so  little  satisfied 
with  that  number  that  she  threatened  to  send  private  per- 
sons to  see  her  laws  executed. 

"  The  queen  reigned  for  forty-five  years,  and  these 
forty-five  years  were  spent  in  such  cruelty  as  the  world 
has  never  heard  of  or  read  of  before  ;  and  all  for  the  pur- 
pose of  compelling  people  to  submit  to  the  established 
church.  In  these  forty-five  years  there  was  more  cruelty, 
more  bloodshed,  more  suffering  than  ever  were  witnessed 
in  the  world,  in  any  other  country  in  a  like  period  of  time. 
There  were  butcherings,  rippings-up,  the  tearing  out  the 
bowels  of  her  subjects,  rack  and  torments  of  every  de- 
scription." 

The  following  was  enacted  against  the  Dissenters : 
"  The  offender  was  to  abjure  the  realm,  that  is  to  say,  was 
to  banish  himself  for  life  ;  and  if  he  failed  to  do  this ;  if 
he  did  not  get  out  of  the  kingdom  in  the  course  of 
such  time  as  should  be  appointed  by  authority  of  the 
queen ;  or,  if  he  returned  into  the  kingdom  without 
her  leave,  such  a  person  so  offending  '  was  to  be  adjudged 
a  felon,  and  was  to  suffer  without  benefit  of  clergy  ;'  that 
is  to  say,  suffer  the  sentence  due  to  arson  or  murder  ;  to 
be  hanged  by  the  neck  till  he  was  dead."  Laws  equally 
cruel  were  passed  against  the  Catholics.  Under  these 
laws  thousands  were  imprisoned,  tortured,  banished,  and 
put  to  death. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Church  of  England,  which 
claims  to  be  the   most  tolerant   church   in  the  world,  the 


ROBERT  0.   ADAMS  (p.  685). 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  295 

church  of  culture  to-day,  adorned  with  such  brilliant 
names — this  church  was  originally  established  with  more 
blood  and  horror,  more  slaughter  and  injustice  and 
destruction,  than  the  French  Revolution  itself.  Yet  his- 
tory is  silent  as  to  these  horrors ;  they  are  covered  witli 
floAvers  and  forgotten ;  while  the  horrors  of  the  French 
Kevolution  are  perpetually  harped  upon — horrors  created 
by  orthodoxy  itself,  and  wliose  fountain  head  was  the 
religion,  hypocrisy,  superstition,  and  tyranny  of  tlie  past. 
If  anything  was  ever  established  by  crime,  by  murder,  by 
baseness,  by  fraud,  by  a  lie,  it  was  the  Church  of  England. 
It  was  built  upon  tlie  tears  and  despair  of  millions, 
Catholic  and  Dissenter  alike. 

Again,  take  Scotland  and  look  at  its  horrors.  Here  is 
one  of  them,  related  by  Ingersoll : 

"  About  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  boy 
by  the  name  of  Thomas  Aikenhead  was  indicted  and  tried 
at  Edinburgh  for  liaving  denietl  the  inspiration  of  the 
scriptures,  and  for  having,  on  several  occasions,  when 
cold,  wished  himself  in  hell  that  he  might  get  warm. 
Notwithstanding  the  poor  boy  recanted  and  begged  for 
mercy,  he  was  found  guilty  and  hanged.  His  body  was 
thrown  into  a  hole  at  the  foot  of  the  scaffold  and  covered 
with  stones." 

The  following,  says  Ingersoll,  is  still  in  force  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.     It  has  never  been  repealed  : 

'"If  any  person,  by  writing  or  speaking,  blaspheme  or 
curse  God,  or  deny  Jesas  Clirist  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  or 
deny  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  shall  thereof  be  convicted  by 
verdict,  he  shall  for  the  first  offense  be  bored  through  the 
tongue  ;  and  for  the  second  offense  be  stigmatized  by  burn- 
ing on  the  forehead  with  the  letter  B  ;  and  for  the  third 
offense  he  shall  suffer  death  without  benefit  of  clergy." 

Was  there  anything  like  this  in  the  French  Revolution  ? 

Tlie  French  Revolution  has  been  looked  upon  even  by 
Liberal  writers  as  altogether  destructive  ;  yet  it  was  more 


296  FOUR    IirXDRKD    YKARS    OK    FRKKTIIOFTiiHT. 

constructive  than  destructive.  Its  value  as  a  destroyer  is 
incalculable.  Tyranny  lias  never  recovered  from  that 
prodigious  stroke.  It  never  will  so  long  as  the  present 
civilization  endures.  But  the  philosophy  back  of  the 
Revolution  was  preeminently  constructive.  It  was  for 
science,  as  well  as  political  liberty.  It  was  for  the  im- 
provement and  happiness  of  man  on  new  lines  of  thought 
and  endeavor.  The  destruction  had  to  come,  but  the  goal 
was  a  nobler  society,  a  grander  union  of  the  human  race. 

Louis  de  Brouckere  writes  as  follows  of  this  pregnant 
era : 

"The  eighteenth  century  is  still  imperfectly  known 
and  inaccurately  appreciated,  despite  the  innumerable 
works  of  which  it  has  been  the  subject.  It  has  had  the 
bad  fortune  to  be  attacked  at  the  same  time  by  writers  of 
the  conservative  school,  and  by  far  the  greater  part  of 
those  who  clamor  for  progress.  The  admirers  of  the  past 
reproach  the  last  century  with  the  destruction  of  the 
traditional  organization  of  society,  and  do  not  forgive  its 
bitter  criticism  of  Roman  Catholic  thought.  Those  of 
our  contemporaries  who  have  put  confidence  in  the  future 
and  who  expect  from  new  social  forms,  now  in  process  of 
elaboration,  the  realization  of  their  ideal,  too  often  accuse 
the  century  of  the  Revolution  with  having  done  nothing 
but  destroy,  without  having  succeeded  in  building  any- 
thing to  take  the  place  of  what  was  destroyed. 

"According  to  such  writers  the  construction  of  a  new 
brder  of  things  is  the  work  of  our  times  exclusively,  the 
eighteenth  century  having  no  right  to  claim  anything,  save 
that  it  prepared  the  way  by  making  a  tabula  rasa  of  the 
past.  The  two  parties  agree,  then,  as  to  the  purely  nega- 
tive character  of  the  last  century. 

"  This  estimate  appears  to  me  inexact  and  unjust. 
Certainly,  the  negative  character  of  the  great  epoch  is 
that  which  strikes  everyone  at  first,  after  a  superficial  ex- 
amination.    It    must  necessarily  have  been  so  at  a  time 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  297 

when  all  economic,  political,  intellectual,  or  moral  prog- 
ress was  shackled  by  a  social  structure  which  had  grown 
old,  which  was  in  a  state  of  decay  and  incapable  of  further 
evolution. 

"Yet  did  the  Revolutionists  of  that  age  aim  at  nothing 
but  annihilation  ?  Did  the  Revolution  construct  nothing  ? 
Do  we  not  owe  to  it  in  the  economic  world  the  progress  of 
the  principles  applicable  to  organized  labor ;  in  the  politi- 
cal world  the  representative  system?  Do  we  not  find  in 
the  works  of  the  learned  men,  the  philosophers,  and  the 
publicists  of  the  last  century  the  germ  of  the  theories 
which  have  been  fully  developed  in  the  present  century  ? 

"  The  thought  of  our  age,  so  far  from  being  opposed, 
as  has  been  too  often  declared,  to  the  thought  of  the  age 
which  preceded  ours,  is  but  its  normal  and  regular  devel- 
opment, and  there  is  not,  perhaps,  one  important  con- 
clusion of  our  puffed-up  time  which  has  not  been  at  least 
sketched  in  the  works  of  the  Voltaires,  the  Rousseaus, 
the  Holbachs,  the  Diderots,  or  the  Condorcets." 

Wendell  Phillips  relates  the  following  incident : 

"When  I  first  entered  the  Roman  states,  a  custom-house 
official  seized  all  my  French  books.  In  vain  I  held  up  to 
him  a  treatise  by  Fenelon,  and  explained  that  it  was  by  a 
Catholic  archbishop  of  Cambray.  Grufily  he  answered, 
'It  makes  no  difi'erence ;  it  is  French.''  As  I  surrendered 
the  volume  to  his  remorseless  grasp,  I  could  not  but  honor 
the  nation  which  had  made  its  revolutionary  purpose  so 
definite  that  despotism  feared  its  very  language.  I  only 
wished  that  injustice  and  despotism,  everywhere,  might 
one  day  have  as  good  a  cause  to  hate  and  fear  everything 
American." 

Thus  we  behold  the  far-reaching  power  of  the  French 
Revolution,  in  the  world  of  thought  and  the  world  of  ac- 
tion. Its  mighty  influence  has  not  ceased,  will  not  cease 
so  long  as  the  present  civilization  stands.  There  never 
again  will  be  such  gathering  together  of  stupendous  forces. 


298  FOUR  HUNDRED   TEARS  OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

There  never  again  will  be  such  a  display  of  human  will  and 
energy.  It  is  a  Prometheau  era,  drawing  the  fire  from 
heaven,  and  illuminating  all  the  onward  march  of  man, 
flinging  immortal  defiance  to  every  form  of  tyranny  and 
superstition. 

Thomas  Paine.— 1734-1809. 

But  the  French  Revolution  is  not  understood  wholly 
until  we  understand  Thomas  Paine,  in  whom  the  soul  of 
Voltaire  seemed  to  find  radiant  manifestation.  What  a 
figure  he  presents  amidst  those  surging  elements,  serene 
and  confident  as  if  used  to  such  enormous  strife.  He 
never  loses  his  equanimity,  although  death  stares  him  in 
the  face.  He  has  no  particle  of  fear.  He  is  absolutely 
self-sacriiicing.  A  plain,  simple  philosopher,  "a  stay- 
maker,  unkempt,"  says  Cirlyle,  and  yet,  within  him,  as  in 
the  depths  of  ocean,  heaved  immeasurable  powers.  In 
him  was  the  unconquerable  mind.  Already  had  he  won 
fame  ;  alread}^  had  he  created  a  republic;  alreadv  his  pen 
had  been  wielded  with  the  strength  of  a  thumlerbolt.  He 
was  greeted  on  French  soil  with  the  acclamations  of  the 
multitude.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Convention — a 
resident  of  France.  With  unalterable  devotion  he  labored 
for  humanity.  "Where  liberty  is  not, iheve  is  my  country," 
he  said.  In  that  we  find  the  motive  of  this  sublime  spirit. 
He  never  sought  ease  or  wealth.  He  gave  his  money 
freelv,  as  lie  gave  his  labors.  His  ambition  was  simply  to 
do  good.  The  star  of  liberty  shone  before  him  and  he 
never  wavered  in  its  path  of  light  and  gloom.  Notliing 
deterred  him.  He  went  right  on,  though  the  prison  and 
the  guillotine  were  in  his  path.  He  trembled  before  no 
god,  no  ghost,  no  king,  no  priest,  nor  the  thunders  of  an 
angry  mob.  He  was  self-centered.  He  could  stand  alone, 
like  a  mighty  rock,  with  seas  and  storms  breaking  upon 
him.  Not  Mirabeau,  not  Danton,  shone  with  a  more  bril- 
liant genius,  nor  towered  with  more  rugged   strengtli  and 


THOMAS   PAINE.  299 

grandeur.  Yet  lie  was  not  imperious.  He  sought  not  to 
command,  but  to  persuade.  His  weapon  was  reason  and 
peace,  when  peace  was  possible.  He  delighted  not  in 
bloodshed.  He  rejoiced  in  art,  invention,  golden  harvest 
fields,  the  flowing  river  bridged  with  beautiful  arches, 
those  things  which  bind  humanity  together  in  a  fraternal 
glory.  He  was  lofty  and  contemplative,  even  in  danger ; 
yet  not  at  all  did  he  shrink  from  the  ordeal  of  battle.  He 
is  like  the  picture  of  the  eagle.  "Very  beautiful,"  says 
Richter,  "is  the  eagle  when  he  floats  with  outstretched 
wings  aloft  in  the  clear  blue  ;  but  sublime  when  he  plunges 
down  through  the  tempest  to  his  eyrie  on  the  cliff,  Vhere 
his  unfledged  young  ones  dwell  and  are  starving"  Paine 
is  like  the  eagle  in  the  empyrean  of  thought.  He  is  like 
the  eagle  when  he  meets  the  surge  of  tempest  in  defense 
of  human  liberty  and  justice. 

No  man  was  more  really  in  sympathy  with  the  Revolu- 
tion than  Thomas  Paine,  for  no  man  more  thorouglily 
understood  its  meaning.  He  grasped  the  situation.  He 
comprehended  the  past,  he  divined  the  future.  He  was 
both  a  student  and  a  man  of  action.  He  was  a  part 
of  the  intense  drama  itself.  He  was  not  blinded  by 
passion,  yet  every  fibre  of  his  being  throbbed  with  the 
vast  excitement.  He  was  borne  onward,  yet  the  clear 
light  ever  shone  npon  his  mental  vision. 

The  natural  genius  of  P;iine  was  trained  by  a  wonder- 
ful experience.  He  was  a  man  of  the  world,  and  yet  no 
dreamer  was  ever  more  unconventional  than  he.  The 
breath  of  the  new  world  had  inspired  and  amplified  his 
being.  He  had  mingled  with  the  greatest  of  men,  with 
full  equalit}',  though  his  origin  was  humble.  It  required 
no  effort  for  him  to  be  on  a  level  with  a  Franklin,  a  Wash- 
ington, a  Jefferson.  He  was  born  to  be  great  and  he 
achieved  greatness.  His  native  talent  was  extraordinary, 
and  his  acquired  wisdon  was  marvelous  in  its  adapta- 
bility.    Paine  was  discomposed  by  no  circumstances.     He 


300  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OP   FREETHOUaHT. 

was  not  simply  equal ;  he  was  superior  to  the  occasion, 
and  there  was  a  reserve  of  power.  He  always  had  it  in 
him  to  do  even  more  than  was  required.  He  was  never 
demoralized,  never  lost  his  head.  Whatever  happened, 
like  the  typical  American,  he  landed  on  his  feet.  He  was 
ready,  shrewd,  cool,  collected,  unperturbed,  brave,  de- 
termined, sagacious,  keen,  with  wit,  resource,  capacity, 
judgment,  farsightedness,  patience,  politeness,  geniality, 
and  enthusiasm.  He  was  an  all-round  man.  He  was 
calm  as  the  front  of  Jove,  like  Washington,  yet  he  was 
eager,  spontaneous,  poetic,  and  plunged  when  the  time 
demanded  with  superb  abandon  into  the  very  midst  of  the 
bloody  arena. 

Thomas  Paine  is  one  of  the  greatest  characters  of  his- 
tory. As  in  Voltaire  was  the  manifest  beginning  of  the 
Revolution,  in  him  was  its  onward  power.  Across  the 
vast  and  tumultuous  scene  these  two  transcendent  men 
unite,  and  through  them  two  worlds  are  linked  in  har- 
monious progress.  The  limpid  genius  of  the  one,  and  the 
undaunted  heroism  of  the  other,  conjoin  in  a  bright 
prophecy  of  human  advancement,  and  only  to-day  do  we 
begin  to  realize  the  immensity  of  their  achievement,  that 
in  them  is  rooted  the  flower  and  grace  of  man's  noblest 
civilization. 

Thomas  Paine  was  born  on  the  29th  of  January,  1737, 
in  Thetford,  England.  His  father,  Joseph  Paine,  a  stay- 
maker,  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Quakers.  He  was 
taught  the  usual  simple  branches  of  English  education, 
with  some  lessons  also  in  Latin.  He  left  school  at  thir- 
teen years  of  age.  He  worked  for  three  years  in  his 
father's  shop.  After  that  he  went  to  London,  where  he 
found  himself  without  friends  or  money.  He  attached 
himself  for  a  sliort  season  to  a  privateering  vessel.  In 
1759  he  settled  at  Sandwich  and  labored  at  his  trade.  He 
married,  but  his  wife  died  within  a  year  afterwards.  Paine 
then  moved  to  Margate,  and  thence  to  London  and  again 


T.  B,  WAKBMAN  (p.  818). 


THOMAS  PAINE.  301 

to  Thetford.  He  obtained  a  position  on  the  Excise  and 
remained  a  year.  He  visited  London  again  and  became 
teacher  in  an  academy.  He  devoted  himself  to  astronomy, 
natural  philosophy,  and  mathematics.  He  again  returned 
to  the  Excise  and  continued  there  several  years.  In  1772 
he  wrote  a  brief  work,  "  The  Case  of  the  Excise  Officer," 
which  attracted  considerable  attention.  An  edition  of 
four  thousand  was  printed.  His  company  was  sought  by 
men  of  affluence  and  brains. 

In  1774  he  returned  to  London  and  became  acquainted 
with  Benjamin  Franklin.  Franklin  gave  him  a  letter  to  a 
dear  friend  in  America,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  1774  he 
sailed  from  England  and  arrived  in  America  after  a  voy- 
age of  two  months. 

There  were  exciting  times  in  the  American  colonies. 
The  wish  for  justice  from  the  mother-country  was  per- 
sistent, but  the  purpose  of  independence  was  yet  unborn. 
Paine  comprehended  the  situation  and  labored  at  first  to 
bring  about  a  reconciliation.  But  events  convinced  him 
that  this  course  w^as  useless,  and  in  January,  1776,  he  pub- 
lished "  Common  Sense."  No  book  has  produced  directly 
and  immediately  such  wonderful  results  as  "  Common 
Sense."  It  was  more  than  a  battle.  It  was  more  than  a 
million  swords  or  bayonets,  or  ten  thousand  cannon.  It 
was  more  than  orations  in  the  senate,  or  all  the  pulpits  in 
the  land.  It  went  at  once  to  the  hearts  of  the  people.  It 
aroused  them.  It  convinced  them.  It  swept  them  on. 
It  became  an  irresistible  influence,  and  changed  the  face 
of  the  new  world.     It  unfurled  the  flag  of  freedom. 

The  "Free  and  Independent  States  of  America." 
What  a  magic  in  those  words!  What  a  birth  they 
heralded  ! 

''  Far  splendoring  the  sleepy  realms  of  night." 

What  poetry  was  in  that  book — plain,  simple,  cogent 
common  sense,  indeed — but  what  a  revelation  to  the  peo- 


302  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

pie  who  had   hitherto  been  groping  blindly  and  uncon- 
sciously on !     Of  this  book  we  may  well  say  : 

"  Books  written  when  the  soul  is  at  spring-tide, 
When  it  is  laden  like  a  groaning  sky 
Before  a  thunder  storm,  are  power  and  gladness 
And  majesty  and  beauty.     They  seize  the  reader 
As  tempests  seize  a  ship,  and  bear  him  on 
With  a  wild  joy." 

"  Common  Sense  "  was  a  book  like  this.  The  soul  of 
Thomas  Paine  went  forth  in  that  book.  Every  line  of  it 
glittered  with  the  fires  of  his  brain.  It  was  written  as  a 
poet  Avrites  his  song.  It  was  poured  forth  with  a  sublime 
indifference  to  everything  except  to  the  truth  of  it.  There 
was  in  it  "  a  spontaneous,  original,  native  force."  It  was 
like  the  flowing  of  a  fountain,  the  sweep  of  a  wind,  the 
rush  of  a  comet.  Read  that  book  aright  and  we  shall  see 
that  in  it  was  the  portent  of  a  revolution.  Every  word  was 
like  the  modern  electric  button — unpretentious,  but  touched 
by  the  quivering  pen  of  Paine,  it  unloosed  a  mass  of  light 
and  power.  There  Avas  no  elaborateness  of  art,  no  gorgeous- 
ness  of  rhetoric,  no  sounding  eloquence,  but  straight,  in- 
vincible speech,  sincerity  of  utterance,  honest  talk  of 
friend  to  friend,  in  an  hour  of  mighty  peril,  when  words 
become  deeds  stripped  of  all  ornament  and  leaping  to 
execution.  Thus  must  we  repA  "  Common  Sense,"  the 
greatest  book  ever  written  in  the  new  world,  because  in 
that  book  the  new  world  received  its  charter  of  inde- 
pendence ;  because  in  that  book  for  the  first  time  millions 
saw  the  wonder  that  was  to  be,  pierced  into  the  future,  and 
turned  their  backs  forever  upon  a  chained  and  ignorant 
past. 

As  late  as  November,  1775,  the  legislature  of  Pennsyl- 
vania elected  nine  delegates  to  the  continental  congress, 
with  the  following  instructions : 

"We   dii-ect    that    yon   agree   upon   such   measures   as 


THOMAS  PAINE.  303 

shall  afford  the  best  prospect  of  redressing  American 
grievances  and  restoring  harmony  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  colonies,  so  essential  to  their  welfare  and  happi- 
ness. Though  the  British  parliament  and  administration 
have  compelled  us  to  resist  their  violence  by  force  of  arms, 
yet  we  strictly  enjoin  that  you  dissent  from  and  utterly 
reject  any  proposition,  should  such  be  made,  that  may 
cause  or  lead  to  a  separation  from  our  mother  country  or 
a  change  of  the  form  of  this  government." 

This  resolution  is  an  index  of  the  mind  of  the  people, 
at  that  time,  or  rather  the  apparent  mind.  There  was 
something  else  deep  in  the  people,  but  who  dared  to  un- 
lock it,  who  dared  to  give  it  speech,  who  dared  to  set  him- 
self alone,  almost,  even  in  America,  against  the  vast  power 
of  England.  It  was  one  thing  to  ask  for  redress.  It  was 
another  to  create  a  revolution.  It  was  one  thing  to  peti- 
tion, to  get  on  one's  knees  before  the  throne,  but  quite 
another  to  defy  that  throne  and  fling  forth  the  flag  of 
irreconcilable  rebellion.  It  was  the  critical  moment.  It 
was  useless  any  longer  to  plead:  The  tide  of  public  opin- 
ion must  set  one  way  or  the  other.  There  must  be  a 
change,  or  the  conflict  would  end  in  submission.  Far- 
seeing  Franklin,  and  others,  saw  this,  but  were  outwardly 
indecisive.  No  puny  hand  could  do  this  work, no  common 
writer.  It  must  be  a  master  mind  whoever  did  it.  It 
must  succeed  at  once,  or  disastrously  fail.  Who  was  the 
man  of  the  hour?  Who  could,  with  almost  one  stroke  of 
his  pen,  turn  the  people  in  a  radically  new  direction? 
Who  must  exert  an  influence  that  had  never,  in  any  crisis 
of  history,  been  exerted  by  one  man  before  ?  The  Ameri- 
can Biepublic  to-day,  with  its  illimitable  glory,  its  forty- 
four  stars  blazing  on  its  banner,  and  belting  a  continent, 
can  only  reply  :  Thomas  Paine  ! 

Edition  after  edition  of  this  pamphlet  were  succes- 
sively printed  and  distributed  all  over  the  land.  Scarcely 
a  home   was    there   but   what    had   a   copy   of   "Common 


304  "FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Sense."  Congress  issued  an  order  that  it  should  be  read 
at  the  head  of  the  armies.  Washington  directed  the  cap- 
tains in  service  to  read  it  to  their  companies.  The  result 
was  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

What  other  result  could  happen  after  these  burning 
words  ? 

"  Every  quiet  method  for  peace  hath  been  ineffectual ; 
our  prayers  have  been  rejected  with  disdain ;  reconcilia- 
tion is  now  a  fallacious  dream.  Bring  the  doctrine  of 
reconciliation  to  the  touchstone  of  nature  ;  can  you  here- 
after love,  honor,  and  faithfully  serve  the  power  that  has 
carried  fire  and  sword  into  your  laud?  Ye  that  tell  us  of 
harmony,  can  ye  restore  to  us  the  time  that  is  past  ?  The 
blood  of  the  slain,  the  weeping  voice  of  nature  cries,  'tis 
time  to  part.  The  last  cord  is  now  broken ;  the  people 
of  England  are  presenting  addresses  against  us.  A  govern- 
ment of  our  own  is  our  natural  right.  Ye  that  love  mankind, 
that  dare  oppose  not  only  tyranny  hut  the  tyrant,  stand  forth  ! 
Every  spot  of  the  old  world  is  overrun  with  oppression. 
Freedom  hath  been  hunted  round  the  globe.  Asia  and 
Africa  have  long  expelled  her.  Europe  regards  her  like 
a  stranger,  and  England  hath  given  her  warning  to  depart. 
Oh,  receive  the  fugitive,  and  prepare  hi  time  an  asylum  for 
mankind^ 

Again,  when  the  dark  hours  came,  he  said,  with  unfal- 
tering spirit :  "  These  are  the  times  that  try  men's  souls. 
The  summer  soldier,  and  the  sunshine  patriot,  will,  in  this 
crisis,  shrink  from  the  service  of  his  country;  but  he  that 
stands  it  now  deserves  the  love  and  thanks  of  man  and 
woman." 

"  If  there  must  he  a  loar,  let  it  he  in  my  day,  that  my  child 
may  have  peace.'' 

This  was  the  work  which  Paine  did  for  America. 
Landing  almost  unknown  upon  its  shores,  he  touched  the 
master-key  of  its  destinies  with  a  greater  power  than  the 
wisdom  of  Franklin  or   the   sword  of  Washington.     And 


THOMAS   PAINE.  305 

when  he  left  America,  what  a  vision  rose  before  him.  The 
glowing  words  of  Shelley  picture  that  great  Republic 
wliicli  he  helped  to  found  by  his  labors  and  sacrifices, 
upon  whose  pathway  his  genius  was  as  the  morning  star. 

"  There  is  a  people,  mighty  in  its  youth, 
A  land  beyond  tlie  oceans  of  the  West, 
Where,  though  with  rudest  rite.  Freedom  and  Truth 
Are  worshiped  ;  from  a  glorious  Mother's  breast — 
Wlio,  since  high  Athens  fell,  among  the  rest 
Sate  like  a  Queen  of  Nations,  but  in  woe, 
By  inbred  monsters  outraged  and  oppressed, 
Turns  to  her  chainless  child  for  succor  now — 
It  draws  the  milk  of  Power  in  Wisdom's  fullest  flow. 
That  land  is  like  an  eagle,  whose  young  gaze 
Feeds  on  the  noontide  beam,  whose  golden  plume 
Floats  moveless  on  the  storm,  and  in  the  blaze 
Of  sunrise  gleams  when  earth  is  wrapped  in  gloom ; 
An  epitaph  of  glory  for  the  tomb 
Of  murdered  Europe  may  thy  fame  be  made. 
Great  People  ;  as  the  sands  shalt  thou  become  ; 
Thy  growth  is  swift  as  morn,  when  night  must  fade  ; 
The  multitudinous  earth  shall  sleep  beneath  thy  shade. 
Yes,  in  the  desert  thou  hast  built  a  home 
For  Freedom.     Genius  is  made  strong  to  rear 
The  monuments  of  man  beneath  the  dome 
Of  a  new  heaven ;  myriads  assemble  there 
Whom  the  proud  lords  of  man,  in  rage  or  fear, 
Drive  from  their  wasted  homes." 

And  yet  again  he  must  do  the  same  preeminent  ser- 
vice. England  was  oppressed  with  most  unjust  laws;  the 
liberty  of  speech  was  denied.  The  English  government, 
frightened  by  the  overwhelming  power  of  the  French 
Revolution,  instead  of  trusting  in  liberty,  drew  the 
sword  of  tyranny  over  its  own  people.  Into  these  con- 
ditions Paine    plunged  with    his   usual   fearlessness  and 


306  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FRKETHOUGHT. 

vigor,  and  shot  forth  that  thunderbolt,  "  The  Eights  of 
Man."  It  was  in  answer  to  Burke's  "Reflections  on  the 
French  Revolution/'  That  such  a  man  as  Burke  should 
write  such  a  book  as  that  in  such  a  time  shows  the  blind 
and  perturbed  state  of  the  English  people.  Burke  was 
one  of  the  greatest  writers  and  orators  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. There  is  scarcely  his  superior  in  genius.  He  has 
given  some  of  the  noblest  contributions  to  the  literature 
of  the  race.  Like  Plato,  he  married  philosophy  to  poetry, 
and  he  was  almost  equal  to  Plato  in  the  magniticenee  of 
his  intellectual  endowments.  There  is  no  doubt  he  wrote 
his  honest  sentiments,  and  he  mainly  represented  the 
drift  of  public  opinion  in  England.  No  ordinary  man 
could  have  met  a  crisis  like  this.  Burke  was  strong  not 
only  in  his  own  eloquence  and  superior  ability,  but  be- 
cause there  was  back  of  him  such  a  vast  support  in  the 
nation.  Paine  was  more  than  fitted  for  the  contest. 
Ecpially  a  master  of  language  with  Burke  ;  equally  gifted 
in  the  power  of  thought,  better  informed,  there  was  in 
this  leader  of  the  people  a  profounder  sympathy  with  man, 
a  nobler  confidence  in  freedom,  a  finer  conception  of  jus- 
tice, than  in  his  antagonist,  ami  he  won  a  decisive  victory. 
Hundreds  of  thoiisands  of  copies  of  the  bf)ok  were  sold. 
The  government  tried  to  suppress  it.  They  could  not. 
This  book  has  changed  tlie  government  of  E  i^-h-ind  itself. 
It  has  become  tlie  living  constitution  of  Great  Brit;iin. 

Of  this  book  IngersoU  says:  "This  work  should  be 
read  bv  every  man  and  woman.  It  is  concise,  accurate, 
natural,  convincing,  antl  unanswerable.  It  shows  great 
thought ;  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  various  forms  of 
government ;  deep  insight  into  the  very  springs  of  human 
action  ;  and  a  courage  that  compels  respect  and  admiration. 
The  most  difficult  political  problems  are  solved  in  a  few 
sentences.  The  venerable  arguments  in  favor  of  wrong 
are  refuted  with  a  question — answered  with  a  word.  For 
forcible  illustration,  apt  comiKirison,  accuracy  and  clear- 


.-..j^j-— «^*-^.«*s»>^J3Sf7-H«s»-«  TfJ^-^^'^'f^i^- 


COURTLANDT  PALMER  (p.  T82> 


THOMAS  PAINE.  307 

ness  of  statement,  and  absolute  tliorouglmess,  it  has  never 
been  excelled." 

Paine  bad  a  great  work  to  do  in  France,  to  guide  the 
Revolution  to  the  goal  of  a  Republic.  He  failed  for  the 
time  being.  The  Revolution  overwhelmed  the  Republic, 
and  the  despotism  of  a  democracy  was  established,  a  des- 
potism as  cruel  as  that  of  an  absolute  monarchy.  Paine 
labored  for  constitutional  liberty.  He  opposed,  at  the 
peril  of  his  life,  the  execution  of  Louis  Capet.  "  Kill  the 
king,  but  not  the  man,"  was  his  motto.  This  was  not  only 
a  generous  sentiment,  but  sound  political  doctrine.  Paine 
was  not  a  sentimentalist.  He  was  a  far-seeing  statesman. 
He  dealt  Avith  principles  and  would  accept  their  logic  what- 
ever the  consequence. 

Paine  was  opposed  to  despotism  of  every  kind — the 
despotism  of  a  democracy  as  well  as  that  of  a  monarchy ; 
and  as  a  monarchy  should  be  limited  by  a  constitution, 
so  should  a  democracy. 

Tlie  object  of  a  constitution  is  to  defend  the  rights  of 
a  minority.  A  democracy  in  which  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority is  the  source  of  law  is  as  much  to  be  objected  to  by 
every  freeman  as  that  the  will  of  one  man  shall  be  the 
source  of  law.  Jefferson  states  that  no  man  surrenders 
any  natural  right  when  he  comes  in  the  association  of  the 
state.  This  is  the  only  true  doctrine — no  surrender  of 
individual  rights  to  any  form  of  government.  France,  in 
spite  of  the  warnings  of  Paine,  drifted  into  party  rule 
and  the  despotism  of  the  majority  ;  and  hence  "  The 
Reign  of  Terror,"  the  imprisonment  of  Paine  himself  and 
his  narrow  escape  from  the  guillotine.  But  the  principles 
of  Paine  are  sure  to  triumph — the  principles  of  constitu- 
tional democracy  and  the  rights  of  man. 

Paine  thus  clearly  states  his  position  : 

"  Had  a  constitution  been  established  two  years  ago  as 
ought  to  have  been  done,  the  violences  which  have  since 
desolated  France  and  injured  the  character  of  the  Revolu- 


308  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

tiou,  would,  iu  my  opinion,  have  been  prevented.  The 
nation  would  have  had  a  bond  of  union,  and  every  indi- 
vidual would  have  known  the  line  of  conduct  he  was  to 
follow.  But  instead  of  this  a  revolutionary  f^overnment, 
a  thing  without  either  principle  or  authority,  was  substi- 
tuted in  its  place  ;  virtue,  or  crime,  depended  upon  acci- 
dent ;  and  that  which  was  patriotism  one  day  became 
treason  the  next.  All  these  things  have  followed  the  want 
of  a  constitution ;  for  it  is  the  nature  and  intention  of  a 
constitution  to  prevent  governing  by  a  party,  by  estab- 
lishing a  common  principle  that  shall  limit  and  control 
the  power  and  impulse  of  party,  and  that  says  to  all 
parties.  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther.  But  in  the 
absence  of  a  constitution,  men  look  entirely  to  party ;  and 
instead  of  principle  governing  party,  party  governs  prin- 
ciple. 

"An  avidity  to  punish  is  always  dangerous  to  liberty. 
It  leads  men  to  stretch,  to  misinterpret,  and  to  misapply 
even  the  best  of  laws.  He  that  icoidd  make  his  oivn  liberty 
secure  must  guard  even  his  enemy  from  opjjression  ;  for  if  he 
violates  this  duty  he  establishes  a  iwecedent  that  ivill  reach  him- 
self- 

It  will  thus  be  seen  how  Paine  represented  the  im- 
mortal part  of  the  Revolution  ;  that  which  is  destined  to 
survive  with  civilization  itself,  and  be  an  incalculable 
political  blessing.  In  Paine,  more  than  in  any  other  man, 
more  than  in  Voltaire  or  Rousseau,  do  we  see  the  shining 
principles  of  that  government  which  is  "of  the  people,  by 
the  peo])le,  and  for  the  people."  Voltaire  emphasized 
justice.  Rousseau  emphasized  liberty.  Paine  emphasized 
both  liberty  and  justice,  that  liberty  for  all  must  be  jus- 
tice for  all,  and  that  justice  for  all  finds  its  surest  guaran- 
tee in  liberty  for  all.  To  reconcile  liberty  and  justice,  the 
state  with  the  individual,  is  the  greatest  problem  of  civili- 
zation ;  and  Paine  anticipated  the  world  by  a  hundred 
years  in  some  of  his  pregnant  maxims,  while  through  him 


CONDORCET.  309 

the  French  Kevolution  as  well  as  the  American  Eevolution 
acquired  its  noblest  meaning  and  unequaled  benefit  to 
mankind. 

When  we  contemplate  the  career  of  Paine,  the  song  of 
the  poet  will  inevitably  surge  within  our  hearts  : 

"  We  may  veil  our  eyes,  but  we  cannot  hide 

The  sun's  meridian  glow  ; 
The  heel  of  a  priest  may  tread  us  down, 

And  a  tyrant  work  us  woe  ; 
But  never  a  truth  has  been  destroyed ; 

They  may  curse  it  and  call  it  crime ; 
Pervert  and  betray,  or  slander  and  slay, 

Its  teachers  for  a  time  ; 
But  the  sunshine  aye  shall  light  the  sky, 

As  round  and  round  Ave  run  ; 
And  the  truth  shall  ever  come  uppermost, 

And  justice  shall  be  done." 

CoNDORCET. —1 743-1 794 

A  beautiful  and  heroic  figure  appears  by  the  side  of 
Thomas  Paine  in  these  dark  and  tumultuous  hours — Con- 
dorcet.  What  a  pathos,  that  makes  the  heart  bleed,  sur- 
rounds his  death  !  A  noble  spirit,  richly  endowed,  giving 
all  to  freedom,  occupying  a  commanding  position,  filled 
with  hope  for  humanity,  and  yet,  at  last,  in  a  dungeon's 
gloom,  after  untold  sufferings,  dying  in  horror  and  despair. 
We  cannot  forget  his  great  name,  his  splendid  services, 
his  vast  genius  in  the  roll  of  Freedom's  martyrs.  No  man 
did  more  with  Paine  to  bring  out  all  that  was  best  and 
brightest  in  the  French  Revolution,  and  to  make  it  point 
onward  to  a  happy  future.  A  keen,  delicate,  wise,  logical, 
imaginative,  comprehensive  mind  he  was,  illuminated  with 
the  treasures  of  the  past,  infusing  them  with  new  promise, 
and  heralding  the  p8rf(>ctibility  of  man  through  liberty 
and  reason. 


310  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Marquis  de  Condorcet  was  born  17th  of  September, 
1743.  His  first  public  distinction  was  gained  in  matliemat- 
ics,  but,  with  his  many-sided  intellect,  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  be  a  specialist.  Philosophy  and  liter, iture 
attracted  him  no  less  than  geometry.  In  1769  lie  was 
received  as  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  D'Alem- 
bert  and  Voltaire,  for  whom  he  had  great  affection,  and 
by  whom  he  was  highly  esteemed,  contributed  largely  to 
the  formation  of  his  opinions.  He  helped  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  Diderot's  Encyclopedia. 

Condorcet  was,  of  course,  hurried  along  by  the  con- 
flicts and  confusion  of  the  Revolution.  He  greeted  with 
enthusiasm  the  advent  of  democracy  and  labored  to  hasten 
its  triumphs.  He  was  chosen  by  the  Parisians  to  repre- 
sent them  in  the  legislative  assembly.  He  was  chief 
author  of  the  address  to  the  European  powers  when  they 
threatened  France  with  war.  At  the  trial  of  Louis  XVI. 
he  voted  him  guilty  of  conspiring  against  liberty,  but, 
with  Paine,  voted  not  to  put  him  to  death.  He  took  an 
active  part  with  Paine  in  framing  a  constitution.  His 
sympathy  with  the  Girondists  led  to  his  accusation  and 
condemnation.  Friends  sought  for  him  a  refuge  at  the 
house  of  a  Madame  Vernet.  Without  even  knowing  his 
name,  this  truly  heroic  woman  said  :  "  Let  him  come,  and 
lose  not  a  moment,  for  while  we  talk  he  may  be  seized." 
When  he  found  that  his  presence  exposed  his  protectress  to 
a  terrible  danger  he  resolved  to  seek  a  refuge  elsewhere. 
He  baffled  the  vigilance  of  his  generous  friend  and  escaped. 
He  hid  for  three  days  and  nights  in  the  thickets  and  stone 
quarries  of  Clamart.  On  the  evening  of  April  7,  179-4,  lie 
entered  a  tavern  and  called  for  an  omelette.  "  How  many 
eggs  in  your  omelette?"  ''A  dozen."  "What  is  your 
trade?"  "A  carpenter."  "Carpenters  have  not  hands 
like  these,  and  do  not  ask  for  a  dozen  eggs  in  an  ome- 
lette." His  papers  were  demanded.  He  had  none  to 
show.     The  villagers  seized  him,  bound  him,  haled  him 


CONDOROET.  311 

forthwith  on  bleeding  feet  towards  the  jail ;  he  fainted  by 
the  way,  was  set  on  a  horse  offered  m  pity  by  a  passing 
peasant,  and  at  the  journey's  end  was  cast  into  a  cold, 
damp  prison  cell.  When  the  jailers  looked  in  on  the 
morning  his  body  lay  dead  on  the  floor. 

Condorcet's  fame  rests  chiefly  on  the  work  he  wrote 
when  lying  concealed  from  the  emissaries  of  Robespierre 
in  the  house  of  Madame  Vernet,  '"  Historical  Sketch  of  the 
Progress  of  Man."  It  is  thoroughly  anti-Christian,  op- 
posed to  priests  and  rulers.  His  fundamental  idea  is 
human  perfectibility  manifested  in  the  continuous  prog- 
ress of  the  past.  He  represents  man  as  starting  from  the 
lowest  stage  of  barbarism,  with  no  superiority  over 
other  animals  except  that  of  bodily  organization.  The 
stages  through  which  man  has  already  passed  are  re- 
garded as  nine  in  number.  In  the  first  epoch  men  are 
hunters  and  fishers.  The  second  epoch  is  the  pastoral 
state  where  there  is  some  leisure  and  the  simpler  arts. 
The  third  is  the  agricultural,  where  means  of  communica- 
tion are  increased  and  extended.  The  fourth  and  fifth 
,pochs  correspond  with  Gi'eece  and  E,  >me.  The  Middle 
Ages  are  divided  into  two  epochs— the  former  of  whicli 
terminated  with  the  Crusades  and  the  latter  with  the  in- 
vention of  printing.  The  eighth  epoch  extends  from  the 
invention  of  printing  to  the  revolution  in  the  method  of 
inquiry  accomplished  by  Descartes.  The  ninth  epoch 
begins  with  that  great  intellectual  movement  and  closes 
with  the  Revolution  of  1789,  which  epoch,  says  Condorcet, 
is  illustrious  with  the  discovery  of  the  system  of  the  uni- 
verse by  Newton ;  of  human  nature  by  Locke  and  Con- 
dillac  ;  and  of  society  b}-  Turgot  and  Rousseau.  There  is 
a  tenth  epoch,  and  in  this  we  find  the  most  original  part 
of  Condorcet's  essay.  He  argues  that  there  are  three 
tendencies  manifested  in  human  history  which  must  make 
for  human  progress  :  First,  the  destruction  of  inequality 
between  nations  ;  second,   the    destruction   of    inequality 


312  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

between  classes  ;  third,  the  improvement  of  individuals, 
intellectually,  morall}^  and  phj^sically.  The  equalit}'  he 
argues  for  is  not,  of  course,  absolute  equality,  but  equality 
in  freedom  and  rights. 

This  book  is  full  of  hope.  It  inspires.  One  may  not 
agree  with  all  its  details,  but  its  general  ideas  are  lofty  and 
magnificent.  This  book  makes  Condorcet  a  living  influ- 
ence to-day.  His  tragic  death  ennobles  and  immortalizes 
his  glorioiis  dreams.  They  come  from  a  heart  passion- 
ately devoted  to  truth  and  libert3^ 

VoLNEY.— 1757-1820. 

Amidst  these  disasters  and  catastrophes  shines  with 
milder  luster  the  planet  of  Yolney  that  by  some  charming 
fortune  circles  placidly  through  these  epoch-making  years. 
He  was  born  February  3,  1757.  At  the  age  of  seventeen 
he  went  to  Paris. 

In  1783  he  started  on  foot  to  Egypt  and  Syria,  with  a 
knajDsack  on  his  back,  a  gun  on  his  shoulder,  and  gold 
concealed  in  a  belt.  He  shut  himself  up  for  eight  months  in 
a  Coptic  monastery,  where  he  made  himself  master  of  Ara- 
bic.    He  traveled  four  years  and  then  returned  to  France. 

He  published  in  1787  the  best  description  of  Egypt 
and  Syria  that  had  yet  appeared.  It  obtained  a  rapid  and 
general  success.  The  Empress  Catherine  sent  the  author 
a  medal.  When,  in  1789,  the  empress  declared  war  against 
France,  Volney  returned  the  gift,  saying  :  "  If  I  obtained 
it  from  her  esteem,  I  can  only  preserve  her  esteem  by 
retui'ning  it." 

The  Revolution  opened  to  Yolney  a  political  career. 
He  was  deputy  in  the  States-General.  He  proposed  and 
-carried  this  resolution  :  "  The  French  nation  renounces 
from  this  moment  the  undertaking  of  au}^  war  tending  to 
increase  its  territory." 

In  an  essay  on  the  sale  of  domain  lands,  he  laj's  down 
these  principles  which  lie  at  the  heart  of  present  reforms  : 


JOSEPH  HAIGH, 


VOLNET.  313 

The  force  of  a  state  is  in  proportion  to  its  population ; 
population  is  in  proportion  to  plenty  ;  plenty  is  in  propor- 
tion to  tillage  ;  and  tillage  to  personal  and  immediate  in- 
terest, that  is,  to  the  spirit  of  property.  Whence  it  fol- 
lows that  the  nearer  the  cultivator  approaches  the  passive 
condition  of  a  mercenary,  the  less  industry  and  activity 
are  to  be  expected  from  him ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
nearer  he  is  to  the  condition  of  a  free  and  entire  proprietor, 
the  more  extension  he  gives  to  his  own  forces,  to  the  pro- 
duce of  Ijis  lands,  and  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  state." 

In  1792  he  went  to  Cors-ica,  and  returned  to  Paris  in 
1793.  He  was  accused  of  disloyalty  to  liberty,  and  im- 
prisoned for  ten  months.  In  1794  he  was  appointed  Pro- 
fessor of  History  in  the  Normal  School.  Immense  and 
applauding  audiences  attended  his  lectures. 

He  visited  America  in  1795.  Washington  bestowed 
upon  him  marks  of  honor  and  friendship.  He  returned  to 
France  1798.  He  was  offered  high  official  positions,  but 
refused.  It  has  been  said  of  him,  "  although  he  refused 
to  work  with  the  ruling  powers  of  that  day,  he  never 
ceased  to  work  for  the  people."  His  "  Ruins  "  is  a  book 
which  will  immortalize  him  in  the  annals  of  Free  thought. 
He  Avas  a  learned,  brave,  independent,  and  tireless  seeker 
for  truth.  He  traveled  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe. 
He  read  the  lessons  of  histor}^  amidst  the  ruins  of  time. 
The  following  shows  his  progressive  and  philosophic  spirit: 

"Nature  lias  established  laws.  Your  part  is  to  obev 
them  ;  observe  reason  and  profit  by  experience.  It  is  the 
folly  of  man  which  ruins  him,  let  his  wisdom  save  him. 
The  people  are  ignorant,  let  them  acquire  instruction ; 
their  chiefs  are  wicked,  let  them  correct  and  amend  ;  for 
such  is  nature's  decree.  Since  the  evils  of  society  spring 
from  cupidity  and  ignorance,  men  will  never  cease  to  be 
persecuted  till  thej'  become  enlightened  and  wise;  till 
they  practice  justice  founded  on  a  knowledge  of  their  re- 
lations and  of  the  laws  of  their  organization." 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 

Shelley.— 1792-1822.     Goethe.— 1749-1832. 

Three  grand  poetic  eras  have  adorned  and  glorified  the 
history  of  man ;  eras  that  are  simply  wonderful  in  the 
depth  and  splendor  of  their  poetic  capacity ;  where  the 
human  mind  is  the  most  vigorous,  the  most  elastic,  the 
most  mobile,  the  most  penetrating,  the  most  brilliant  and 
overflowing ;  radiant  with  imagination ;  responsive  to  all 
the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  nature  ;  creative  and  kindling, 
glancing  from  earth  to  heaven,  and  heaven  to  earth  ;  illum- 
inating the  onward  path  of  man  ;  giving  new  hojjes,  new 
thoughts ;  flushing  the  world  with  a  diviner  atmosphere, 
and  giving  a  fresh  significance  to  every  object  of  sense. 
Only  three  such  eras  have  ennobled  the  world's  history, 
making  it  so  beautiful,  so  entrancing,  so  consoling,  that, 
no  matter  what  may  be  the  darkness  of  one's  lot,  the  trag- 
edy of  life,  these  grand  ages  make  one  endure  the  littleness 
of  his  own  destiny  with  a  triumphaDt  expectation,  for 
what  man  has  done,  man  may  do,  and  the  genius  of  the 
past  is  not  impossible  to  the  glowing  future. 

The  age  of  Homer  is  the  first  supreme  poetic  era.  A 
golden  age  it  seems,  as  we  look  back  to  it  from  this  present 
time,  shining  through  the  long  vista  of  years.  What  made 
that  ase,  what  were  the  influences  of  the  centuries  before  : 
of  far-off  Ind  ;  of  Egypt ;  of  the  vast  plains  of  Asia ;  of 
the  enchanted  shores  of  Europe ;  of  the  magnificent 
Mediterranean,  to  make  this  beauteous  flower,  in  the  lovely 


SHELLEY  315 

land  of  Greece  ?  How  fresh,  how  strong,  how  expanding 
must  have  been  the  heart  of  man  when  glorious  Homer 
touched  his  lyre.  How  many  poets  must  have  been  in 
that  age,  and  we  know  not  how  many  of  their  songs 
mingled  with  Homer's  master  strain.  Even  if  Homer 
were  blind  and  a  beggar,  what  an  age  it  surely  was  to  have 
enabled  him  to  pour  forth  such  music.  Poetry  like  this 
could  not  be  except  as  the  product  of  a  time  when  the 
mind  of  man  was  at  its  best,  when  it  was  buoyant  with 
poetic  inspirations.  Homer  could  not  have  sung  to  un- 
appreciative  audiences.  He  could  not  have  been  a  solitary 
genius — 

"  The  blind  old  man  of  Scio's  rocky  isle." 

He  must  have  touched  elbows  with  his  fellow-men ;  he 
must  have  mingled  with  them  in  every  variety  of  scene ; 
he  must  have  been  a  genial,  responsive  man  ;  a  story-teller 
he  was,  indeed,  and  a  story-teller  is  always  popular,  even 
if  he  is  ragged.  He  may  not  have  been  rewarded  with 
gold,  but  the  plaudits  of  the  multitude  were  always  his. 
Homer  was  not  the  one  to  eat  his  heart  out  in  loneliness 
and  despair.  He  had  a  heart  for  any  fate.  He  was  with 
the  crowd.  That  was  his  nature.  He  was  a  thoroughly 
social  being,  intensely  human.  There  was  nothing  morbid 
about  him.  He  was  as  healthful  as  a  street  Arab,  drink- 
ing in  the  deliciousness  of  life  with  an  exuberant  spirit, 
with  tingling  blood,  a  quick  brain,  a  supple  body.  Homer 
was  not  a  man  of  the  drawing-room  or  the  closet.  He  was 
an  out-door  man.  He  liked  the  winds  and  seas,  the  woods 
and  hills.  He  liked  the  bright-blue  sky,  the  flowing 
river.  He  liked  man  as  he  was,  and  took  him  as  he  was. 
He  did  not  create  ideals.  His  heroes  are  a  dreadfully  bad 
lot.  They  don't  arouse  our  admiration  at  all,  but  they  in- 
terest us  deeply,  just  as  our  neighbors  interest  us  in  the 
drama  of  their  lives.  Our  sympathies  are  with  them,  for 
it  is  as  if  we  ourselves  were  in   the  midst  of  the  mighty 


316  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

battle  ;  as  if  we  were  driving  tlie  chariots,  and  hurling  the 
spear,  or  biting  the  dust.  Homer  writes  what  he  sees. 
He  is  no  dreamer.  He  is  an  observer — the  keen  newspa- 
per man  of  his  times,  who  knows  how  to  use  his  material 
to  the  best  effect.  He  paints  from  nature,  and,  for  that 
reason,  his  pictures  are  marvelous.  Think  of  Homer, 
roughened  by  travel,  worldly  wise,  a  sight-seer  in  many 
lands ;  a  student,  a  hail  fellow  well  met,  a  wanderer  in 
court  and  camp ;  equal  with  the  king,  and  jovial  with 
soldier  and  shepherd ;  mingling  with  the  harvest  train 
and  following  the  hunt ;  seeing  all  life,  all  men,  all  cities, 
all  places;  taking  into  his  ample  brain  all  the  impressions 
of  the  most  gorgeous  clime,  and  the  sweetest  sceneries, 
where  the  oriental  mind  first  touched  the  splendor  of  the 
West,  and,  amidst  mountains  and  seas,  and  rivers  and 
forests,  and  plains  and  shores  of  surpassing  beauty,  rev- 
eled in  the  expectations  of  a  new  outlook,  in  the  enchant- 
ment of  a  wide  and  unknown  future.  Right  here  the  great 
heart  of  Homer  beat,  right  here  his  luminous  brain  caught 
all  the  glory  of  earth  and  sky,  and  all  the  riches  of  ex- 
perience in  the  versatile  Greek  intellect. 

And  then  there  were  the  gods,  the  divinities,  every- 
where. How  true  it  is,  what  Goethe  says,  that  Polytheism 
is  the  belief  for  art,  and  not  Monotheism.  A  lonely  God  is 
no  poetic  object,  and  kindles  no  j)oetic  enthusiasm.  Even 
Dante  had  to  have  his  Beatrice,  and  Milton  his  Lucifer. 
Monotheism  is  a  dead  failure  in  art  and  poetry.  If  poetry 
must  have  the  god-element,  it  must  be  a  multitudinous 
element.  There  must  be  gods  and  goddesses,  naiads  and 
nymphs,  fairies  and  gnomes.  There  must  be  a  divinity  in 
every  grotto,  fountain,  forest,  hill,  sea,  and  chamber  of 
the  sky.  The  sun  is  Apollo,  the  moon  Diana,  the  thunder 
Jove,  the  sea  Poseidon.  And  these  gods  must  be  pre- 
eminently human  as  they  were  in  Homer's  time,  passion- 
ate, revengeful,  ambitious,  loving,  and  beneficent.  The 
gods  in  Homer's  poetry  are  not  a  symphony  of  the  true, 


SHELLEY.  317 

the  beautiful,  and  the  good.  They  are  a  wild,  splendid, 
dramatic  representation  of  man's  manifold  being, 

"  Not  too  bright  or  good 
For  human  nature's  daily  food." 

Think  of  the  exquisite  land  of  Greece  suffused  with 
such  divinitv  as  this — gods  sparkling  everywhere,  in  every 
lovely  and  sublime  prospect,  answering  to  every  emotion 
of  the  human  heart,  radiating  in  the  varied  seasons;  a  god 
of  the  seed-time  and  the  harvest,  a  god  for  the  household, 
for  the  fruits  one  ate,  for  the  waters  one  drank,  for  the 
wine  and  the  flowers,  for  the  vast  ocean,  the  starry  sky, 
and  golden  suu  itself. 

"Was  not  this  a  world  for  poetry ;  an  exhilarating  mo- 
ment?    And  so  Homer's  epic  rolled  forth  : 

"  Whose  melody  shall  haunt  the  world  for  aye, 
Charming  it  onward  on  its  golden  way." 

And  this  wonderful  poetry  of  the  Homeric  era  flowed 
on  into  tlie  sublime,  dramatic  poets  of  Athens.  It  was 
not  easily  exhausted.  It  was  munificent.  It  was  effluent, 
in  Athens,  beautiful  Athens  charmed  city  of  the  world, 
reveling  in  the  loveliness  of  sea  and  earth  and  sky,  with 
luminous  hills  about  it,  resplendent  waves  ever  before  it, 
and  soft  skies  above  it !  With  renewed  brilliance  the  grand 
poetry  of  Homer  gleamed  and  surged  and  thundered  in 
the  majestic  dramas  of  Sophocles  and  Eschylus.  These 
flowed  from  the  same  fountain  as  the  epic,  but  the  poesy 
seemed  to  suffer  a 

"  sea  change 
Into  something  rich  and  strange," 

for  the  drama  was  equally  original  with  the  epic.  It  came, 
not  from  study,  but  from  nature's  burning  heart.  These 
•dramas  are  like  marble  palaces,  simple  and  sublime,  with 
scarce  an  ornament ;  illustrious  in   their  native  splendor. 


318  FOUR  HUNDRED   TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

needing  no  embellishment  to  add  to  their  original  bright* 
ness.  Immortal  are  these  tragedies,  speaking  to  the  human 
heart  forever  of  the  wonder  of  life,  its  depths,  its  hights, 
its  glories,  its  sorrows,  its  struggles,  its  victories.  How 
those  great  mountain  peaks  of  poetic  power  shine  through 
the  vista  of  ages.  It  does  seem  as  if  that  might  be  a 
golden  age  when  such  geniuses  thronged  the  world ;  when 
such  poets  and  philosophers  walked  the  earth  ;  when  such 
thoughts  were  in  men's  minds ;  when  imagination  was  like 
the  sunrise  of  a  summer's  day.  Across  the  darkness  and 
horror  of  a  thousand  years,  how  this  world  of  poetry,  born 
of  ten  thousand  years  of  anterior  hopes  and  joys ;  the 
blossom  of  man's  manifold  experiences  through  immeasur- 
able spaces  of  time  in  wide  wanderings ;  how  it  shines 
like  a  blessed  beacon-light  even  for  the  proud  civilization 
of  to-day ;  and  we  can  acquire  wisdom  still  from  these  an- 
cient sages,  and  can  partake  of  these  rivers  of  song  and 
story,  whose  delight  will  never  vanish,  whose  music  will 
never  cease. 

"  Thus  Greece  arose,  and  to  its  bards  and  sages 
In  dream  the  golden-pinioned  genii  came, 
Even  where  they  slept  amid  the  night  of  ages. 
Steeping  their  hearts  in  the  divinest  flame, 
Which  thy  breath  kindled.  Power  of  holiest  name ; 
And  oft  in  cycles  since,  when  darkness  gave 
New  weapons  to  thy  foe,  their  sun-like  fame, 
Upon  the  combat  shone,  a  light  to  save, 
Like  paradise,  spread  forth  beyond  the  shadowy  grave.'* 

Rome  succeeded  Greece,  but  Home  brought  no  great 
poet  like  Homer,  like  Sophocles,  like  Eschylus.  There 
were  eloquent  poets,  finished  poets,  like  Virgil  and  Horace, 
there  were  beautiful  pastoral  poets,  who  sang  sweetly  of 
the  green  fields  and  woods ;  and  brilliant  dramatic  poets, 
like  Terence  ;  and  there  were  mighty  men  of  war,  but  there 
was  no  genius  to  bring  forth   from   tlie  joyous  earth   its 


J.  M.  LEON  GARCIA  (p.  850). 


SHELLEY.  319 

marvelous  music ;  no  one  to  give  new  and  mighty  thoughts 
to  men.  lu  all  the  centuries  of  Rome's  existence,  in  all 
the  length  and  breadth  of  its  magnificent  empire,  there 
was  not  one  creative  genius.  Its  songs  were  the  old  songs, 
its  gods  the  old  gods,  its  philosophy,  its  literature,  the 
fruit  of  Greece.  Rome  was  simply  a  world  of  action, 
huge,  tumultuous,  imperious,  thundering ;  wielding  the 
glittering  sword,  a  destroyer,  a  builder  ;  but  it  was  not  a 
world  of  thought.  Its  burnished  eagles  caught  the  fire  of 
the  sun,  but  did  not  pour  forth  its  music  like  Apollo, 
There  were  warriors  and  statesmen,  heroes  and  patriots ; 
there  were  eloquence,  superb  talent,  and  splendid  achieve- 
ment ;  there  were  art  and  culture,  elegance  and  refinement, 
and  vast  monuments  of  human  power.  Rome  towered  to  the 
skies,  but  she  did  not  fill  the  skies  with  glory  as  Homer 
did.  Rome  conquered  the  earth,  but  she  did  not  unlock 
its  fountains  of  melody.  She  could  build  thrones  and 
palaces,  but  could  not  add  one  string  to  the  harp  of  poesy. 
In  her  stupendous  and  glittering  sovereignty,  and  the 
melancholy  grandeur  of  her  ruins,  she  might  be  an  object 
of  poetry  to  others ;  but  in  herself  there  was  no  pro- 
found poetic  enthusiasm,  no  breaking  up  of  the  great  deeps 
of  man's  intellectual  being,  so  that  new  worlds  emerge, 
new  continents  and  isles  and  seas  in  the  world's  glowing 
horizon. 

Rome  was  the  subject  of  Virgil's  imperial  poem,  a 
beautiful  poem  indeed,  a  veritable  palace  of  art,  exqui- 
sitely constructed,  nobly  adorned,  with  scarcely  a  flaw  in 
its  marble  elegance  ;  a  garden  of  flowers,  too,  through 
which  one  might  wander  with  ceaseless  delight ;  and 
through  it  all  shines  the  grandeur  of  that  mighty  empire, 
which  did  so  much  to  make  mankind  a  unit,  to  construct 
the  basis  of  a  noble  social  order,  by  giving  universal  law ; 
but  it  does  not  detract  from  the  real  merits  of  Yirgil  to 
say  that  he  was  not  a  Homer,  that  he  was  not  a  creator  in 
the  realm  of  poetry.     It  is  not  given  to  many  to  occupy  so 


320  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

transcendent  a  position,  and  no  one  can  make  it  for  him- 
self ;  no  one  can  surpass  liis  conditions.  The  poet  is  the 
child  of  circumstance  as  well  as  the  artist.  He  must  have 
his  material  in  the  universe  about  him.  He  cannot  weave 
it  out  of  his  own  consciousness.  The  fountains  must  flow, 
the  winds  must  sweep,  the  stars  must  shine,  and  the  day 
dawn  by  powers  beyond  the  poet's  genius,  and  the  poet's 
genius  must  flow  with  these ;  and  unless  in  them  burns  the 
immortal  fire  it  is  not  for  any  brain  or  heart  of  man  to  ex- 
press the  abounding  radiance.  Rome  could  not  have  been 
greater  than  it  was,  nor  could  Virgil  have  dowered 
the  world  with  the  wondrous  music  of  the  unequaled 
Greek.  The  spirit  of  the  times  was  otherwise.  It  made 
the  magnificence  of  a  Csesar,  perhaps  in  action  the  greatest 
of  the  sons  of  men,  an  elemental  force  indeed ;  in  this  re- 
spect a  creative  force,  like  Homer  in  poetry,  since  he  has 
changed  the  politics  and  civilization  of  the  race  as  no 
other  man  has  or  ever  will. 

The  genius  of  Rome  was  not  for  poetry,  for  originality, 
but  for  synthesis,  for  combination  of  existing  forces.  She 
afforded  a  great  arena  for  what  was  already  attained,  that 
it  might  become  opulent  and  magnificent  with  outward 
advantages. 

But  whatever  Rome  might  have  become  with  a  happier 
destiny  shining  over  her  triumphant  eagles,  it  was  all  lost 
in  that  tremendous  and  desolating  movement,  Christianity, 
which  originated  in  the  most  destructive  pessimism  that 
has  ever  cursed  humanity.  It  swept  away  the  beautiful 
deities  of  the  oldentime,  God  Pan  and  all.  It  destroyed 
romance  and  poetry,  philosophy  and  science.  It  abased 
man  and  nature.  It  stripped  earth  of  all  its  glory,  and 
blackened  heaven,  in  which  shone  but  a  dim  spot  of  celes- 
tial brightness,  and  that  only  for  the  elect;  a  jeweled  city 
in  the  midst  of  enormous  ruins.  For  a  thousand  years 
Christianity  choked  every  avenue  of  natural  inspiration. 
It  made   this  world  a  "dim,   vast  vale  of  tears;"  man  a 


SHELLEY.  321 

"pilgrim  and  a  stranger."  For  Christianity  there  were 
no  smiles,  no  home  joys,  no  "  splendor  in  the  grass  or 
glory  in  the  flower ; "  no  haunting  divinities  in  wood  or 
vale  or  stream.  Whatever  it  might  have  been  from  the 
lips  of  Jesus,  who  seemed  to  have  some  regard  for  nature 
and  man,  and  spoke  from  a  warm  but  ill-directed  imag- 
ination and  a  real  sympathy  with  toil  and  suffering,  and 
did  dream,  perhaps,  of  a  rejuvenated  world,  a  paradise 
beneath  "the  bright-blue  dome  of  his  own  Palestine,  yet  how 
soon  this  vanislied,  and  the  religion  which  it  is  said  he 
founded,  but  which  in  reality  was  founded  afterwards, 
became  not  a  life,  but  a  dogma,  so  cruel,  so  devastating, 
that  the  human  mind  seemed  benumbed  with  terror,  and 
the  old  savage  darkness  came  back.  There  was  no  poetry 
in  this  Christian  religion,  for  there  was  nothing  in  it  spon- 
taneous. It  was  an  artifice,  a  scheme,  a  plan  of  redemp- 
tion as  utterly  devoid  of  beauty,  warmth,  tenderness, 
flowers,  as  the  fig-tree  after  it  was  cursed  by  Jesus.  In 
the  place  of  nature  it  substituted  a  superhuman  God, 
who  had  no  heart,  no  sweet  human  uffection  ;  who  was 
onl}'  a  vast  shadow  seated  upon  an  icy  throne,  cold  and 
white  as  the'  frozen  glories  of  the  pole.  There  was  a  cer- 
tain grandeur  in  Christianity  ;  it  was  a  stupendously  awful 
afi'air  ;  it  made  one  shiver  and  crouch  and  tremble  ;  but  it 
did  not  kindle  and  arouse.  It  did  not  breathe  inspiration 
to  the  common  man.  In  its  triumph  it  became  a  tyranny. 
Universal  mental  slavery  prevailed,  or  if  it  did  not 
prevail,  then  the  sword  was  drawn  and  the  liberal 
spirit  was  crushed.  It  was  not  education,  but  persecution, 
that  seated  the  church  upon  its  terrible  throne.  It  was 
the  dungeon,  the  rack,  and  the  fire.  Where  was  there  any 
chance  for  poetiy  to  flourish  in  the  theological  domains  of 
Augustine  and  Calvin  ?  Was  there  ever  a  more  dreary  in- 
tellectual field  than  this  ? — man  totally  depraved,  haunted 
by  demons,  destined  to  eternal  hell,  save  only  a  few,  and 
these  destined  to  a  heaven  so  barren  of  all  goodness  that 


322  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

hell  itself  became  attractive  in  comparison ;  and  this 
heaven  was  reached  only  b}-  an  act  of  infinite  injustice 
that  must  freeze  with  iiopeless  terror  the  heart  of  hu- 
manity— a  gallows  erected  in  the  center  bf  the  universe 
as  the  only  guarantee  of  celestial  bliss.  No  wonder  that 
for  a  thousand  years  there  was  no  progress  ;  that  the  en- 
ergies of  man  were  wasted ;  that  a  pall  was  over  the 
Avorld  ;  and  we  can  find  no  better  term  for  the  days  of 
Christianity's  greatest  triumph  than  "  The  Dark  Ages." 
Yet  beneath  all  this  tyranny,  this  intellectual  repast  of 
horrors,  this  superstition,  this  fear  both  of  the  powers  of 
this  world  and  of  the  world  to  come,  the  human  heart  was 
living,  beating  still.  The  fountains  were  not  altogether 
dried  up.  Fortunately  for  the  world,  Mohammedanism 
arose,  rivaled  the  magnificence  of  the  Roman  empire, 
broke  the  dark  spell,  gave  philosophy  and  science 
some  chance  to  win,  opened  the  sources  of  chivalry 
and  romance,  and  songs  reverberate^  from  the  shores  of 
Greece  to  Spain.  It  was  impossible  to  kill  human  love. 
Something  of  the  old  pagan  spirit  siill  prevailed.  In  the 
services  of  the  church,  Christmas  was  not  forgotten,  nor 
Easter  day,  and  the  blooming  spring- tide  still  bore 
promise.  So  long  as  the  blue  air  encircled  the  eartli  ; 
so  long  as  the  waters  ran  ;  so  long  as  the  moun- 
tains lifted  their  summits  in  misty  glory  ;  so  long  as 
the  SPa  rolled  its  azure  splendor,  and  flowers  spoke 
their  glittering  language  along  the  pathway  of  men;  so 
long  there  must  be  music  in  the  human  heart,  and  songs 
from  human  life  ;  so  long  will  humanity  keep  up  its 
mighty  battle  against  wrong  and  oppression  ;  so  long  will 
there  be  hopes  and  dreams  ;  and  there  will  be  martyrs 
who  in  their  blazing  death-march  will  sound  the  reveille 
of  a  new  morning  and  a  new  advance. 

And  thus  the  Renaissance  dawned  and  flashed  first  in 
Italy,  heralded  by  the  gloomy  and  powerful  Dante,  who 
never  would  be  remembered  to-day  but  for  the  sweetly 


SHELLEY.  323 

human  music  of  his  immortal  lines,  Dante  did  not  write 
for  the  theologian,  or  the  "  curled  darlings  "  of  fashion 
and  despotism,  but  for  the  people  ;  and  in  the, very  hor- 
rors that  he  depicts  shines  forth  the  surpassing  beauty  of 
his  own  native  land  ;  and  the  music  of  Arno  triumphs  over 
the  lurid  terrors  of  his  dogmatic  pictures.  But  more  than 
Dante  the  bold  and  comprehensive  and  liberal-minded 
Petrarch  was  the  representative  of  the  new  era.  And 
Boccaccio,  too  delicate  and  sensitive  to  battle  with  all  the 
superstitions  of  his  time  ;  still  his  delicate  and  airy  spirit 
in  the  flush  and  prime  of  life  dowered  the  world  with 
those  beautiful  fancies,  which,  like  clouds  floating  in  tlie 
morn,  are  laden  with  the  beams  of  the  coming  day ;  and 
the  elegant  and  witty  Pulci,  whose  melodious  arrows 
struck  home  to  the  hypocrisies  and  mockeries  of  his  age, 
and  revealed  the  true  heroism  of  humanity  ;  and  romantic 
Ariosto,  gifted  by  all  the  fairies  of  happy  birth,  to  tell  the 
noblest  tales  of  cliivalry  ;  and  the  sad,  immortal  Tasso, 
scorned  by  tyrant  and  church,  pale  as  a  ghost,  pining  and 
dying  in  the  prison-house,  yet  to-day  shining  free  and 
glorious  in  the  heavens  of  fame  ;  while  all  over  Europe 
there  were  minstrels  and  singers  innumerable.  And  then 
Rabelais  came,  rotund  as  Falstaff,  with  scarceW  more  con- 
science, yet  human  to  the  core  ;  the  greatest  genius 
since  Homer,  and  Homeric  in  his  glorious  outbursts  of 
fire,  passion,  and  wisdom  ;  and  Cervantes,  poor  as  a  church 
mouse,  always  in  toil  and  suffering,  a  chained  Pro- 
metheus, yet  flinging  forth  the  fire  of  heaven,  making  rich 
the  world  forever,  which  no  king  could  do  though  he 
possessed  the  wealth  of  the  Indies.  And  in  England  was 
the  merry,  wise,  delicious,  sociable  Chaucer,  and  majestic, 
golden,  shining  Spenser.  Finally  all  these  wonderful 
streams  of  poeti'y,  wit,  humor,  pathos,  song,  passion,  fancy, 
imagination,  art,  invention,  wisdom,  grandeur  and  vastness 
of  thought  flowed  into  the  supreme  and  marvelous  excel- 
lence of  Shakspere,  the  "  long  result  of  time,"  for  Shak- 


324  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

spere  is  the  true  child  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  its  chief 
flower  in  the  civilization  of  Europe.  Shakspere  was  not  a 
miracle,  for  we  can  trace  his  gradual  production  in  the 
preceding  centuries,  from  the  shores  of  Italy  to  London, 
the  then  mighty  center  of  the  commerce,  literature,  and 
travel  of  the  world ;  the  only  place  where  a  Shakspere 
could  have  found  fuel  for  his  exuberant  faculties. 

The  Shaksperean  era  is  the  second  grand  poetic  period 
of  man's  history.  How  different  and  yet  how  like  the 
Homeric  period !  There  is  the  same  out-door  life,  the 
same  rush  and  recklessness,  the  same  fervor,  the  same 
far-onward  look  to  the  new  and  the  unknown,  the  same 
recognition  of  nature  as  a  living,  breathing,  multitudinous 
force,  the  same  revealing  of  man  as  having  in  himself  the 
motives  of  his  actions  ;  not  played  upon  simply  by  outside 
forces,  not  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  not  a  mere  ma- 
chine or  slave  of  fate,  but  an  original  potency,  an  evolving 
spirit,  not  totally  depraved,  nor  an  angel,  but  a  being  of 
powers  and  passioiis,  excellences  and  defects ;  swayed  by 
circumstance  indeed,  but  not  merely  by  outward  but  in- 
ward circumstance,  by  the  conditions  of  his  own  person- 
ality, by  the  ever-flowing  fountains  of  his  own  will  and 
emotion.  Shakspere  and  Homer  are  both  poetis  of  evolu- 
tion in  the  domain  of  humanity  ;  that  is,  each  situation  is 
the  direct  result  of  what  goes  before.  It  is  evolved  ;  there 
is  no  superhuman,  arbitrary  interference.  God  is  simply 
machinery,  not  dramatis  jjt^r.svjnrt.  He  simply  fills  in,  but 
does  not  make  or  create.  In  Shakspere  and  Homer  we  do 
not  see  man  as  a  perfected  creation,  but  man  in  the 
making  ;  man  growing,  evolving,  changing,  in  and  through 
his  own  activities.  He  is  not  moulded,  but  moulds  him- 
self, makes  and  mars  his  own  destiny. 

Yet  the  man  of  Shakspere  is  not  like  the  man  of  Ho- 
mer, and  certainly  the  woman  of  Shakspere  is  infinitely 
superior  to  the  woman  of  Homer.  How  much  more  mani- 
fold is  humanity  in  Shakspere   than   in  the   Greek.     How 


JULES  DBS  ESSARTS  (p.  840). 


SHELLEY.  325 

much  more  complex,  more  problematic.  How  many  more 
varieties  of  motive  come  into  play.  If  one  could,  by  any 
possibility,  make  a  perfect  blank  of  time  between  Homer 
and  Sbakspere,  and  then  read  the  former,  and  then  the 
latter,  what  a  chasm  there  would  be  ;  and  only  in  this  way 
can  we  realize  the  vast  growth  of  humanity  for  these  two 
thousand  years.  Compare  Achilles  with  Hamlet.  Both 
are  true  to  nature,  with  common  attributes,  capable  of  the 
same  passions  ;  yet  Achilles  is  simple,  swayed  by  a  few 
motives,  and  these  easily  understood  ;  while  Hamlet  is 
swayed  by  many  motives,  interwoven  and  conflicting  with 
one  another,  and  so  various  and  subtle  that,  to  this  day, 
we  cannot  understand  why  he  acts  as  he  does,  and  yet  he 
acts  naturally. 

Homer  could  not  have  conceived  of  a  Hamiet.  It  was 
beyond  his  experience.  Intellectually  and  otherwise 
the  characters  of  Shakspere  are  superior  to  the  characters 
of  Homer,  because,  in  the  former,  we  liave  the  evolutions 
of  two  thousand  years,  out  of  which  the  poet  drew  his 
abundant  material.  This  exhibits  not  merely  the  tran- 
scendent genius  of  Sliakspere,  but  the  vast  growth  of  hu- 
manity itself.  The  characters  of  Shakspere  were  not 
thought  out  in  the  loneliness  of  closet  composition  ;  but 
were  struck  off,  like  vivid  sparks,  from  that  great  living 
world  in  which  he  mixed,  of  which  lie  was  a  part,  and  out 
of  which  he  drew  the  elements  of  his  surpassing  power. 

I  liave  already  depicted  the  poetic  age  of  Shakspere, 
its  marvel,  its  amplitude,  its  correlation  with  the  past,  its 
own  intensity,  and  its  influence  on  what  will  be.  Beyond 
all  question  it  is  the  wonder  of  human  history.  We  shall 
never  exhaust  its  wealth. 

"  Age  cannot  wither,  nor  custom  stale, 
Its  infinite  variety  " 

And  it  would  seem  that,  after  Shakspere,  there  could 
be  nothing  new,  that  other   poets,  however  great,  would 


326  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

simply  repeat  what  already  was  in  Greek  or  English 
poetry.  They  might  give  uew  forms,  but  no  more  new 
material  ;  they  could  not  add  to  the  poetic  wealth  of  the 
world,  but  simply  change  it. 

But  Shakspere  had  his  limitation.  His  sea  of  thought 
sometimes  breaks  on  narrow  boundaries,  A  recent  critic 
has  pretty  conclusively  shown  that  he  was,  at  heart,  an 
aristocrat.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  people.  He  must 
have  been  far  ahead  of  his  times  to  liave  done  so  ;  for  not 
then  had  democracy  been  heralded  b}'  a  Franklin,  a  Wash- 
ington, a  Jefferson,  or  a  Paine,  and  begun  its  career  of 
grandeur  on  a  new  continent.  It  needs  but  slight  study 
of  the  author  of  Coriolanus  to  see  that  he  does  not  voice 
the  infinite  hopes  of  democracy.  This  last  and  greatest 
aspiration  of  humanity  finds  no  recognition  in  his  glowing 
pages.  He  is  the  singer  of  a  brave  and  gentle  aristocracy, 
looking  witli  kindly  aspect  upon  all  phases  of  humanity, 
and  flinging  over  the  lowest  station  the  spell  of  his  en- 
trancing light;  but  those  vast,  dumb  thoughts  that  poured 
out  at  length  in  thunder  and  battle,  lie  did  not  detect. 
We  could  hardly  expect  it.  If  he  had,  he  miglit  not  liave 
seen  so  much  of  the  glory  of  the  olden  time ;  he  miL'ht  not 
have  reveled  so  grandly  in  the  life  of  his  own  day ;  his 
melody  might  have  had  a  tone  of  harshness  ;  his  thought 
might  have  been  fierce  and  somewhat  less  varied  ;  in  fact, 
he  might  not  have  been  Shakspere  ;  and  so,  for  the  sake 
of  Shakspere,  we  will  let  democracy,  in  this  case,  go  by 
the  board.  We  must  take  the  immortal  in  his  own  efful- 
gence. It  is  Avell  that  the  glory  of  the  world's  finest  aris- 
tocracy has  been  expressed  in  so  illustrious  a  manner. 
Henceforth  we  must  have  a  kindly  feeling  for  it.  It  was 
not  harsh  or  cruel.  It  meant  not  to  crush,  it  tried  to 
make  happy.  But  it  profoundly  distrusted  the  masses. 
They  might  have  some  sublime  virtues,  and  be  gifted 
occasionally  with  wit  and  wisdom,  but  they  could  not  rule. 
This  is  the  impression  of  Shakspere's  pages.     The  breath 


SHELLEY.  327 

of  a  vast  free  people  is  not  there  ;  only  a  gallant  and 
splendid  aristocracy,  who  form  the  chief  figures  of  the  im- 
posing drama.  The  people  only  help  to  fill  in,  to  make 
fools,  gravediggers,  etc. 

Was  there  a  poet  of  democracy  to  come  ?  Was  there 
to  be  a  new  song,  to  which  the  world  had  not  listened  be- 
fore ?  Was  there  to  be  an  added  glory  to  Homer  and 
Shakspere  ?  Was  there  to  be  an  original  genius,  another 
outflow  of  poetry,  another  golden  sea  to  sparkle  upon  hu- 
manity, as  after  the  Atlantic  the  Pacific  sparkled  upon  the 
eyes  of  those  who  "  stood  upon  a  peak  in  Darien  ?" 

There  was  something  in  Milton,  and  yet  not  the  su- 
preme effluence.  Milton  is  like  a  narrow  and  lofty  moun- 
tain, or,  as  Wordsworth  sings,  he  was  a  star  that  dwelt 
apart.  Milton  was  egoistic.  He  wrote  with  a  purpose. 
In  thought,  he  was  not  one  whit  beyond  the  age  in  whicli 
he  lived.  He  was  not  myriad-minded.  He  looked  at  things 
mainly  from  one  standpoint.  He  had  not  the  boundless 
inventive  faculty  of  Shakspere,  nor  his  wealth  of  expres- 
sion. Two-thirds  of  his  great  poem,  "  Paradise  Lost,"  is 
worthless.  It  is  neither  poetry  nor  common  sense,  neither 
rhythm  nor  reason.  It  is  simply  theology.  He  is  only 
poetical  when  he  quits  heaven.  Of  course  there  is  a  maj- 
esty and  splendor  in  Milton  which  is  unsurpassed,  but  it 
cannot  be  said  that  he  added  anything  to  the  life  or 
thought  of  man.  He  wrote  a  great  poem,  and  other  beau- 
tiful ones,  biit  there  was  no  new  outlook,  no  discoveiy,  no 
invention  except  in  the  choice  of  material.  Milton  posed 
as  a  reformer,  but  it  was  more  a  personal  affair  than  devo- 
tion to  universal  principle.  He  labored  and  became  blind 
to  put  one  despotism  in  the  place  of  another.  He  had  no 
sympathetic  imagination.  His  imagination  was  orthodox, 
straight  up  and  down,  like  a  mirror,  not  flowing  like  a  sea. 
Milton  was  a  Puritan,  brave,  honest,  true,  generous,  but 
one  thing  he  and  no  Puritan  has  ever  learned  to  do,  and 
that  is,  "Put  yourself  in  his  place."     Milton  never  did 


328  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

that.  Eveu  his  Lucifer  was  Puritan.  His  devils  were 
bigoted.  They  did  just  what  Milton  would  do  in  the  same 
circumstance.  His  Adam  and  Eve  are  Puritans,  and  his 
"  God "  is  of  the  same  stripe.  All  are  Puritans,  and  all 
Miltonic.  All  are  struck  in  the  same  mould,  all  are  elab- 
orations. There  was  no  spontaneity  in  Milton;  no  vast, 
unconscious  power ;  no  tide  of  nature  swelling  with  unde- 
termined force.  Milton  was,  indeed,  magnificent.  He 
poured  forth  some  of  the  grandest  music.  He  was  clothed 
indeed  in  the  royal  robes  of  song.  He  is  a  majestical  and 
beautiful  figure  in  English  literature  ;  but  he  is  of  the 
old,  and  not  of  the  new.  He  gathered  from  the  past 
enormous  material  and  infused  the  mass  with  his  own 
glowing  spirit,  and  made  it  flashing  and  picturesque  ;  re- 
splendent in  color,  sublime  in  form ;  but  there  was  no 
actual  advance.  No  new  territory  was  gained.  Milton 
was  no  more  original  than  Lucretius,  the  great  Latin  poet, 

"  Who  flung  his  plummet  down  the  broad, 
Deep  universe,  and  said  there  is  no  God." 

Lucretius  and  Milton  were  of  the  same  mould — intense, 
bold,  lofty,  piercing,  with  an  eagle's  flight,  gazing  over  vast 
prospects  with  vision  that  could  meet  the  sun  in  its  glory ; 
and  yet  they  never  voyaged  to  an  unknown  shore  ;  they 
never  drew  back  the  misty  veil  of  undiscovered  deeps. 
They  gave  an  added  beaut}'  and  grandeur  to  what  was, 
but  what  might  be  in  man's  ampler  future  the}-  did  not 
guess.  The}'  built  on  the  past,  not  into  the  future  as 
Homer  and  Shakspere  did,  laying  anew  the  foundations 
of  human  thought,  in  the  still  untraversed  sea  of  time, 
like  bridge-builders  making  a  place  for  humanity  to  move 
on  where  before  it  could  not. 

"  Glorious  John  Dryden  "  was  a  poet  indeed  of  admir- 
able quality,  who  was  very  near  to  Milton  in  the  greatness 
of  his  genius.  If  he  was  not  so  sublime,  and  touched  not 
the  vast  bights,  he  possessed  wit  and  humor  which  Milton 


SHELLEY.  329 

did  not.  He  was  broader  than  Milton  and  more  genial, 
and  equally  sincere  in  his  religious  convictions,  being  a 
Catholic;  and  he  was  so  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  fortune, 
but  from  real  belief.  He  was  more  gentle  in  the  defense 
of  his  creed,  and  was  a  better  reasoner  in  verse  than  Mil- 
ton. There  is  scarcely  any  poet  who  can  argue  so  well  in 
rhyme  as  Dryden.  In  his  moments  of  inspiration  there  is 
a  buoyancy  in  his  lines  that  is  truly  refreshing ;  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  elaborate  sentimentalism  of  much  of  the 
poetry  of  to-day,  where  melody  of  words  takes  the  place 
of  variety  of  ideas.  Dryden  writes  like  a  strong,  earnest, 
straightforward,  whole-souled  man,  who  has  something  to 
say  and  says  it  in  a  vigorous  and  harmonious  fashion. 
Dryden  has  a  permanent  fame  whatever  may  be  the  transi- 
tions of  poetic  taste,  for  there  is  an  element  of  humanity 
in  him,  a  touch  of  this  world,  which  declares  that  his 
poetic  fervor  was  not  the  result  of  his  theology,  but  of  his 
native  excellence.  But  he  soared  not  beyond  the  empy- 
rean of  his  own  day.  He  touched  no  new  string,  he  made 
no  new  melody.  He  was  thoroughly  the  child  of  his  time, 
and  in  his  time  poetry  was  at  an  ebb.  It  was  not  over- 
flowing into  new  regions. 

And  it  reached  a  lower  ebb  in  Pope,  the  magnificent 
poet  of  common-place  ;  the  poet  of  the  drawing-room,  of 
society — a  parlor  poet,  keen,  versatile,  polished,  elegant, 
thoroughly  artistic,  but  devoid  of  nature.  Pope  was  a 
Deist,  a  Pantheist,  a  Christian,  a  heretic — anything,  almost, 
for  the  sake  of  a  good  rhyme  or  telling  point.  Pope  was 
all  for  wit.  He  is,  perhaps,  the  wittiest  poet  in  the  Eng- 
lish language,  since  he  had  no  humor  to  soften  his  diamond- 
like brightness.  The  poetr}'  of  Pope  is  like  a  crystalliza- 
tion. There  is  no  rush,  no  impetuosity,  no  tides,  no  dy- 
namics ;  simply  a  sparkling  effervescence,  like  champagne 
in  a  glass.  It  is  not  a  river,  or  a  sea  of  thought,  flowing 
on  and  on.  It  is  always  a  pleasure  to  read  Pope.  He  is 
stimulating,  vivacious,  suggestive.     He  is  at  heart  a  Free- 


330  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    Oh"   FREETHOUGHT. 

thinker,  but  liis  Freethought  is  subservient  to  his  art» 
His  art  comes  first.  To  write  a  fine  poem  is  the  main 
thing ;  not  necessarily  a  truthful  one.  Pope  never  makes 
a  miss.  He  has  written  less  bad  poetry  than  any  other 
English  bard.  Pope  knows  just  wliat  he  can  do,  and  does 
it  with  exquisite  skill.  He  adopts  the  golden  mean.  He 
does  nothing  great,  and  he  does  nothing  ill.  He  is  Baco- 
nian in  his  method,  in  that  he  does  not  seek  the  unattain- 
able. He  is  no  emulator  of  Daedalus.  He  would  never 
aspire  to  drive  the  chariot  of  the  sun.  He  will  keep  on 
English  soil.  Life  to  him  is  a  pleasant  comedy.  He  sings, 
"  Whatever  is,  is  right,"  which,  of  course,  is  a  lie,  but  a 
very  nice  one,  and  people  like  it.  Pope  saw  no  tragedy, 
no  tears,  no  agony,  no  despair,  no  millions  crushed  to 
earth,  no  martyrs,  no  murdered  innocence,  no  injustice, 
no  crime  seated  on  a  throne,  and  virtue  in  a  dungeon. 
Pope  was  an  optimist,  suited  for  his  time  and  ordinary 
people.  He  was  popular,  and  always  will  be  popular. 
He  keeps  to  the  middle  of  the  road.  He  has  no  eccentric- 
ities.    He  is  a  true  singer — born  to  be  so. 

"He  lisped  in  numbers,  for  the  numbers  came." 

Pope  was  not  merelv  a  rhymester.  He  was  a  poet  in  his 
own  way — a  genuine  poet.  He  was  not  an  imitator.  His 
verse  sparkles  with  thought.  He  is  not  monotonous.  He 
has  plenty  of  variety.  But  he  is  the  representative  simply 
of  a  society,  not  of  nature,  or  universal  man.  But  what 
he  does  represent,  he  represents  truly  and  honestly.  He 
is  not  artificial ;  he  is  artistic,  more  an  artist  than  a  poet, 
but  a  poet  still,  and  when  occasion  offers  he  gives  utter- 
ance to  splendid  Freethought  sentiments,  like  the  folio-w- 
ing: 

"  For  modes  of  faith  let  graceless  zealots  fight, 
His  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the  right." 


0.  OILWA,  Editor  "  La  Verite." 


SHELLEY.  331 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Pope  expresses  more  distinct  Free- 
thought  ideas  than  any  previous  English  poet.  He  verges 
somewhat  toward  a  piiilosophj-  of  Freethought,  although 
he  is  not  consistent  from  beginning  to  end  ;  and  has  not 
the  advantages  of  modern  science.  However,  truth  was 
not  the  supreme  purpose  with  Pope,  but  art.  He  was  no 
reformer.  He  simply  wanted  to  make  the  best  of  what 
was,  and  put  it  into  smooth  and  beautiful  poetic  forms. 
He  desired  no  change,  but  simply  a  selection  of  the  choice 
material.  So  far  as  he  went,  however,  Pope  was  healthful. 
He  liked  this  world.  His  imagination  was  clear  and 
bright.  There  were  no  fogs  and  phantoms  about  him. 
He  was  thoroughly  common  sense,  level-headed,  and,  al- 
though he  did  not  go  very  high  or  very  d^ep,  he  was  quite 
brilliant  in  the  sphere  to  which  he  was  adapted,  and 
adorned  his  age.  But  while  he  satisfied,  he  did  not  in- 
spire. There  was  in  his  elegant  verse  no  promise  of  a 
boundless  future  ;  no  fire  to  kindle  the  heart. 

Bat  English  poetry  ebbed  still  lower  in  the  melan- 
ch(ily  Cowper.  Pope  was  healthful ;  Cowper  was  diseased. 
He  was  half  insane  with  the  dreadful  religion  of  Calvin. 
He  luul  no  true  conception  of  life.  It  was  a  shadow  and 
a  horror,  haunted  by  an  intinite  ghost.  He  scarcely  dared 
to  smile.  He  was  like  a  lost  soul.  Yet  he  pretty  fairly 
represented  the  English  mind  of  that  time  ;  its  conserva- 
tism, its  weakness,  its  narrowness,  its  fear,  its  mediocrity, 
its  respectability,  its  squeamishness,  its  imbecility,  its 
goody-goodyism,  its  namby-pambyism,  its  finikiness,  its 
jejuneness,  in  one  word,  its  piety.  Cowper  was  sincere  and 
wrote  some  good  poetry,  and  Avill  be  remembered  by  his 
"John  Gilpin,"  the  hugesfc  joke  of  which  that  time  seemed 
to  be  capable.  But  along  with  the  pious  sentimentality  of 
Cowper's  time,  there  was  much  hypocrisy,  formality,, eccle- 
siasticism,  and  what  miglit  be  called  the  "dead  rot"  of 
intellectual  finality.  It  was,  poetically  speaking,  on-e  of 
the  most  barren  periods  of  literature.     It  seemed  to  live 


332  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

upou  the  past,  with  no  hope  of  the  future,  Cowper's 
"  Task  "  was  about  the  the  best  that  it  coiild  do.  "  The 
Sofa,"  "  The  Time-piece,"  "  The  Garden,"  appeared  the 
extent  of  its  experience.  Contrast  this  dull,  quiescent  age 
with  the  Vedas  and  Homeric  epoch,  "  a  world  of  rich  and 
vigorous  life,"  says  Huxley,  "  full  of  joyous  fighting  men 

*  That  ever  with  a  frolic  welcome  took 
The  thunder  and  the  sunshine,' 

and  who  were  ready  to  brave  the  very  gods  themselves 
when  their  blood  was  up.  A  few  centuries,"  continues 
Huxley,  "  pass  away,  and  under  the  influence  of  civiliza- 
tion the  descendants  of  these  men  are  '  sicklied  o'er  with 
the  pale  cast  of  thought,'  frank  pessimists,  or,  at  most, 
make-believe  optimists.  The  courage  of  the  warlike  stock 
may  be  as  hardly  tried  as  before,  perhaps  more  hardly,  but 
the  enemy  is  self.  The  hero  has  become  a  monk.  The 
man  of  action  is  replaced  by  the  quietest,  whose  highest 
aspiration  is  to  be  the  passive  instrument  of  the  divine 
Reason.  By  the  Tiber,  as  by  the  Ganges,  ethical  man 
admits  that  the  cosmos  is  too  strong  for  him,  and  destroy- 
ing every  bond  that  ties  him  to  it,  by  ascetic  discipline 
he  seeks  salvation  in  absolute  renunciation." 

The  latter  statement  is  essentially  a  correct  description 
of  evangelical  England  in  the  time  of  Cowper.  It  was 
really  an  age  of  despair,  though  it  professed  to  have  the 
"divine  salvation."  It  drove  Cowper  to  insanity.  Others 
could  escape  the  same  fate  only  by  not  so  thoroughly  be- 
lieving in  Calvin's  God.  And  so  it  was  a  time  of  insin- 
cerity, of  fashion,  and  conformity,  of  outward  orthodoxy 
and  inward  pessimism,  and  while  they  sang  the  song  of 
redemption,  they  saw  before  them  the  flames  of  hell. 

It  could  not  seem  possible  even  to  the  most  piercing 
vision  that  this  age  was  the  forerunner  of  the  mightiest 
poetic  era  in  the  world's  history  after  that  of  Homer  and 
Shakspere ;   an  era  equally   original   with  these,  equally 


SHELLEY.  333 

vast  and  splendid  in  genius,  equally  opening  into  new  and 
shining  regions  of  human  progress.  The  era  of  Goethe 
and  Shelley  is  the  third  grand  poetic  era  of  man's  life,  in 
some  respects  the  noblest  and  sublimest  of  all.  As  Homer 
could  not  have  written  Shakspere's  drama,  neither  Homer 
nor  Shakspere  could  have  written  the  poetry  of  Goethe 
and  Shelley.  They  could  not  have  written  "Faust." 
They  could  not  have  written  "  Prometheus  Unbound."  It 
was  not  a  question  of  genius,  but  of  man's  attitude  to  the 
universe.  This  is  the  grandeur  of  Goethe  and  Shelley, 
that  they  place  man  in  a  new  relation  with  the  world. 
They  have  moved  humanity  onward  and  upward  to  a  new 
place  of  action,  into  sublimer  and  more  far-reaching  mo- 
tives. 

What  an  age  this  was!  What  avast  upheaval  from 
the  very  depths  of  the  human  heart !  What  an  amplitude 
of  poetic  genius  was  manifested  !  What  keenness  of  in- 
tellectual power !  What  range  of  thought  and  splendor 
of  imagination  !  It  lacked  the  free  heroic  action  of  Homer. 
It  was  not  so  objective.  It  was  subjective  and  egoistic. 
It  did  not  have  the  abounding  wit  and  humor  of  Shak- 
spere, nor  his  dramatic  quality,  but  never  in  one  age  was 
there  such  a  combination  of  philosophical  insight,  with 
such  marvelous  rhythmic  expression.  There  is  no  more 
music  in  Homer  or  Shakspere  than  in  the  great  poets  of 
this  era,  and  what  a  number  of  great  poets  there  were, 
and  this  variety  of  genius  is  unparalleled  in  human  his- 
tory. It  is  a  constellation.  We  know  not  who  was  with 
Homer,  and  Shakspere  far  surpassed  his  contemporaries  ; 
but  in  this  cluster  are  several  supreme  poets,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  decide  who  is  the  greatest,  Burns,  Wordsworth, 
Keats,  Byron,  Shelley,  Schiller,  Goethe.  They  are  not 
alike.  They  do  not  imitate  one  another.  They  come  from 
nature  itself,  giants  indeed,  lofty  mountain  peaks,  so  daz- 
zling that  one  cannot  decide  at  a  glance  which  soars  the 
highest.     I  call  it  the  era  of  Goethe  and  Shelley,  because 


334  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

a  careful  study  reveals  these  as  the  transcendent  minds  of 
this  illustrious  epoch.  I  do  not  say  that  they  wrote 
greater  poetry  as  poetry,  but  their  poetry  had  a  greater 
meaning  in  it.  It  was  poetry  and  something  else,  which 
something  else  did  not  mar  their  music,  but  infused  it 
with  the  glory  of  man's  greatest  progress.  It  was  poetry 
with  a  purpose.  It  was  poetry,  art,  invention,  philosophy, 
education,  inspiration,  wisdom,  science,  civilization.  It 
was  man  and  nature  both.  It  was  universal,  yet  deter- 
mined ;  that  is,  it  was  genius  devoted  to  high  ends.  It 
was  genius  suffering  limitation  for  the  sake  of  a  noble  goal. 
Homer  and  Shakspere  had  no  goal.  They  simply  poured 
themselves  out  like  rivers  running  to  the  sea,  or  like 
the  ocean  breaking  on  many  shores.  But  in  Shelley  and 
Goethe  there  was  something  beyond  expression,  an  art 
above  all  art,  a  desire  more  than  poetic  desire  ;  there  was 
an  intense  and  radiant  ideal  above  the  golden  melody ; 
there  was 

"  The  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  shore. 
The  consecration  and  the  poet's  dream.'' 

It  is  said  that  this  very  absence  of  purpose  in  Shakspere 
is  what  makes  him  so  universal  and  supreme.  Undoubt- 
edly this  is  so,  and  had  Homer  or  Shakspere  been  reform- 
ers of  the  world  they  coukl  not  have  endowed  it  with  such 
wealth  of  poetry.  It  is  to  tlieir  advantage,  and  to  ours, 
that  they  simply  made  music  without  regard  to  anything 
beyond  its  passion  and  its  power.  It  is  a  limitation  to 
poetic  genius  to  write  with  a  purpose,  and  the  fact  that 
Shelley  and  Goetlie  so  limited  did  produce  such  supreme 
poetic  results  is  to  their  eternal  honor,  and  it  declares  the 
vastness  of  their  genius.  Take  it  all  in  all,  who  will  say 
which  is  the  greater  exhibition  of  man's  universal  powers 
— Shakspere  without  a  purpose,  or  Goethe  with  a  pur- 
pose ?  The  one  is  the  ocean  with  no  fixed  forms  or  lines 
in  its  rushing  glory ;  while  the  other  is   a  vast  chain  of 


ROBERT   BURNS.  335 

mountains  with  fixed  lines  and  forms.  And  yet  what 
changing  beauty  and  grandeur  we  behold!  Let  us  not 
decide  between  the  two — the  sea  or  the  mountains — or 
criticise  one  by  the  law  of  the  other,  but  accept  both  in 
their  own  effulgence. 

Goethe,  fortunate  Goethe,  he  o'erarches  tliis  mighty 
era;  he  begins  it,  he  ends  it,  so  far  as  the  production  of 
great  original  poetry  is  concerned.  A  shining  ago  lias 
succeeded,  but  it  is  a  prolongation,  not  a  new  creation. 
To  understand  this  era  we  must  seek  to  understand  all  the 
geniuses  who  contributed  to  and  expressed  its  greatness, 
for  we  must  admit  here,  as  elsewhere,  that  the  age  itself 
was  creative ;  that  it  helped  to  make  these  poets,  and  in 
the  light  of  these  later  days  we  can  see  what  this  age  car- 
ried, for  in  it  was  the  French  Revolution,  the  American 
Republic,  and  the  dawn  of  modern  science  ;  and,  there- 
fore, outside  of  its  poetic  streams  tremendous  forces  were 
flowing  on.  A  magnificent  age  it  was,  even  if  these  poets 
had  never  sung.  But  with  their  songs  what  a  glory  we 
inherit ! 

Robert  Burns.— 1759-1796. 

When  it  comes  to  love  and  sj'mpathy,  Robert  Burns — 
Bobbie  Burns,  let  us  say — has  the  m(3st  universal  accep- 
tance. He  certainly  has  won  the  affections  of  the  world. 
He  was  like  a  lark  singing  in  the  clear,  bright  sky.  He 
has  the  freshness  of  the  morning.  What  a  breath  and 
presence  of  nature  is  in  his  poems ! 

What  a  beautiful,  tender,  rollicking  world  flashes  be- 
fore us  as  we  repeat  his  words!  What  music  is  in 
them,  homely  though  some  of  them  may  be,  but  their 
very  homeliness  is  their  title  to  our  affections,  for  Burns 
knew  how  to  use  them  to  make  these  sounds  express  the 
loveliness,  the  pathos,  the  charm,  of  this  world,  from  which 
"old  Scotia's  grandeur  springs."  Burns  was  a  true  son 
of  the  soil.  He  lived  his  nature  openly,  honestly.  It  was 
impossible  iov  liim  to  Ix^  oithodox.     He   revolted   against 


336  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

tlie  religion  of  liis  time.  With  what  scorn  and  wit  and 
sarcasm  he  overwhelmed  it !  He  recoiled  with  horror 
from  the  high  Calvinistic  notion  of  dut}^  which  incul- 
cated that  the  greatest  sinner  was  the  greatest  favorite  of 
heaven  ;  that  the  lost  sheep  alone  Avill  be  saved,  and  that 
the  ninety  and  nine  out  of  tlie  hundred  will  be  left  in  the 
wilderness  to  perish  without  mercy.  The  anniversary  of 
Burns  is  now  celebrated  around  the  world.  All  nations  of 
literary  enlightenment  join  in  doing  him  honor,  and  well 
worthy  is  he  of  the  laurel  crown,  for  no  one  has  done  more 
than  he  to  ennoble  life,  to  comfort  and  console  humanity. 
He  is  a  genius  of  the  highest  order,  truly  creative  and 
truly  sympathetic  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men, 
touching  nature  at  every  point,  and  receiving  from  nature 
the  opule^nce  of  her  spirit.  He  has  tlie  power  of  Shak- 
spere — pathos,  wit,  humor,  and  sublimity  are  mingled  with 
wonderful  and  raj^id  transitions.  He  completely  masters 
the  heart.     He  sings  for  all  ages,  for  all  the  world. 

William  Wordsworth.— 1770-1850. 

Wordsworth  has  probably  written  more  poor  stuff  than 
any  poet  of  his  capacity,  while  he  has  written  some  of  the 
noblest  poetry  in  the  EnglisJi  language,  and  has  been 
ranked  b}'  some  writers  as  second  only  to  Milton  and 
Shakspere.  He  cannot  be  enrolled  as  aFreethought  poet; 
neither  is  he  orthodox.  His  finest  poetry  is  imbued  with 
Pantheism,  and  in  this  quality  he  is  a  great  advance  on 
Milton  and  Cowper.  God  is  to  him  not  a  remote  deity,  or 
a  personality,  but  an  eternal  presence  in  nature,  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  following  : 

"  In  all  things,  in  all  natures,  in  the  stars 
Of  azure  heaven,  the  unenduring  clouds, 
In  flower  and  tree,  in  every  pebbly  stone 
That  paves  the  brooks,  the  stationary  rocks, 
The  moving  waters  and  the  invisible  air." 


JEAN  PAUL  GEE  (p.  6i7). 


KEATS.  337 

Walter  Scott.— 1771-1832. 

It  may  seem  preposterous  to  place  Walter  Scott  any- 
where in  a  history  of  Freethought,  for  there  is  not  a  par- 
ticle of  Promethean  light  in  Scott.  He  is  altogether 
wrapped  up  in  the  past,  and  finds  only  in  that  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  muse.  But  he  is  such  a  delicious  story-teller, 
the  best  in  literature  next  to  Homer,  and  he  gives  such 
truthful  and  noble  pictures  of  the  life'  before  that  we  must 
speak  of  him  as  a  grefi,t  liberating  influence.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  Freethought  is  not  a  tearing  away  from 
the  past,  but  a  selection  of  the  best  material  of  the  past. 
It  is  a  vivid  comprehension  of  the  past ;  seeing  it  as  it 
really  is;  understanding  its  motives,  its  ideas,  its  tenden- 
cies. Certainly  no  one  has  given  a  more  faithful  picture 
of  the  past  than  Scott.  He  has  the  historic  imagination 
of  a  Shakspere  himself.  He  rebuilds  the  past.  He 
breathes  into  it  life,  passion,  intellect,  motive.  It  is  no 
longer  a  dead  past,  a  mass  of  unrelated  facts,  but  a  cosmos 
again,  a  livincr  world.  Men  and  women  are  there  ;  nature 
is  there  ;  the  flowers,  the  streams,  the  sky,  the  plain,  the 
wood,  the  moat,  the  castle,  the  knight,  the  king,  the  peas- 
ant, the  clown,  are  before  us  ;  and  thus,  knowing  the  past. 
how  much  better  we  can  know  the  future  ;  and  Scott,  the 
story-teller,  Tory  though  he  be,  is  one  of  the  noblest  in- 
fluences of  Freethought  culture,  for  as  Darwin  and  Lyell 
read  the  rocky  pages  of  earth,  so  he  reads  for  us  the  living 
humanity,  and  from  his  glowing  pen  we  catch  the  impulses 
of  immortal  hope. 

Keats.— 1796-1821. 

Keats  is  supremely  original.  Not  from  any  preceding 
poet  or  literature  did  he  catch  the  fire  from  heaven  with 
which  he  made  so  beautiful  this  world.  We  might  almost 
say  that  Keats  was  the  most  original  of  the  poets  of  this 
era.     How  is  it  possible  that  one  lowly  born,  as  he  was. 


338  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF  PRBBTHOUGHT. 

should  become  so  great,  should  have  such  mastery  of 
language,  such  loftiness  of  ideas ;  that  he  should  so  speak 

"  With  the  large  utterance  of  the  early  gods  ?" 

In  pure  poetry,  in  musical  expression,  in  thoughts  that 
flow  like  liquid  gold,  in  his  perfect  pictures  of  nature, 
Keats  is  unsurpassed  even  by  Homer  or  Shakspere.  Of 
course  he  has  not  their  epic  and  dramatic  quality,  their 
grandeur  of  construction,  their  vast  experience.  He  lacks 
energy,  discipline,  matured  power,  sustained  imagination. 
He  is  simply  a  child  dying  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  but 
what  he  produced  is  astonishing.  We  can  scarcely  realize 
that  a  boy,  nurtured  in  poverty,  with  a  life  of  struggle, 
feeble  in  health,  scorned  by  critics,  should  write  so  ma- 
jestically, so  vividly,  and  be  equal  to  the  greatest  of  bards, 
that  his  poetry  should  mark  an  epoch  in  literature,  and 
that  he  should  become  a  creative  influence.  He  is  truly 
Promethean,  for  he  seems  himself  to  have  come  in  contact 
with  the  gods  and  fetched  their  brightest  flames. 

Byron.— 1788-1821. 

The  popular  opinion  Avould,  undoubtedly,  place  Byfon 
at  the  head  of  these  great  poets.  He  was,  indeed,  a  revo- 
lutionary force.  In  energy  he  surpasses  all  his  contem- 
poraries. Ho  is  like  the  "  live  thunder  "  of  which  he  him- 
self sings.  His  pages,  some  of  them,  are  like  a  storm  in 
the  mountains, 

"  Where  Jura  answers  through  her  misty  shroud 
Back  to  the  joyous  Alps  that  call  to  her  aloud." 

Byron  was  an  iconoclast,  a  Titan,  overthrowing  many  of 
the  sacred  things  of  the  past ;  but  he  was  not  a  system- 
atic Freethinker.     He  had  no  deep,  pervading  philosophy. 

Byron  was  sometimes  radical,  and  sometimes  conserva- 
tive. But  he  voiced  the  tumultuous  age  in  which  he  lived. 
He  was  a  regenerating  force.     At  times  he  was  reckless, 


SHELLEY.  339 

and  then  his  verses  had  the  brilliancy  and  potency  of 
nature  itself.  We  see  this  in  Don  Juan,  the  greatest,  the 
most  varied,  the  most  powerful,  and  the  most  melodious 
and  truly  poetic  of  all  his  productions.  It  is  like  the  flow 
of  a  river,  the  ripple  of  a  fountain,  and  vast  swell  of  ocean. 
It  has  passion,  thoujTjlit,  imaj^ination.  Its  lanp;u;ige  is 
masterful.  His  words,  at  times,  are  like  the  open  sesame 
of  the  Arab.  They  reveal  the  hidden  pomps  of  earth  and 
sky. 

It  is  needless  to  repeat  the  tragedy  of  Byron's  life.  It 
was  the  course  of  a  comet,  strange,  bewildering,  fascinat- 
ing, lofty,  shining  ;  a  great  soul  tortured  with  hopes  and 
aspirations  unattainable.  No  man  lived  a  life  more  full 
and  opulent  than  Byron,  no  one  a  life  more  sad  and  pa- 
thetic. He  enjoyed  all  that  one  might  enjoy,  and  suffered 
all  that  one  might  suffer.  Strangely  alike  were  Byron  and 
Burns — the  one  a  prince,  the  other  a  peasant,  but  equally 
royal,  equally  high,  equally  glorious  in  capacity,  equally 
the  heirs  of  pain  and  glory — burning  tliemselves  out  while 
in  meridian  splendor,  and  now  held  forever  in  the  sweetest 
remembrance  of  mankind. 

Shelley.— 1792-1822. 

I  regard  Shelley  as  the  greatest  poet  of  this  great  era 
of  English  poetry,  because  we  find  in  him  its  fullest  mean- 
ing, its  sublimest  significance.  Certainly  from  the  Free- 
thought  standpoint  he  was  the  greatest  genius.  He  Avas  a 
declared  Atheist,  an  opponent  of  all  the  gods,  of  faith  and 
custom.  He  suffered  for  his  opinions  ;  he  was  a  martyr. 
Born  to  wealth,  he  disdained  it.  He  was  in  thorough  S3^m- 
pathy  with  the  French  Revolution.  He  sounded  the  paean 
of  Democracy.  He  believed  in  the  reign  of  the  people. 
He  was  a  noble  and  beautiful  dreamer.  He  sang  not 
merely  for  the  joy  of  singing,  but  to  make  the  world  hap- 
pier, to  give  it  better  hopes,  broader  thoughts,  richer 
imaf»inations.     In  the  first   flush   of  voutli  what  glorious 


340  FOUR   HUXDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

poetry  he  poured  forth,  radiaut  with  the  fires  of  liberty ! 
How  many  a  heart  has  thrilled  with  his  impetuous  melody, 
tlie  llrst  genuiue  lulidel  jjoetrj-  iu  ;A\  Eiiqlish  literature — 
iconoclastic,  daring,  radical,  volcanic,  like  a  tempest,  like 
the  sea,  sparkling  in  its  unchained  course  ! 

Shelley  conquered  i^oetry  for  Freethought,  and  through 
his  genius  Freethought  is  now  linked  with  the  noblest 
music  and  hope  of  man.  But  Shelley  is  more  than  the 
greatest  poet  of  Freethought.  He  is  one  of  the  greatest 
poets  of  the  universal  world,  one  of  the  original  and  sub- 
lime geniuses  of  mankind,  a  new  and  prodigious  force  iu 
histor}^  an  elemental  power.  He  is  at  the  head  of  a  new 
epoch  ;  he  is  a  discoverer,  an  inventor.  From  him  llow 
new  streams  of  impulse,  melod}^  and  power. 

There  is  an  indefinable  something  in  the  supreme  poets, 
not  music  or  thought  or  dramatic  power,  but  an  atmos- 
phere, original  with  themselves  and  which  makes  a  new 
world  as  we  enter  their  charmed  domains.  We  do  not 
find  this  in  lesser  poets.  They  simply  reflect  the  world 
about  them,  but  these  greater  poets  not  only  reflect  but 
transform.  They  do  more  than  hold  the  mirror  up  to 
nature.  They  seem  to  breathe  into  it  a  new  spirit,  to 
clothe  it  with  a  more  luminous  atmosphere,  so  that  out- 
lines and  forms  are  changed  ;  the  mountains  and  clouds, 
and  seas  and  shores  have  a  different  tint,  and  present  a 
new  aspect  of  gloiy  and  delight.  It  is  as  when  we  travel 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast.  We  trace  no  great 
differences  in  hill,  or  plain,  or  river,  or  forest,  but  we  are 
in  a  new  atmosphere,  and  the  horizon  is  different,  and  the 
sky  and  the  clouds,  and  the  day  and  night,  and  the  stars 
and  the  morning.  So  when  we  come  into  Shelley's  poetry 
there  is  the  same  wondrous  change.  Shelley  has  given  a 
new  atmosphere  of  poetic  splendor  to  the  world,  like  golden 
California  to  the  traveler's  eyes  after  he  passes  the  shining 
mountain's  boundary. 

The  following,  written  at  twent}',  shows  Slielley's  com- 


SHELLEY.  341 

mand  of  weighty  English  prose  ;  his  philosophical  insight 
at  that  early  age,  aud  the  noble  principles  of  liberty  by 
which  he  was  governed.  It  was  to  Lord  Ellenborough,  in 
behalf  of  a  printer  named  D.  J.  Eaton,  imprisoned  for 
publishing  Paine's  "Age  of  Reason:" 

'■  Moral  qualities  are  such  as  only  a  human  being  can 
possess.  To  attribute  them  to  the  spirit  of  the  universe, 
or  to  suppose  that  he  is  capable  of  altering  them,  is  to 
degrade  God  into  man,  and  to  annex  to  this  incomprehen- 
sible being  qualities  incompatible  with  any  possible  defi- 
nition of  his  nature. 

"  It  ma}-  be  objected.  Ought  not  the  creator  to  possess 
the  perfections  of  the  creature  ?  No.  To  attribute  to 
God  the  moral  qualities  of  man,  is  to  suppose  him  suscep- 
tible of  passions,  which,  arising  out  of  corporeal  organiza- 
tion, it  is  plain  that  a  pure  spirit  cannot  possess.  But 
■even  suppose,  with  the  vulgar,  that  God  is  a  venerable  old 
man,  seated  on  a  throne  of  clouds,  his  breast  the  theater 
•of  A'arious  passions,  analogous  to  those  of  humanit}",  his 
will  changeable  and  uncertain  as  that  of  an  earthly  king^ 
still  goodness  and  justice  are  qualities  seldom  denied  him, 
and  it  will  be  admitted  that  he  disapproves  of  any  action 
incompatible  with  those  qualities.  Persecution  for  opin- 
ion is  unjust.  With  what  consistency,  then,  can  the  wor- 
shipers of  a  Deity,  whose  benevolence  they  boast,  embitter 
the  existence  of  their  fellow  being,  because  his  ideas  of 
that  Deity  are  different  from  those  which  they  entertain  ? 
x\las !  there  is  no  consistency  in  those  persecutors  who 
worship  a  benevolent  Deity  ;  those  who  worship  a  demon 
would  alone  act  consonantly  to  their  princij^les  by  im- 
prisoning and  torturing  in  his  name." 

Like  all  great  minds  Shelley  confronted  the  tremen- 
dous problem  of  evil.  He  did  not  solve  it  fully,  as  per- 
haps it  never  will  be,  except  by  science.  Evil  exists,  and 
the  universe  is  a  tragedy.  The  question  for  man  is,  how 
to  make  the  best  of  it  ?     Shelley  was  not  of  a  light  opti- 


342  FOUR  HUNDRED  TEARS  OF  FRBETHOUGHT. 

mistic  temper.  He  recognized  the  darker  aspects  of  the 
world.  Like  Goethe,  "  he  knew  and  felt  that  an  awful 
conflict  was  going  on  between  two  mighty  powers,  the  one 
fair  and  beneficent,  and  the  other  hideous  and  malign. 
But  he  convinced  himself,  or  perhaps  it  would  be  better 
to  say,  the  conviction  grew  in  his  mind,  that  this  struggle 
was  not  necessarily  eternal ;  that  in  spirits  which,  in  spite 
of  failure  and  suffering,  have  always  an  inward  longing 
for  light  and  freedom,  the  good  power  ultimately  triumphs, 
and  crushes  evil  forever  under  its  feet." 

Victor  Hugo  says  that  the  poetry  of  the  race  is  for  its 
consolation.     Truly  that  is  the  divine  gift  of  poesy. 

Shelley  thus  dowers  mankind.  In  the  garb  of  imagi- 
nation there  shines  a  living  truth.  "We  enter  dreamland 
and  fairyland,  but  we  find  food  for  this  common  world  of 
labor  and  suffering.     Is  not  this  true  ? 

"  Hark  !  the  rushing  snow  ; 
The  sun-awakened  avalanche  ;  whose  mass 
Thrice  sifted  by  the  storm,  had  gathered  there 
Flake  after  flake,  in  heaven-defying  minds, 
As  tliougld  by  thought  is  piled,  till  some  great  truth 
Is  loosened,  and  the  nations  echo  round. 
Shaken  to  their  roots,  as  do  the  mountains  now." 

Lessing.— 1729-1781. 

Contemporai'v,  preceding,  and  succeeding  the  mighty 
outburst  of  poetry  in  England,  is  the  wonderful  creative 
era  of  German  literature,  and  it  is  amazing  to  contemplate 
England  and  Germany  uniting  in  such  an  outflow  of  genius, 
while  in  France  rolled  and  thundered  the  Revolution  ;  so 
that  this  is  indeed  the  greatest  age  of  man  in  the 
variety,  magnificence,  awfulness,  and  terror  of  the  forces 
brought  into  play.  Never  was  there  such  an  interaction 
of  thought  and  deed.  Dreams  became  realities,  and  real- 
ities disappeared  like  a  dream.     Thrones  vanished,  and 


BRUNO  WILLE  (p.  849). 


LESSIXG.  343 

thrones  were  built.  Never  were  such  battles  fouglit,  and 
such  victories  won.  Think  of  a  man  like  Napoleon  and  a 
poet  Jike  Goethe  meeting  in  the  midst  of  tiiis  mighty 
draraa^l  What  a  combination !  "Wliat  a  correlation  of 
genin.--!  What  spaces  of  human  evolution  and  revolution 
were  represented  by  these  stupendous  intellectual  potent- 
ates !  What  a  meaning  they  give  to  Europe  and  the 
world ! 

The  modern  intellectual  vigor  of  Germany  awakens  with 
Lessing,  the  greatest  man  in  Germany  since  Luther,  and, 
perhaps,  the  greatest  man  that  Germany  has  ever  pro- 
duced, if  in  man  we  take  not  simply  genius,  but  manli- 
ness, character,  strength,  discipline,  heroism.  I  think 
Lessing  was  a  greater  regenerator  of  German}'  tlian 
Luther  himself,  for  while  Luther  regenerated  in  relig- 
ion, Lessing  regenerated  in  literature  and  art.  He 
is  at  the  head  of  a  reformation  far  more  profound  and 
sweeping  than  that  of  Luther.  Lessing  was  the  greatest 
critic  of  modern  Europe,  perhaps  the  greatest  critic  of  all 
time,  the  greatest  in  this,  that  he  was  absoluteh^  sincere. 
He  made  no  pretenses.  Lowell  calls  him  an  intellectual 
athlete.  This  describes  him.  He  was  superbly  healthful. 
He  had  no  idiosyncrasies.  He  was  an  all-around  man. 
His  life  was  a  constant  struggle,  a  life  of  penury  and  dis- 
appointment, of  deepest  suffering,  and  yet  his  grandeur 
of  spirit  prevailed.  No  disease  attacked  him.  Long  as 
he  lived  he  was  like  a  giant  oak,  and  he  wrestled  with  the 
storm  triumphantly.  His  branches  might  be  torn,  bat  his 
heart  was  sound  to  the  core.  How  he  hated  humbug,  and 
how  he  pelted  it  with  his  fierce  sarcasms!  But  he  was 
more  than  a  destructive  critic.  He  was  a  great  construc- 
tive genius.  He  knew  how  to  build.  He  was  an  artist  and 
a  poet.  He  wrote  some  of  the  finest  dramas  in  the  Ger- 
man language,  superior  in  construction,  if  not  equal  in 
genius,  to  those  of  Schiller  and  Goethe.  His  "  Nathan 
the  Wise "   will  long  be  remembered  for  its  breadth  of 


311  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

thought,  genial  spirit,  nobility  of  purpose,  and  devotion 
to  humanity.     It  is  a  lesson  in  toleration  and  justice. 

There  is  a  splendid  cheer  and  inspiration  about  Les- 
sing's  whole  character.  He  is  a  man  for  to-day,  as  well  as 
for  the  yesterday  in  which  he  lived.  He  is  one  of  the 
permanent  forces  of  literature.  Yet  he  is  more  than  a 
force.  He  was  what  we  might  call  a  whole-souled  fellow — 
brave,  magnanimous,  generous,  sincere,  impulsive,  exult- 
ant, and  magnetic.  He  was  not  the  victim  of  circum- 
stances. He  conquered  circumstances.  He  was  never 
under  the  weather.  He  was  the  same  in  all  sorts  of 
weather,  and  met  the  storm  and  sunshine  with  equanimity. 
He  cried  out,  "  What  care  I  to  live  in  plenty,  //  /  only  live." 
There  spoke  a  royal  spirit.  Again  he  said,  "  He  who  is 
only  in  good  health,  and  is  willing  to  work,  has  nothing 
to  fear  in  this  world."  He  himself  lived  up  to  this ;  and 
again  he  said,  ''If  I  write  at  all  it  is  not  i^ossible  for  me 
to  write  otherwise  than  just  as  I  think  and  feel."  And 
what  splendid  courage  is  in  this  :  "  Does  one  write  there- 
fore for  the  sake  of  being  always  in  the  right?  I  think  I 
have  been  as  serviceable  to  truth  when  I  miss  her,  and  my 
failure  is  the  occasion  of  another's  discovery,  as  if  I  had 
discovered  her  myself."  And  truly  he  declares,  "  I  found 
out  that  books  indeed  would  make  me  learned,  but  never 
make  me  a  man." 

These  expressions  reveal  the  giant  Lessing,  a  grand 
figure,  like  Herman  himself,  a  warrior  ready  for  combat. 
He  spoke  the  truth.  His  intellectual  vision  was  piercing. 
He  recognized  no  finality.  He  said  :  "  The  perfect  truth 
is  not  for  man,  only  the  search  after  truth." 

Schiller.— 1759-1805. 

Schiller  was  born  after  Goethe,  but  reached  his  merid- 
ian glory  and  passed  away  before  Goethe  had  reached  the 
sunset  of  his  ample  day.  In  some  respects  it  seems  as  if 
Schiller  were  greater  than  Goethe,  so  lofty  and  exuberant 


SCHILLER.  345 

are  his  dramatic  and  lyrical  powers.  Schiller  is  a  born 
singer,  and  he  sings  not  for  a  da}-,  but  for  all  time.  He  is 
one  of  the  immortals.  He  and  Goethe  are  like  two  moun- 
tains side  by  side,  and  as  they  lift  up  their  glorious  bights 
it  is  difficult  to  decide  which  surpasses  in  dazzling  alti- 
tude. There  is  a  heroic  grandeur  about  Schiller,  which, 
perhaps,  Goethe  does  not  possess.  Schiller  seems  to 
shoot  up  abruptly  from  the  plain,  and  his  greatness  is 
witnessed  at  a  glance.  Goethe  is  surrounded  by  vast 
table  lands.  Not  suddenly  does  he  touch  the  blue  sky, 
and  thus  his  liight  is  lost  in  vastness  and  variety.  How- 
ever, the  one  cannot  obscure  the  other.  Both  shine  in 
their  own  glory. 

Schiller  was  thoroughly  representative  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived,  of  the  "  storm  and  stress  "  of  that  prolific 
and  revolutionary  period.  His  first  great  production, 
"  The  Robbers,*'  has  the  fire  of  eternal  youth.  It  is  an 
exhibition  of  prodigious  power.  It  will  never  lose  its  in- 
terest to  the  student  of  history,  for  it  was  born  of  its 
times,  like  a  volcanic  force.  It  was  the  red-h(^t  lava  of 
men's  minds,  and  if  we  feel  not  its  heat  to-day  we  still 
behold  its  swift  and  luminous  course,  and  read  in  its  now 
motionless  splendors  the  heart-throbs  of  that  mighty  gen- 
eration. Schiller  was  entirely  in  and  of  humanity.  He 
was  not  outside  of  it,  a  calm  spectator,  as  Goethe  might 
be  m  some  of  his  moods.  He  was  in  thp  rushing  flood, 
and  in  his  rapid  and  fervent  song  resounds  and  shines  the 
hurrying  world  itself.  But  Schiller  is  not  simply  Ivrical, 
and  expressive  of  strong  and  simple  emotions  ;  he  is  won- 
derfully dramatic.  He  has  a  vast  and  comprehensive  in- 
sight into  human  motives  and  character.  Not  one  per- 
sonality pervades  his  dramas  as  in  Byron,  who  resembles 
him  to  a  very  great  extent  in  the  energy  and  vividness  of 
his  genius,  but  many  living  characters  like  those  of  Shak- 
spere  pass  over  his  majestic  stage.  He  revels  in  the  pro- 
duction of  superb  and  heroic  men,  like  Wallenstein,  than 


346  FOUR    ITUNDREP    YKARS   OF    PREETHOUGHT. 

whom  in  all  literature  there  is  not  a  character  more  opu- 
lent in  Lucifer-like  virtues  and  illustrious  crimes.  How 
the  great  hero  is  pictured  in  his  noble  weaknesses  and 
sovereign  strength,  and  not  alone  does  he  fill  tlie  mighty 
drama.  He  is  surrounded  by  characters  equally  true  to 
nature,  loveh-,  malignant,  polite,  wise,  foolish,  brave,  and 
cowardly.  It  is  a  great  and  multifarious  scene  that  we 
witness,  where  glory  and  baseness  mingle,  where  lies 
flourish  and  the  awful  punishment  rolls  on,  wljere  love  is 
imperishable  though  death  shatters  the  frail  form.  It  is 
crowded  with  beautiful  descriptions,  pathos,  philosophy, 
wisdom  and  enthusiasm.  Tliat  Thirty  Year's  War — what 
a  page  in  human  history  !  What  a  story  of  suffering 
and  heroism! — a  drawn  battle  between  Romanisui  and 
Protestantism  after  the  most  enormous  struggles  and  deso- 
lating victories  and  defeats,  while  the  people  were  crushed 
between  opposing  factions  and  Liberty  was  wounded 
almost  to  the  death. 

Goethe.— 1749-1832. 

Goethe  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  poet  since  Shak- 
spere,  great  in  original  gifts,  great  in  wonderful  experi- 
ence, great  in  length  of  days,  liviug  his  life  cc^ujpletely 
from  morn  till  golden  evening;  more  than  all  others  the 
poet  of  the  future,  more  than  all  others  the  poet  of  science 
and  motlern  tliought,  originator  himself  of  that  thought, 
and  prophet  of  man's  noblest  discoveries.  Goethe  was  of 
the  earth,  firmly  planted  in  its  pregnant  soil.  His,  too, 
was  the  "  vision  and  the  faculty  divine  "  that  penetrates 
to  farthest  space  and  unfolds  new  realms  of  truth.  No 
spirit  more  subtle  and  delicate  than  he  ;  no  mind  more 
broad  and  comprehensive.  He  could  sing  the  sweetest 
songs  ;  he  could  grasp  the  loftiest  thought.  All  passions 
were  his,  all  wisdom,  all  imagination.  Goethe  was  a 
growth,  more  than  any  other  poet.  He  gathered  in  new 
powers  through  all  his  golden  days.     Shakspere,  Shelley, 


GOETHE.  347 

Burns,  and  Schiller  had  to  depend  on  orii^inal  gifts,  but 
Goethe  had  the  advantage  of  constant  learning,  discipline, 
and  assimilation.  He  was  continuously  gathering  in  from 
every  vantage  point,  and  his  old  age  surpassed  the  splen- 
dor of  his  youth. 

Goetlie  was  self-determined.  In  him  there  was  art  as 
well  as  nature,  but  art  which  was  nature  in  her  supremest 
moments,  in  her  selectest  influence.  Goethe  understood 
himself.  He  was  clear-sighted  both  to  that  which  was 
within  and  that  which  was  without.  He  lost  none  of  his 
spontaneity  by  his  culture.  He  was  not  cold  or  formal  or 
exclusive.  He  was  not  rigid  and  statuesque,  but  flowing 
and  picturesque.     His  thought  never  lost  its  music. 

Goethe  was  a  student,  an  observer,  a  man  of  science. 
He  was  a  patient  inquirer.  He  was  always  willing  to 
learn.  He  equipped  himself  for  business  and  states- 
manship. Yet  he  never  lost  the  simplicity  and  true- 
heartedness  of  life.  He  was  not  crusted  over  with  cus- 
tom. He  was  cosmopolitan.  He  rejoiced  in  the  past 
as  well  as  in  the  future.  The  past  to  him  was  still 
living  and  glorious.  It  was  not  his  master,  but  a  most 
beautiful  influence.  He  visited  Rome  and  reveled  in 
the  mighty  life  of  the  past  which  it  represented.  He 
disdained  nothing,  for  he  saw  the  relations  of  evervthinp 
To  him  humanit}^  and  nature  were  a  unity.  The  life  of  a 
peasant  was  as  great  to  him  as  the  life  of  a  king.  To  him 
the  every-day  was  poetic,  not  simply  the  occasional. 

In  "  Faust "  he  battles  with  the  problem  of  life.  It 
might  have  been  better  if  he  had  left  it  unsettled  at  the 
end  of  the  first  part.  The  second  part  has  not  the  fresh- 
ness and  reality  of  the  first  part.  It  is  more  like  a  sym- 
phony than  a  drama.  It  is  full  of  music.  But  its  lines 
are  vague  and  far  away,  like  the  landscape  of  a  vision.  It 
seems  as  if  the  shadow  or  "  astral  body"  were  singing  to 
us,  not  the  real  man.  Goethe  has  not  settled  the  prob- 
lem.    But  how  beautifully  he  has  painted  life  !     Its  love- 


348  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

liness,  its  grandeur,  its  passion,  its  terror  are  open  to  us. 
He  has  given  us  a  supreme  drama  of  man,  and  of  the  uni- 
verse itself.  He  points  onward.  He  gives  hope,  through 
ourselves,  through  the  processes  of  nature,  and  not  by 
miracle.  He  has  no  faith  in  the  gods,  or  the  super- 
natural. It  is  not  the  glory  of  God,  but  the  triumph  of 
man,  for  which  he  sought.  All  the  interest  of  his  drama 
is  around  man,  and  God  is  not  an  entity,  but  a  process  in 
and  through  man  himself.  Goethe  was  a  Pantheist,  more 
like  Bruno  than  Spinoza.  He  believed  that  the  good 
would  sometime  triumph  ;  that  it  was  absolute,  and  not 
merely  finite,  as  Spinoza  declared,  but  absolute  not  as  a 
personality,  but  as  a  tendency  in  nature  and  in  man  ;  but  a 
tendency  in  man  that  must  be  victorious  through  man's 
own  agency,  his  own  will. 

Goethe  cannot  be  understood  simply  through  his  poetry, 
like  Shakspere.  It  makes  but  little  difference  whether  we 
understand  the  life  of  Shakspere  or  not ;  but  the  poetry  of 
Goethe  is  the  very  fruit  and  bloom  of  his  personal  being. 
He  lives  what  he  writes.  We  must  interpret  Goethe  by 
his  loves  and  passions,  his  impetuous  youth,  his  dis- 
ciplined manhood.  Wliatever  Goethe  was  as  a  man  found 
expression  in  his  books.  Ami  we  must,  more  than  all,  un- 
derstand the  scientific  labors  and  results  of  Goethe's 
career.  He  was  preeminently  scientific,  and  the  scientific 
spirit  prevails  in  and  moulds  his  literary  activity.  Shel- 
ley was  the  poet  of  Freethought  emotion,  Goethe  of  Free- 
thought  knowledge.  Modern  science  finds  but  little  voice 
in  Shelley.  In  Shelley  are  hopes,  aspirations,  dreams,  the 
onward,  bright  feeling  of  humanity  escaping  from  ancient 
bondage.  But  in  Goethe  we  have  the  mighty  modern 
doctrine  of  evolution,  the  conception  of  the  universe  as  a 
ceaseless  activity  ;  a  universe  of  endless  transformations 
in  and  of  itself  without  any  supernatural  impulse.  To 
Goethe  the  universe  was  sufficient  of  itself  for  all  that  it 
produced,  be  it  a  flower,  or  sun,  or  brain  of  man. 


CAPT.  OTTO  THOMSON  (p.  622). 


CHAPTEE  XY. 

Geology. 

Orthodoxy  was  worsted  ou  the  plains  of  heaven.  The 
stars  fought  against  it.  All  space  was  lighted  up  with 
heretical  torches.  The  tangled  mazes  of  the  Pleiades  bore 
the  banners  of  Freethought  millions  of  miles  from  the 
clutch  of  the  priest.  The  belt  of  Orion  girded  a  here- 
siarch  that  could  not  be  burned  at  the  stake,  and  over  the 
ashes  of  Bruno  flamed  his  deathless  brilliance.  The 
Southern  Cross  was  more  radiant  than  the  cross  of  the 
church.  Not  a  planet  or  sun,  or  comet,  or  constellation, 
could  Rome  chain  to  its  car.  Orthodoxy  submitted  to  the 
inevitable,  and  Freethought  pursued  its  shining  way 
through  limitless  space. 

But  the  church  was  still  enthroned  on  earth.  If  it 
oould  retain  that  it  still  might  bid  defiance  to  the  stars. 
But  when  the  earth  seemed  to  be  slipping  from  its  grasp, 
and  the  garden  of  Eden  and  the  flood  and  Mount  Sinai  to 
disappear  in  the  vast  sweep  of  ages,  then  came  a  long  and 
bitter  contest,  and  even  to-day  the  battle  is  not  yet  ended. 
It  has  been  a  most  humiliating  defeat  so  far  for  the 
church. 

The  church  scented  the  danger,  and  when  man  began 
to  study  the  crust  of  the  earth,  its  rocks,  its  fossils,  there  was 
a  universal  cry  of  condemnation  from  the  church.  All  the 
theologians  took  arms,  but  in  this  ease  the  Protestant 
church  proved  to  be  more  pugnacious  than  Rome.  Rome 
had  learned  its  lesson  in  the  battle  of  astronomy.     It  had 


350  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

something  of  the  wisdom  of  experience,  and  did  not  care 
again  to  endanger  its  reputation  for  infallibity.  But  the 
Protestant  theologian  must  defend  his  Bible.  The  church, 
according  to  Rome,  being  a  constant  revelation  from  God, 
might  accommodate  itself  to  human  advancement,  but  the 
Bible,  a  fixed  thing,  a  revelation,  ended  eighteen  centuries 
ago,  and  of  course  this  could  not  be  renovated.  No  amount 
of  new  knowledge  could  make  it  different  from  what  it 
was.  Its  reputation  for  veracity  must  be  maintained. 
The  church  was  somewhat  mobile,  and  might  admit  fresh 
channels  of  thought ;  but  the  Bible  was  crystallized.  It 
had  ceased  to  flow.  It  was  an  infallible  book,  and  the 
very  letter  of  it  must  be  preserved.  If  one  single  mistake 
were  proved  against  the  Bible,  the  whole  foundation  of  the 
Protestant  church  was  gone,  for  it  was  founded  upon  the 
absolute  truthfulness  of  the  book.. 

Home,  therefore,  occupied  a  somewhat  neutral  position. 
She  left  the  brunt  of  the  battle  to  the  Protestants,  and 
so  conducted  herself  that  the  victory  of  science  would  not 
destro}^  her  prestige.  Indeed,  it  was  a  Catholic  of  com- 
manding position,  Cardinal  Wiseman,  who  was  the  first  of 
the  theologic  army  to  admit  that  geology  might  be  true, 
and  that  the  church  of  God  had  better  make  the  best  of 
it.  It  took  a  long  time  for  the  Protestant  clergy  to  acquire 
equal  wisdom. 

The  battle  began  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Fracastoro 
and  Palissy  broached  the  true  theory.  Afterwards  De 
Clave,  Bitaud,  and  De  Villon  upheld  it.  The  latter  were 
opposed  by  the  theologic  faculty  of  Paris.  Their  books 
Avere  burned,  and  they  were  banished.  In  the  eighteenth 
centur}^  the  learned  and  brilliant  Buffon  endeavored  to 
state  fundamental  geological  truths.  He  was  dragged 
from  his  high  position,  and  forced  ignominiously  to  print 
his  recantation.  Still  Scilla,  Linnaeus,  Whitehurst,  and 
Dauberton  pushed  their   researches  with  incontrovertible 


GEOLOGY.  35X 

results.     But  the  warfare  continued  even  more   furiously. 
Listen  to  the  wail  of  the  poet  Cowper : 

"  Some  drill  and  bore 
The  solid  earth,  and  from  the  strata  there 
Extract  a  register  by  which  w6  learn 
That  he  who  made  it,  and  revealed  its  date 
To  Moses,  was  mistaken  in  its  age." 

Poor  Cowper  !  His  "God  "  was  certainly  mistaken,  and 
is  now  a  fossil  himself,  a  matter  of  curiosity,  like  Cowper's 
own  poetry. 

The  civilized  world  was  filled  with  the  roar  of  the  the- 
ologian. He  declared  that  geology  was  "not  a  subject  of 
lawful  inquiry,"  it  was  a  "dark  art,"  "dangerous  and  dis- 
reputable," "a  forbidden  province,"  "an  infernal  artillery," 
"  an  awful  evasion  of  the  testimony  of  revelation,"  and 
"Infidelity." 

The  fossils  were  a  great  trouble  to  the  church  cham- 
pions. They  could  not  get  rid  of  them  with  all  their 
noise.  They  were  facts,  and  a  fact  does  sometimes  con- 
front a  theologian.  But  they  said  the  fossils  were  pro- 
duced by  the  deluge,  although  it  was  already  proved  that 
the  deluge  was  not  universal.  It  was  declared  that  the 
remains  of  a  mammoth  were  the  bones  of  giants  men- 
tioned in  scripture  ;  also  that  a  lizard,  discovered  in  Ger- 
many, was  the  fossil  of  a  man.  "  It  is  comical  and  in- 
structive," says  President  White.  We  laugh  to-day  at 
these  miserable  sophistries.  Yet  they  were  upheld  by  the 
representatives  of  the  Protestant  church.  But  with  the 
destruction  of  these  sophistries  forever  vanishes  the  di- 
vine inspiration  of  the  Bible.  Geology  has  marked  the 
word  "  lie "  all  over  the  pages  of  that  book.  On  three 
great  points  the  Bible  is  simply  and  absolutely  false,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  about  it,  and  Geology  even  more  than 
Astronomy  has  demolished  the  pretensions  of  the  church. 
The  rocks  and  fossils  have  spiked  the  guns  of  theology. 


352  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

The  three  points  on  which  the  Bible  in  its  record  is 
diametrically  opposed  to  science  are,  the  age  of  man,  the 
age  of  the  earth,  and  the  order  of  evolution. 

The  Age  of  Man. 

The  Bible,  beyond  question  to  any  fair-minded  in- 
quirer, declares  that  man  lias  existed  on  this  planet  less 
than  six  thousand  years. 

Professor  William  Denton,  to  wliom  Freethought  is  so 
amply  indebted  for  scientific  and  historical  researches, 
says  : 

"  When  we  have  learned  tliat  the  lieaven  and  earth 
were  made  in  six  days,  we  have  a  key  to  the  time  of  the 
'beginning.'  On  the  last  of  these  six  days,  A(him  was 
created  ;  and  in  t)]e  fifth  and  sixth  chaiiters  of  Genesis  we 
can  learn  how  many  rears  it  is  from  the  creation  of  Adam 
to  the  deluge.  Adam  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  years 
old  when  Setli  was  born  ;  Seth  was  one  hundred  and  five 
when  Enos  was  born;  and  thus  we  are  furnished  with  the 
date  of  the  birtVi  of  eight  succeeding  indiviiluals  to  Noah, 
who  was  six  hundred  years  old  when  tlie  deluge  came. 
Thus  we  have  the  following  total  :  Adam,  130;  Seth,  105; 
Enos,  90  ;  Cainan,  70  ;  Mahalaleel.  65  ;  Jared,  162  ;  Enoch, 
65;  Methuselah,  187;  Lamech,  182;  Noah,  600;  total, 
1,656  years.  The  time  from  the  creation  of  Adam  to  the 
deluge,  then,  is  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six 
years  ;  and  from  that  time  the  Bible  furnishes  us  with 
dates,  by  which  we  learn  that  the  deluge  took  place  about 
four  thousand  two  hundred  years  ago.  Then  the  creation 
of  man  took  place,  according  to  the  Bible  statement,  less 
than  six  thousand  years  ago." 

It  is  demonstrated  by  geology  that  man  has  existed  on 
this  planet  for  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  years. 
Leaving  out  of  question  the  age  of  the  earth  anterior  to 
Adam,  it  is  conceded  that  Adam  was  created  on  the  seventh 


THE  AGE  OF  MAN.  353 

day,  and  so   the  Bible  chronology  of  Adam,  as  given  by 
Professor  Denton,  cannot  be  disputed. 

What  is  the  testimony  of  history? 

Baldwin  says:  "It  is  now  as  certain  as  anything  in 
ancient  history  that  Egypt  existed  as  a  civilized  country 
not  less  than  Hve  thousand  years  earlier  than  the  birth  of 
Christ."  For  confirmation  of  this,  one  can  visit  the  Art 
Museum  of  New  York  and  study  the  mummies. 

Lenourmiui  in  his  "  Manual  of  the  Ancient  History  of 
the  East,"  places  the  first  dynasty  of  Egyptian  kings  at 
5004  B.C.  He  is  a  Christian  scholar,  but  acknowledges 
that  the  same  system  of  writing  existed  then,  as  was  in 
use  thousands  of  years  afterward. 

Sir  Charles  Lyell  gives  a  period  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand years  from  the  present,  for  the  time  when  the  primi- 
tive men  of  France  lived,  whose  remains  have  been  found 
in  the  valley  of  the  Somme. 

Austed  in  his  "Earth's  History,"  says,  "It  would  ap- 
pear that  the  lowest  human  remains  must  be  of  a  date 
carrying  us  back  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  years." 

Broca  says :  "  Man  has  left  traces  of  his  existence, 
marks  of  his  industry,  and  remains  of  his  body  in  geolog- 
ical strata,  the  antiquity  of  which  is  beyond  computation." 
He  adds,  "A  person  may  easily  convince  himself  that  six 
thousand  years  constitute  but  a  short  moment  in  the  life 
of  humanity." 

Lesley  says :  "  You  may,  with  little  trouble,  see  for 
yourselves  by  glancing  through  the  magazines  of  scientific 
literature  that  our  race  has  been  upon  this  earth  for  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  years." 

Prof.  Asa  Gray  says  :  "  Existing  species  of  plants  and 
animals  have  been  in  existence  for  many  thousands  of 
years  ;  and  as  to  their  associate  man,  all  agree  that  the 
length  of  his  occupation  is  not  at  all  measured  by  the  genera- 
tions of  the  biblical  chronology.'' 

There  is  no  question  of  the   immeasurable  antiquit}^  of 


354  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

man.  His  own  history  declares  it.  Geology  declares  it. 
The  strata  of  the  earth  declare  it.  Monuments  and 
fossils  testify  to  it.  The  evidence  is  cumulative  and  en- 
tirely against  the  Bible  story.  If  man  is  more  than  six 
thousand  years  old,  every  cardinal  doctrine  of  Christianity 
is  swept  away,  the  Fall,  Total  Depravity,  the  Atonement. 
If  Eden  is  a  myth,  then  Christianity  is  founded  on  a  myth. 
If  the  old  Adam  disappears,  the  new  Adam  (Christ)  must 
vanish  also.  No  fall,  no  redemption.  That  is  the  logic. 
The  antiquity  of  man  dissolves  the  whole  system  of  the 
Christian  religion.  It  is  "  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision." 
So  it  seems  that  Cowper's  melancholy  "God"  was  mis- 
taken as  to  the  age  of  man,  about  two  hundred,  or  five 
hundred,  thousand  years,  but  as  a  thousand  years  are  as 
one  day  to  this  deity,  the  difference,  perhaps,  is  not  im- 
portant to  the  "  divine  mind." 

The  Age  of  the  Earth. 

But  how  about  the  age  of  the  earth?  According  to 
the  Bible  it  is  only  six  days  older  than  Adam. 

The  six  days  of  Genesis  mean  six  days  of  twenty-four 
hours  each,  that  is,  common  days.  The  evidence  on  this 
point  is  conclusive.  It  speaks  of  the  evening  and  the 
morning  of  the  first  day,  etc.  If  the  day  represents  crea- 
tion, then  the  night  must  represent  non-creation,  and  if  the 
day  is  a  million  years  or  more,  then  the  night  is  a  million 
years  or  more,  and  for  a  million  years  God  did  nothing. 
But  geology  denies  the  existence  of  any  such  blanks. 

The  twentieth  chapter  of  Exodus  is  conclusive  as  to 
the  length  of  day.  The  aiithor  of  the  Pentateuch  defines 
his  own  term,  and  the  definition  must  be  accepted.  It  is 
on  the  supposition  that  the  days  of  creation  were  similar 
to  our  own  that  the  famous  commandment  of  the  Sabbath 
is  based,  and  this  is  the  motive  assigned  for  it  by  the 
Hebi'ew  legislature  :  "  Thou  slialt  work  six  days  and  do 
all  thy  work,  but  the  seventh  day  is  the   Sabbath  of  the 


VIKTOR  E.  LENiSBTRAA'D  (p.   619). 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  EARTH.  355 

Lord  thy  God.  Thou  shalt  do  no  work  on  that  day.  For 
in  six  days  the  Lord  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth  and 
the  sea  and  all  that  is  in  them,  and  rested  on  the  seventh 
day.'' 

Whatever  the  word  "day"  means  in  Genesis  it  must 
mean  in  Exodus.  The  terms  are  identical.  If  you  change 
the  meaning  in  Genesis  you  must  change  it  in  Exodus, 
and  the  command  would  then  read :  "  Thou  shalt  work 
six  periods  of  a  million  years  each,  but  on  the  seventh 
period  of  a  million  years  thou  shalt  do  no  work."  A 
pretty  long  week's  work  and  a  pretty  long  Sabbath  day — 
not  even  a  Puritan  could  stand  that ! 

Professor  Moses  Stuart,  of  Andover  Semiuary,  one 
of  the  best  Hebrew  scholars  of  America,  and  who  wrote  a 
grammar  of  that  language,  settles  the  question  thus  : 

"The  inquiries  you  make  concerning  the  word  yom  in 
Gen.  i.,  I  will  briefly  answer.  It  does  not  signify  an  in- 
definite period  of  time,  but  always  some  definite  one,  when 
emploj^ed,  as  it  is  in  Gen.  i.,  in  the  singular  number.  It 
sometimes  means  a  specific  da}'  of  the  week  ;  sometimes 
to-day,  that  is,  this  day;  sometimes  a  specific  day,  or 
season  of  calamity,  joy,  particular  duty,  action,  suffering, 
etc.  It  is  only  the  plural,  yamin,  which  is  employed  for 
time  in  an  indefinite  way,  as  '  in  many  days  to  come,' 
'days  of  my  life,'  etc.  But,  even  here,  the  plural  in  most 
cases  is  a  limited  one — limited  by  some  adjective,  numeral, 
etc.  ;  and  yamin  signifies,  therefore,  a  limited  portion  of 
time  ;  often  it  stands  for  a  year.  .  .  .  When  the  sacred 
writer  in  Gen  i.  says,  the  first  day,  the  second  day,  etc., 
there  can  be  no  possible  doubt — none,  I  mean,  for  a  philolo- 
gist, let  a  geologist  think  as  he  may — that  a  definite  day  of 
the  week  is  meant,  which  definite  day  is  designated  by  the 
numbers  first,  second,  third,  etc.  What  puts  this  beyond  all 
question  in  philology  is  that  the  writer  says  specifically, 
The  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  first  day,  the 
second  day,  etc.     Now,   is   an  evening   and   a   morning   a 


356  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

period  of  some  thousands  of  years?  Is  it  iu  any  sense, 
wlien  so  employed,  an  indefinite  period  ?  The  answer  is 
so  plain  and  certain  that  I  need  not  repeat  it.  .  .  .  If 
Moses  has  given  us  an  erroneous  account  of  the  creation, 
so  be  it.  Let  it  come  out ;  and  let  us  have  the  truth. 
But  do  not  let  us  turn  aside  his  language  to  get  rid  of 
difl&culties  that  we  may  have  in  our  speculations." 

How  old  is  the  earth  ?  Lyell  talks  of  "  myriads  of 
ages."     Professor  Warren  Upbam  says: 

"Among  all  the  means  afforded  by  geology  for  direct 
estimates  of  the  earth's  duration,  doubtless  the  most  re- 
liable is  through  comparing  the  present  measured  rate  of 
denudation  of  continental  areas  with  the  aggregate  of  the 
greatest  determined  thickness  of  the  strata  referable  to 
the  successive  time  divisions.  The  factors  of  this  method 
of  estimate,  however,  are  in  considerable  part  uncertain, 
or  dependent  on  the  varying  opinions  of  different  geolo- 
gists. According  to  Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  in  his  presi- 
dential address  a  year  ago  before  the  British  Association, 
the  time  thus  required  for  the  formation  of  all  the  strati- 
fied rocks  of  the  earth's  crust  may  range  from  a  minimum 
of  seventy-three  million  up  to  a  maximum  of  six  hundred 
and  eighty  million  years.  Professor  Samuel  Haughton 
obtains  in  this  way,  '  for  the  whole  duration  of  geological 
time  a  minimum  of  two  hundred  million  years.' 

"  On  the  other  hand,  smaller  results  are  reached  through 
the  same  method  by  Dana,  who  conjectures  that  the  earth's 
age  may  be  about  forty-eight  million  years  since  the  for- 
mation of  the  oldest  fossiliferous  rocks ;  and  by  Alfred 
Kussell  Wallace,  who  concludes  that  this  time  has  prob- 
ably been  only  about  twenty-eight  million  years.  With 
these,  rather  than  with  the  foregoing,  we  may  also  place 
Mr.  T.  Mellard  Reade's  recent  estimate  of  ninety-five 
million  years,  similarly  derived.  Again,  Mr.  C.  D.  Wal- 
cott,  in  his  vice-presidential  address  before  Section  E  of 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 


THE  ORDER  OF  EVOLUTION.  357 

in  its  meeting  in  August,  1893,  gave  his  opinion,  from  a 
study  of  the  sedimentary  rocks  of  the  western  Cordilleran 
area  of  the  United  States,  that  the  duration  of  time  since 
tlie  Archaean  era  has  been  probably  some  forty-five  million 
years." 

These  geological  ages,  as  Kingsley  says,  are  simply 
"  appalling."  We  cannot  conceive  of  them.  They  are  to 
us  practically  an  eternity.  But  these  vast  unimaginable 
periods  sweep  away  the  Bible  creation  utterly.  How  in- 
sisnificant  it  seems  when  we  come  to  the  truth  itself. 

Again  must  Cowper's  God  hide  his  diminished  head. 
He  was  mistaken  this  time  to  the  extent  of  two  hundred, 
or  three  hundred,  millions  of  years. 

The  Order  of  Evolution. 

But  another  even  more  tremendous  indictment  is  made 
by  geology  against  the  truthfulness  of  the  Bible,  and  that 
is,  as  to  the  or^er  of  development  through  all  these  mill- 
ions of  years.  God  might  be  forgetful  of  time,  but  he 
certainly  cannot  forget  the  order  of  his  own  action. 

What  is  the  Bible  order  ? 

First  read  the  test.  On  the  fifth  da3^  God  is  repre- 
sented as  sa3'ing :  "  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly 
the  moving  creatures  that  have  life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly 
in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven." 

On  the  sixth  day  God  said  :  "Let  the  earth  bring  forth 
the  living  creature  after  his  kind,  cattle,  and  creepiog 
thing,  and  beast  of  the  earth,  after  his  kind."  And,  ap- 
parently toward  evening  of  that  day,  God  said,  "Let  us 
make  man." 

Popularly  speaking,  without  reference  to  other  dis- 
tinctions, all  the  animal  life  of  the  universe  can  be 
divided  into  three  great  classes,  namely,  the  water  popula- 
tion, the  air  population,  and  the  land  population.  The 
question  in  geological  history  arises  as  to  the  order  of 
production  or  development  of  these  great  classes.     The 


358  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Bible  order  is  as  follows :  First,  the  water  population, 
"Let  the  waters,"  etc.;  second,  the  air  pupulatiou,  "Fowl 
that  may  fly,"  etc.;  third,  the  laud  population,  'Cattle, 
creeping  things,"  etc. 

This  is  the  true  and  only  possible  interpretation  of  the 
Bible.  Gladstone  himself,  the  most  able  defender  of  the 
faith  to-day,  on  this  very  order  itself,  bases  an  argument 
for  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Bible. 

Professor  Huxley  states,  in  liis  answer  to  Gladstone, 
that  the  order  is  as  follows  :  First,  the  water  population  ; 
second,  the  land  population  ;  and  third,  the  air  popula- 
tion. There  is  no  question  among  men  of  science  as  to 
this  order ;  and  it  is  clearly  irreconcilable  with  the  order 
of  the  Bible. 

What  an  unanswerable  indictment  geology  thus  brings 
against  the  Bible.  As  we  travel  through  the  rocky  and 
fiery  corridors  of  ancient  time,  into  what  a  "  formless 
void  "  sinks  the  garden  of  Eden  !  How  stupendous  and 
amazing  is  the  reality !  What  pictures  pass  before  the 
glowing  mind  !     What  a  theater  of  action  expands  ! 

In  this  worksliop,  this  laboratory  of  nature,  what 
enormous  and  subtle  forces  interact,  crushing  and  ming- 
ling, separating  and  fusing  in  the  uncounted  chambers  of 
the  past;  chambers  of  ice,  deep-sea  chambers,  forest 
chambers,  and  arches,  and  slow  columns  of  mountains ! 
As  we  are  overwhelmed  with  the  grandeurs  of  space,  with 
starry  pathways  in  every  direction,  even  so  are  we  over- 
whelmed with  the  grandeurs  of  time. 

No  Bible  and  no  God  can  now  bar  the  endless  proce- 
dure. A  little  stretch  indeed  is  the  recorded  history  of 
man,  compared  with  those  immensities  of  years  whicli  roll 
backward  with  such  majestic  scenes.  What  is  the  revela- 
tion of  Mount  Sinai,  with  its  thunders,  compared  to  the 
revelations  of  geology,  with  its  thunder,  its  fires,  its 
•  "  heavens  and  earth  "  uncreated,  no  "  beginning,"  an  ever- 
lasting panorama  ;  ever  death  and  ever  birth  ;  decay  and 


THE  ORUKR  OF  EVOLUTION.  35^) 

bloom,  yet  notbiug  lost;  not  one  atom  but  keeps  on  its 
unwearied  course.  How  marvelous  are  these  pages  of 
nature's  bible,  wliicli  can  never  be  impeached.  Each  pic- 
ture is  traced  by  nature's  own  pencil,  and  flushed  with  lier 
abundant  life  and  color.  For  two  hundred  millions  of 
years  the  sun  poured  its  beams  upon  this  swirling  planet 
ere  it  made  a  place  for  man  ;  ere  it  bounded  the  seas, 
stretched  the  plains,  arclietl  the  sunny  skies,  bloomed  in 
flowers,  and  glowed  in  fruit.  And  this  was  five  hundred 
thousand  years  before  man  ever  dreamed  of  God  and 
Eden.  He  had  not  time  to  make  gods  then  It  was  a 
struggle  for  existence.  Man  must  put  forth  every  effort 
to  save  himself.  If  he  had  wasted  as  much  time  in  wor- 
ship as  his  descendants,  our  far-off  ancestor  wouhl  cer- 
tainl}'  have  gone  to  the  wall.  It  is  fortunate  that  he 
trusted  in  no  divine  providence  ;  that  he  did  not  get  down 
on  his  knees  to  pray.  The  tiger  and  the  lion  would  have 
got  the  better  of  him  in  that  position.  Man  was  not.  at 
first,  a  religious  animal.  He  could  not  afford  to  be.  It 
would  have  cost  him  his  life.  He  must  husl)aiid  his  re- 
sources. He  must  constantly  walk  upright.  He  must 
differentiate  his  i'oi-e-])aws  from  hind-paws  ;  that  was  liis 
only  "  plan  of  salvation."  He  must  cultivate  his  fingers. 
If  he  laid  his  "  deadly  doing  down,"  he  would  certainly 
be  down  himself.  Man  was  in  the  midst  of  a  tremendous 
battle  ;  and  he  had  to  do  his  best,  and  could  not  waste  any 
time  in  useless  religious  services. 

The  man  of  geology  is  not  at  all  like  the  man  of  the 
Bible.  He  was  not  even  male  and  female  to  betrin  with, 
and  woman  was  first,  and  not  man.  What  a  history  it  is — 
the  real  history  of  man.  Man  born  with  all  the  other 
animals,  akin  with  all  the  other  animals,  struggling  with 
them,  tighting  with  them,  killing  them  and  being  killed, 
but  gradually  gaining  superior  strength,  wisdom,  and  skill, 
building  a  home,  forming  centers  of  life ;  and  out  of  the 
very  weakness   of  his   infancy  attaining   a   more   vigorous 


360  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP  FREETHOUGHT. 

Mud  splendid  manhood.  That  is  the  man  for  the  poetry 
and  philosophy  of  to-day ;  not  the  shriveled  artificiality 
of  theological  myth,  who  followed  the  lead  of  woman,  and 
then,  like  a  coward,  shirked  the  responsibility.  Geology 
IS  revealing  the  vast  anterior  life  of  man,  and  the  im- 
measurable stream  of  time,  on  whose  bosom  he  arose,  like 
the  sea-anemone  itself,  child  of  his  surroundings.  Geology 
has  thus  added  a  wondrous  meaning  and  possibility  to 
human  existence.  Man  is  on  the  onward  path,  with  the 
gained  capital  of  half  a  million  3'ears,  the  stored-up  labor 
and  experience  of  unimaginable  centuries.  He  is  not  a 
poor,  fallen  child,  a  depraved  being,  a  mass  of  corruption, 
destined  to  an  eternal  hell ;  he  is  a  wise,  valiant,  disci- 
plined, heroic  being,  the  glory  of  the  universe.  He  has 
grown  strong  in  suffering  ;  he  has  learned  by  adversity, 
he  has  profited  by  a  million  mistakes.  The  roots  of  his 
life  to-day,  which  stretch  into  unsounded  depths  of  time, 
give  him  the  sustenance  and  the  power  by  which,  as  from 
a  noble  hight,  to-day  he  looks  into  a  future  of  bright  and 
ceaseless  progress. 


DR.  EDWARD  SCHWELLA    (p.    633). 


CHAPTER   Xyi. 

Evolution. 

A  FAK  more  dangerous  enemy  than  astronomy  or  geology 
was  now  about  to  overwhelm  the  old  ideas  and  tra- 
ditions, namely,  Evolution.  Including  in  itself  all  that 
had  been  won  by  these,  and  other  sciences,  it  was  still 
more  radical  and  universal  in  its  onslaught.  Astronomy 
and  geology  did  give  some  chance  for  a  "God  of  Design," 
althougli  somewhat  remote  in  time  and  place.  But  in  the 
origin  of  species  there  was  still  remaining  a  stronghold 
for  the  faithful  ;  and  it  was  fondly  hoped  that  between 
man  and  the  lower  animals  there  was  an  impassable  gulf, 
and  here  the  deity  was  a  necessary  invention.  It  is  as- 
tonishing what  a  change  has  been  made  by  evolution  in 
this  respect.  All  the  old  arguments  have  been  swept 
away,  and  among  them  the  argument  from  design,  the  su- 
preme argument  of  theology  and  the  only  argument  which 
has  had  any  real  influence  with  the  human  mind.  But  for 
the  evidences  of  "design"  there  would  never  have  been 
any  abiding  belief  in  God.  As  a  practical  argument  it 
was  exceedingly  strong  to  one  who  desired  to  believe.  It 
was  not  a  demonstration,  and  could  be  easily  answered  by 
logic.  But  it  appealed  strongly  to  the  senses,  and  Avas 
valid  even  with  Freethinkers  like  Voltaire  and  Paine. 
Evolution  has  taken  away  the  foundation  of  this  argument. 
Evolution  accounts  for  all  the  design  Ave  now  behold. 
There  is  no  need  of  any  God  to  explain  it.     Hereafter  God 


362  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

does  not  appeal  to  the  senses  or  to  thought.  He  is  purely 
an  affair  of  the  imagination,  and  has  become  so  attenuated 
and  so  irresponsive  to  man's  real  needs  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  him  to  be  retained  even  by  a  devout  mind  when 
evolution  has  fully  accomplished  its  logical  course. 

Evolution  has  changed  the  front  of  the  universe,  as 
Mr.  Savage  says.  It  has  changed  everything — all  our 
ideas  of  history,  of  man's  past,  his  nature,  his  possibili- 
ties, and  his  future.  We  are  in  a  different  universe  from 
what  our  fathers  were.  Never  has  such  a  change  been 
made  in  human  thought.  Its  effect  as  yet  is  but  scarcely 
seen.  Not  a  generation  has  passed  since  it  M'as  accepted 
as  a  part  of  human  science  ;  not  only  as  part,  but  really 
as  the  spirit  and  law  of  all  science  hereafter.  Every  science 
is  now  evolutionary  science.  The  unity  of  sciences  is  in 
evolution.  Evolution  has  had  to  battle  against  the  preju- 
dices of  ages,  and  the  faith  of  ages,  and  not  easily  do 
these  yield  even  to  overwhelming  proof.  Even  tlie  theo- 
logian to-day  is  compelled  to  accept  Evolution,  but  he 
seeks  in  all  possible  ways  to  bend  it  to  his  ancient  creed. 
It  is  no  longer  a  question  with  any  thinker  as  to  the  ac- 
ceptance of  Evolution,  but  as  to  how  to  accept  it,  and 
what  shall  be  saved,  if  anything,  from  the  wrecks  of  the 
past.  Of  course  the  church  will  try  to  save  itself,  the- 
ology will  try  to  save  itself,  not  any  longer  as  against 
evolution,  but  by  submitting  to  the  inevitable  and  saving 
itself,  if  possible,  through  the  weakness  and  credulity  of 
mankind  which  evolution  does  not  destroy,  even  while  it 
gives  greater  wisdom  and  liberty.  The  battle  will  prob- 
ably go  on  for  ages  yet ;  but  a  great  triumph  has  been 
achieved,  a  new  outlook  has  been  gained,  a  tremendous 
power  brought  into  play.  All  the  sacrifices  and  martyr- 
doms and  struggles  of  the  past  have  resulted  in  the 
brightest  and  noblest  attainments  and  prospects  of  the 
human  race. 

Evolution  needs  a  deep  and  careful  study  to  under- 


WHAT  IS  K VOLUTION?  363 

stand  what  it  is  in   relation   to    all    the  other   triumphs 
hitherto  won  by  science  and  philosophy. 

We  need  to  understand,  tirst,  What  is  Evolution ;  sec- 
ondly, The  methods  of  Evolution ;  thirdly,  its  proofs,  and 
finally  its  results,  logical  and   practical.     In  this  way  only 
can  we  realize  this  immense  triumph  of  Freethought. 
What  is  Evolution? 

The  most  general  meaning  of  evolution  may  be  de- 
fined as  follows  from  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica : 

"  Evolution  includes  all  theories  respecting  the  origin 
and  order  of  the  world,  which  regard  the  higher  or  more 
complex  forms  of  existence,  as  following  and  depending 
on  the  lower  and  simpler  forms,  which  represent  the  course 
of  the  world  as  a  gradual  transition  from  the  indetermi- 
nate to  the  determinate,  from  the  uniform  to  the  varied, 
and  which  assume  the  cause  of  this  progress  to  be  imma- 
nent in  the  world  itself  that  is  thus  transformed,  x4.ll 
theories  of  evolution,  properly  so-called,  regard  the  phys- 
ical world  as  a  gradual  progress  from  the  simple  to  the 
complex  ;  look  upon  the  development  of  organic  life  as 
conditioned  by  that  of  the  inorganic  world,  and  view  the 
course  of  mental  life,  both  of  the  individual  and  the  race, 
as  correlated  with  a  material  process." 

Professor  Le  Conte  thus  defines  evolution  :  "Evolution 
is  continuous,  progressive  change,  according  to  certain 
laws,  by  means  of  resident  forces.''' 

The  gist  of  this  definition  is  in  the  words  italicized. 

It  must  be  understood  that  evolution,  in  its  larger 
sense,  includes  dissolution,  that  is,  all  changes,  whether 
for  life  or  death ;  whether  for  progress,  or  non-progress. 
"  Many  imagine,"  says  Professor  Le  Conte,  "  that  progress 
is  the  one  law  of  evolution  ;  in  fact,  that  evolution  and 
progress  are  convertible  terms.  They  imagine  that  in 
evolution  the  movement  must  be  upward  and  onward  in 
all  parts  ;  that  degeneration  (dissolution)  is  the  opposite 
of  ev(dution.     This  is  far  from  the  truth." 


364  POUR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

The  words  "  progress  "  and  "  degeneration"  are  relative 
words  applied  to  evolution  from  the  human  standpoint ; 
but  universal!}^  speaking  tliere  is  no  "progress"  or  "de- 
generation "  in  evolution.  It  is  simply  evolution.  Tliere 
is  no  purpose  in  evolution,  and  dissolution  is  realh'  evolu- 
tion, that  is,  a  change  evolved  by  natural  or  inherent  causes, 
or  resident  forces. 

The  egg  is  the  type  of  evolution,  not  a  definition,  but 
an  illustration,  the  best,  perhaps,  which  any  one  process 
in  nature  can  give. 

Says  Le  Conte  : 

"  Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  main  facts  connected 
with  the  development  of  an  egg.  We  all  know  that  it  be- 
gins as  a  microscopic  germ-cell,  then  grows  into  an  egg, 
then  organizes  into  a  chick,  and  finally  grows  into  a  cock  ; 
and  that  the  whole  process  follows  some  general,  well- 
recognized  law.  Now  this  process  is  evolution.  It  is 
more,  it  is  the  type  of  all  evolution.  It  is  from  that  we 
get  our  idea  of  evolution,  and  without  which  there  would 
be  no  such  word.  Whenever  and  wherever  we  find  a 
process  of  change,  more  or  less  resembling  this,  and  fol- 
lowing laws  similar  to  those  determining  the  development 
of  an  egg,  we  call  it  evolution. 

"  Evolution,  as  a  process,  is  not  confined  to  one  thing, 
the  egg,  nor  as  a  doctrine  is  it  confined  to  one  department 
of  science — biology.  The  process  pervades  the  whole 
Tiniverse,  and  tlie  doctrine  concerns  alike  every  department 
of  science,  yea,  every  department  of  human  thought." 

Haeckel's  definition  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  general  doctrine  of  develo])ment,  the  progenesis 
theory  of  evolution,  hypotliesis  (in  the  widest  sense)  as  a 
comprehensive,  philosophical  view  of  the  universe,  as- 
sumes that  a  vast,  uniform,  uninterrupted,  and  eternal 
process  of  development  obtains  throughout  all  nature,  and 
that  all  natural  phenomena,  without  exception,  from  the 
motions  of  the  lieavenly  bodies,  and  the  fall  of  a  rolling 


WHAT  IS  EVOLUTION?  365 

stone,  to  the  growth  of  plants  and  the  consciousness  of 
men,  obey  one  and  the  same  great  law  of  causation ;  that 
all  may  be  ultimately  referred  to  the  mechanics  of  atoms, 
the  mechanical  or  mechanistic,  homogeneous  or  monistic, 
view  of  the  universe;  in  one  word,  Monism." 

Robert  C.  Adams  gives  a  definition  which,  expressed 
without  scientific  terms,  is  easily  understood  : 

"Evolution  is  the  theory  that  all  the  varied  details  of 
the  universe  are  the  result  of  a  gradual  development  from 
simpler  conditions  through  the  working  of  laws  of  nature, 
which  now  surround  us.  Worlds,  minerals,  plants,  ani- 
mals, man,  language,  morals,  laws,  literature,  arts,  and 
sciences,  as  they  exist  to-day,  are  the  outcome  of  the  un- 
ceasing succession  of  cause  and  effect  that  have  taken 
place,  through  the  preceding  ages,  in  accordance  with 
natural  law." 

I  have  given  these  various  definitions  of  evolution,  in 
order  that  one  can  grasp  fully  its  philosophy,  before  we 
oome  to  a  consideration  of  its  facts,  its  methods,  to  the 
science  of  evolution.  We  cannot  understand  the  methods 
of  evolution  until  we  comprehend  its  universal  meaning. 

Evolution,  as  a  philosophy,  an  idea,  is  nothing  new. 
It  was  lield  by  the  old  Greek  and  Hindoo  philosophers. 
Anaximander,  Heraclitus,  Empedocles,  Thales,  Democri- 
tus,  Aristotle,  and  Lucretius  taught  the  unity  and  evolu- 
tion of  life,  as  opposed  to  the  dualism  of  Plato.  The 
•early  Ionic  physicists  explained  the  world  "  as  generated 
■out  of  a  ]n-iuiordial  matter  which  is  at  the  same  time  the 
universal  support  of  things.  This  substance  is  endowed 
with  a  generative  or  transmutative  force,  b}-  virtue  of 
which  it  passes  into  a  succession  of  forms.  They  thus 
resemble  modern  evolutionists,  since  they  regard  the 
world,  with  its  infinite  variety  of  forms,  as  issuing  from  a 
simple  mode  of  matter." 

In  the  ancient  philosophies  of  India,  "  Brahma  is  con- 
ceived   as   the    eternal,  self-existent  being,  which  on  its 


366  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FRBETHOUGHT. 

material  side  unfolds  itself  to  the  world  by  gradually  con- 
densing itself  to  the  natural  objects  through  the  grada- 
tions of  ether,  tire,  water,  earth,  and  other  elements." 

"  Strife  is  father  and  king  of  all,"  is  a  saying  ascribed 
to  Heraclitus.  As  Huxley  suggests,  this  might  make  a 
fitting  motto  to  Darwin's  "  Origin  of  Species." 

It  thus  appears  that  evolution  is  as  old  as  philosophy. 
It  is  a  natural  explanation  to  the  thinking  mind.  It  is 
the  savage  who  originates  the  theological  explanation — 
that  a  will,  an  intelligence  like  himself,  is  at  the  source  of 
things.  Philosophy  naturally  takes  to  evolution,  and  the 
greatest  minds  in  all  ages  have  accepted  it. 

There  are  only  three  theories  possible  to  the  human 
mind  regarding  the  history  of  nature  ;  first,  that  the  world 
has  always  been  about  as  it  is  to-day  ;  second,  the  cre- 
ation theory  ;  third,  the  evolution  theory. 

It  is  simply  against  all  evidence  to  accept  the  first, 
although  it  has  been  accepted  in  past  times  by  some  phi- 
losophers. Tlie  theologian  rejects  it  and  so  does  the  man 
of  science. 

Only  two  theories  are  then  possible  to  the  human  mind 
— creation  and  evolution.  These  theories  are  directly  an- 
tagonistic. They  are  mutually  exclusive.  Where  creation 
is  there  cannot  be  evolution,  and  where  evolution  is  there 
cannot  be  creation.  If  one  reject  creation,  then  he  must 
accept  evolution  ;  and  if  he  reject  evolution,  then  he  must 
accept  creation,  or  simply  have  no  thought  at  all  about  the 
matter. 

One  can  understand  evolution  better  by  an  endeavor  to 
understand  its  opposite,  the  creation  theory.  The  original 
creation  theory  is  that  something  originates  out  of  nothing. 
Tliis  is  absolutely  inconceivable.  The  words,  "  something 
out  of  nothing,"  convey  no  idea  to  the  human  mind.  Even 
the  theologian  is  staggered  by  the  unthinkableness  of  the 
assertion.  The  something  that  exists  to-day  must  cer- 
tainly have  been  made  of  something  that  existed  before^ 


T.  C.  LELAND  (p.   760) 


WHAT  IS  EVOLUTION?  367 

even  if  that  something  was  God  himself,  in  which  case  the 
universe  itself  must  be  eternal  in  substance  with  God,  iind 
therefore  there  is  no  need  of  creation. 

Hence  the  theory  has  been  modified  so  as  to  admit  of 
the  everlasting  existence  of  matter,  but  matter  without  at- 
tributes or  qualities.  But  the  existence  of  matter,  with- 
out attributes  or  qualities,  is  also  inconceivable.  We 
can  only  know  matter  through  its  qualities.  The  Bible, 
of  course,  declares  that  the  earth  was  "  formless  and  void," 
but  one  cannot  think,  picture,  or  imagine  what  that  means. 
"A  material  thing,"  says  Huxle}',  referring  to  this  passage^ 
"existing  in  space,  must  have  a  superficies,  and  if  it  has 
a  superficies  it  has  a  form.  The  wildest  streaks  of  mares- 
tail  clouds  in  the  sky,  or  the  most  irregular  heavenly  neb- 
ulae, have  surely  just  as  much  form  as  a  geometrical  tetra- 
hedron;  and  as  for  'void,'  how  can  that  be  void  which  is 
full  of  matter?  As  a  scientific  statement,  these  words  fail 
to  convey  an}'  intelligible  conception  to  my  mind." 

So  that  theory  of  creation  cannot  be  held  as  reason- 
able. 

The  modern  and  only  really  reasonable  theory  of  crea- 
tion is  this  :  that  nature  in  itself  is  an  inert  mass ;  of 
itself  it  could  never  move.  The  creation  is,  therefore,  in 
the  motion  which  is  given  to  motionless  matter,  or  the  life 
which  is  given  to  lifeless  matter.  Now  this  "  act  of  crea- 
tion "  is  conceivable.  You  can  think  of  a  vast  inert  mass. 
You  can  think  of  that  mass  set  in  motion  by  some  outside 
power. 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  because  a  thing  is 
conceivable,  or  thinkable,  or  reasonable,  it  is  there- 
fore true.  If  we  try  to  find  out  a  truth  through  a  pure  act 
of  reason,  we  commit  the  old  fatal  error  of  Plato  and  his 
followers,  and  there  is  no  end  to  the  creeds  which  might 
be  fashioned,  for  then  one  might  believe  as  "he  is  a  mind 
to,"  wliieh,  of  course,  he  cannot  scientifically.  Science 
savs,  Believe  according  to  facts, 


368  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

It  is  not  reason  only,  but  reason  and  exj)erience,  that 
give  us  truth,  and  there  is  no  other  way. 

This  last  theory  of  creation  was  held  by  Thomas  Paine, 
and  upon  the  existence  of  motion  he  founded  his  argu- 
ment for  the  existence  of  God.  Paine  reasoned  that  mat- 
ter was  motionless,  and  there  must  be  a  deity  to  make  it 
move. 

He  had  high  authority  for  his  assumption  that  matter 
is  necessarily  motionless.  Descartes  held  to  the  same  view, 
and  it  was  the  general  philosophic  view  at  that  time. 

Against  this  notion  of  Descartes  and  Paine,  the  great 
Deist,  John  Toland,  strenuously  contended,  and  perhaps 
to  him,  whose  ashes  now  lie  unmarked  in  Putney  church- 
yard, must  be  given  the  honor  of  first  clearly  announcing 
the  modern  philosophical  doctrine  of  matter  and  force,  so 
luminously  expressed  by  Buchner,  and  which  is  the  foun- 
dation of  the  scientific  doctrine  of  the  conservation  of 
force.  Says  Tyndall :  "He  (Toland)  affirmed  motion  to  be 
an  inherent  attribute  of  matter,  that  no  ])ortion  of  matter 
was  at  rest,  and  that  even  the  most  quiescent  solids  were 
animated  by  a  motion  of  their  nltimate  particles." 

How  much  deeper  was  the  insight  of  John  Toland  into 
nature  than  tliat  of  Descartes  or  Paine.  Let  us  give  to 
this  sturdy  Deist  the  true  merit  of  his  genius,  j^iercing  be- 
yond his  own  generation. 

"Definitions,"  says  Holyoake,  "grow  as  the  horizon  of 
experience  expands.  They  are  not  inventions,  but  de- 
scriptions of  the  state  of  a  question.  No  man  sees  all 
through  a  discovery  at  once."  "That  definitions,"  says 
Tyndall,  "  should  change  as  knowledge  advances,  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  sound  sense  and  scientific  practice." 
Paine  did  not  define  matter  correctly. 
His  theological  argument  collapses  the  moment  we 
understand  the  true  nature  of  matter,  which  is  eternally  in 
the  process  of  evolution.  Matter  is  not  "  dead;  "  it  is  not 
*' lifeless  ;"  it  is   not  "motionless."     Matter  is  constantly 


WHAT  IS  EVOLUTION?  369 

alive  and  moving.  Deatli  is  merely  our  name  for  a  change 
in  nature,  but  there  is  no  cessation  of  movement.  Death 
is  simply  a  new  movement,  not  inertia.  Not  a  particle  of 
matter  is  ever  absolutely  at  rest.  The  curtain  is  never 
rung  down  on  nature.  Her  drama  is  unceasing,  however 
we  ma}'  view  it.  Given  matter,  there  is  motion  ;  and  given 
motion,  there  is  matter. 

This  brings  us  to  the  fundamental  affirmation  of  evolu- 
tion, the  eternity  of  matter  and  motion,  that  matter  cannot 
be  increased  or  diminished,  and  motion  cannot  be  in- 
creased or  diminished.  In  nature,  both  matter  and  force 
(motion)  are  unbegiuning  and  unending.  Without  this 
postulate,  scientific  knowledge  is  impossible.  Grant  that 
matter  or  motion  can  be  made  or  destroyed  by  the  least 
possible  amount,  and  the  foundations  of  certainty  are 
gone.  The  conservation  of  forces  is  the  noblest  demon- 
stration of  modern  science  and  absolutely  necessary  to 
its  life. 

Nothing  is  made,  nothing  is  lost,  anywhere  in  the  uni- 
verse. There  is  no  need,  therefore,  of  creation,  or  of  God. 
The  only  wslj  to  save  the  conception  of  God  hereafter  is 
to  identify  him  with  this  eternal  matter  and  force,  as 
Goethe  has  done,  and  others  ;  but  this  is  a  thing  of  choice 
and  not  of  logic.  Evolution  does  not  need  a  god.  It 
needs  simply  eternal  matter  and  motion.  In  matter,  as 
Tyndall  says,  "is  the  promise  and  potency  of  all  life" — 
matter  in  which  motion  never  ceases  to  be,  since  it  never 
began  to  be.  Wherever  we  are  in  any  age,  in  any  cycle,  in 
any  eon,  in  any  chamber  of  illimitable  space,  the  universe 
is  alwa3's  on  the  move.  Fundamentally,  as  Goethe  says, 
the  universe  is  action.     It  is  dynamic. 

Evolution,  therefore,  first  of  all,  brings  us  into  the 
presence  of  a  universe  in  which  no  particle  of  matter  is  at 
rest.  Its  crystals  are  but  mirrors  of  motion.  Its  dia- 
monds heave  and  flash  like  a  sea,  if  we  have  senses  fine 
enough  to  perceive.     Its  iron,  its  adamant  are  streams  of 


370  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

movement.  It  is  eternal  action,  ever  translated  into 
eternal  fact. 

The  universe  of  to-day,  therefore,  is  the  universe  of 
yesterday  and  of  the  illimitable  past.  It  is  the  universe 
of  to-morrow  and  of  the  illimitable  future.  It  is  ever  old, 
ever  new — never  the  same,  yet  unchangeable  in  its  sub- 
stance. There  is  no  addition,  no  diminution — infinite  va- 
riety, yet  infinite  oneness — no  break  anywhere.  AH  the 
forms  of  to-day,  however  wonderful  and  brilliant,  existed 
potentially  in  all  the  forms  of  yesterday  ;  and  all  the 
million  and  billion  forms  of  to-morrow,  however  different, 
low  or  high,  vast  or  minute,  exist  potentially  in  the  forms 
of  to-day.  If  at  one  time  there  was  only  fire  mist,  yet  in 
that  fire  mist  was  the  cosmos  of  to-day ;  and  if  this  cosmos 
ceases,  it  gives  its  glory  and  wealth  to  that  which  succeeds. 
There  is  no  grave  for  the  universe,  even  as  there  was  no 
birth.  Every  tombstone  will  melt  and  flow  into  the 
eternal  activity.  There  is  no  epitaph  for  nature.  What 
she  is,  she  ever  was  and  ever  will  be.  Her  chambers  of 
darkness  are  not  prison-houses.  In  them  gathers  life,  and 
it  surges  and  rolls  oa  to  illuminated  fields.  Nature  car- 
ries her  supplies  with  her.  Her  treasuries  are  never 
drained  ;  her  lines  of  communication  are  never  broken. 
She  has  no  straggling  forces.  Wherever  she  marches,  her 
arm}'  is  compact  and  beautiful. 

Nature  is  a  "  living  whole,"  as  Humboldt  says.  Who 
can  measure  the  grandeur  of  these  words,  or  unfold  their 
infinite  meaning?  Tliis  conception  lies  at  the  foundation 
of  an}'  philosophy  of  evolution  ;  not  simply  the  oneness  of 
nature,  but  that  oneness  alive  at  every  point. 

There  is  nothing  back  of  evolution  ;  there  is  nothing 
after  evolution.  Evolution  is  all  in  all.  It  is  nature  work- 
ing with  her  own  capital,  depending  on  her  own  resources. 
Nature  makes  her  own  investments  and  takes  all  the 
profits.  She  has  no  silent  partner.  She  is  her  own  syn- 
dicate.    She  is  entirely  home  rule.     There  is   no   foreign 


THE  METHODS  OF  EVOLUTION.  37I 

interference.  Nature  never  imports.  Her  looms  weave  the 
productions  of  her  own  soil.  Nature  pays  no  tariff  for  au}-- 
thing  that  is  in  her  wide  domains.  Nature  pays  her  own 
way,  makes  her  own  living,  and  is  never  bankrupt.  Her 
assets  are  always  equal  to  her  liabilities.  Her  accounts 
always  balance.     Her  receipts  equal  her  expenditures. 

This  is  what  evolution  is — not  a  partial,  but  a  universal 
explanation  of  nature.  Nature  is  all  in  all,  eternal  matter 
and  eternal  force,  whose  endless  transformations  are  the 
result  of  her  own  inherent  activity. 

The  Methods  of  Evolution. 

After  a  general  and  philosophical  definition  of  evolu- 
tion is  tlie  elucidation  of  the  methods  of  evolution,  or  the 
real  facts  of  evolution  as  a  matter  of  history  which  can 
be  discovered  only  by  science  itself.  We  might  a  priori 
affirm  evolution  as  a  philosophy  of  the  universe,  but  we 
could  not  declare  its  process.  We  can  only  know  how 
nature  works  by  watching  her. 

I  can  only  give  a  bird's-ej'e  view  of  the  process  of  evo- 
lution. It  would  take  volumes  to  unfold  all  the  details 
brought  to  light  by  modern  science.  But  it  is  necessary 
to  the  history  of  evolution  that  we  should  have  a  general 
view  of  its  methods,  or  laws,  or  order  of  facts. 

I  use  the  word  law  as  a  description  of  the  ways  of  na- 
ture, not  as  something  imposed  upon  nature.  Nature  has 
her  methods  and  these  methods  I  call  laws. 

In  the  study  of  nature  and  the  multiplicity  of  her 
forms,  the  first  law  which  strikes  the  observer  is  the  law 
of  persistency.  All  forms  of  life  with  which  we  become 
acquainted  tend  to  continue  to  be,  to  reproduce  and  per- 
petuate themselves.  All  past  and  present  experiences  of 
man  demonstrate  the  existence  and  universality  of  this 
law.  Species  or  forms  of  life  now  in  existence  liave  been 
in  existence  with  scarcely  any  change  for  many  thousands 


372  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS   OF  FREETHOUQHT. 

of  years.  This  applies  to  all  animal  and  plant  life.  This 
law  of  persistency  is  recognized  without  question. 

Then  comes  the  law  of  variation,  and  this  seems  to  be 
almost  as  universal  as  the  law  of  persistency.  Forms  of 
life  tend  to  vary,  to  be  different.  Every  form  of  life  seems 
to  have  this  tendency,  more  or  less.  It  is  not  necessarily 
inherent,  but  is  probably  the  result  of  a  change  of  environ- 
ment. Both  the  form  of  life  and  its  environment  must  be 
taken  into  consideration.  It  might  be  inherent  in  the 
form  to  change,  or  it  might  be  entirely  the  result  of  a 
change  in  outward  conditions.  At  any  rate,  the  variation 
occurs  and  constantly  occurs.  We  see  it  ourselves  every 
day  in  the  plants  and  animals  by  which  we  are  surrounded. 

But  now,  furthermore,  it  is  to  be  observed  as  the 
method  of  nature  that  when  the  variation  occurs  it  also 
takes  the  law  of  persistency  equally  with  the  original 
form.  It  tends  to  continue  to  be,  to  multiply  and  also  to 
produce  variations,  and  these  also  tend  to  persist. 

The  law,  therefore,  of  persistency,  of  variation,  and  of 
persistency  in  the  variation  is  well  established  by  uni- 
versal experience.     It  needs  no  further  illustration. 

"What,  then,  must  be  the  result  ?  No  matter  how  mi- 
nute the  first  appearance  of  life,  it  must  eventually  in- 
crease to  an  enormous  extent.  There  must  at  length  be 
millions  upon  millions  of  forms,  and  these  forms  increas- 
ing in  geometrical  ratio.  "A  cod,"  says  Denton,  "  will 
produce  at  a  birth  from  four  to  nine  millions  ;  a  full- 
grown  elm  will  perfect  in  a  single  season  a  hundred 
million  seeds ;  a  pair  of  rabbits  in  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  if  unrestrained,  would  stock  the  entire  land  surface 
of  the  globe."  "  Three  flies,"  says  Huxley,  "  will  destroy 
a  dead  horse  as  quickly  as  a  lion."  There  are  100,000,- 
000,000,000  flies  in  the  world  each  day.  Darwin  reckons 
that  two  elephants  in  seven  hundred  and  fifty  years  will 
increase  to  nineteen  millions.  Fifty  million  birds  and 
birds'  eggs   die  every   year,  and   of   this   destruction  no 


J.  R.  MONROE  (p.   177)- 


THE  METHODS  OF  EVOLUTION.  373 

traces  are  seen.  Five  hundred  thousand  animal  species 
are  now  known.  These  facts  among  many  illustrate  the 
inconceivable  energy  of  nature,  her  opulence  of  life  ;  she 
is  eternally  producing.  What  must  be  the  result  in  the 
long  run,  begin  where  we  will?  It  is  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence. There  is  not  room  and  there  is  not  sustenance 
for  all.  The  larger  number  must  perish.  Only  a  mi- 
nority can  remain.  The  universe  becomes  a  battle-ground. 
As  lugersoll  says,  "  every  drop  of  water  is  a  field  of 
carnage."  Nature  is  "  red  in  tooth  and  claw,"  says  the 
poet;  and  even  Huxley  cries.  "Thousands  of  times  a 
minute,  were  our  ears  sharp  enough,  we  should  liear 
sighs  and  groans  of  pain  like  those  heard  by  Dante  at  the 
gates  of  hell." 

It  is  useless  to  hide  the  facts.  We  are  in  a  world  of 
enormous  misery,  where  each  must  struggle  for  existence, 
where  the  chances  are  a  thousand  to  one  against  life  and 
happiness  fo-r  the  individual.  Millions  die  and  millions 
are  forgotten  in  a  day. 

Thus  far  the  process,  or  method,  of  evolution  cannot 
be  denied;  persistency,  variation,  enormous  multiplication 
of  life,  the  struggle  for  existence.  Whatever  may  be  the 
source  of  the  original  germ  in  the  remote  eons,  this  is  the 
actual  result  at  last ;  a  warfare  inconceivable  in  its  extent, 
fierceness,  slaughter,  and  destruction.  By  what  process, 
out  of  this  apparently  interminable  confusion,  arises  the 
present  cosmos,  still  laden  with  pain,  and  yet  beautiful 
and  wonderful  in  its  superb  structure  ? 

The  answer  is  natural  selection  ;  and  yet  this  answer 
was  not  made  until  a  little  over  thirty  years  ago.  This 
method  of  evolution  was  made  known  by  Darwin,  and 
demonstrated  by  an  array  of  facts,  inductions  indisput- 
able. To  Darwin  belongs  the  honor  of  giving  to  evolution 
its  decisive  victor}'.  Not  that  he  originated  the  idea  of 
evolution,  but  that  he  announced  its  supreme  method,  and 
we  might  say  that  he  is  the  most  original  and  triumphant 


374  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

investigator  in  the  whole  field  of  science.  Not  Aristotle, 
nor  Copernicus,  nor  Newton,  has  so  revolutionized  the 
thoughts  of  men  ;  and  strange  it  is  that  so  plain,  so  simple, 
so  adequate  an  explanation  was  not  made  hundreds  of 
years  ago. 

However,  we  must  not  fail  to  give  credit  to  those  who 
opened  the  way.  The  modern  theory  of  descent  was  not 
originated  by  Darwin,  but  by  Lamarck,  and  to  him  belongs 
the  honor.  Goethe  also  anticipated  Darwin  in  this  direc- 
tion, as  also  Herbert  Spencer.  What  is  the  theory  of 
descent?  It  is  the  affirmation  of  the  unity  of  organic 
nature ;  that  all  animals  now  living,  and  similarly  all 
plants,  are  connected,  forming  one  great  family,  and  that 
they  are  connected  naturally  with  those  of  all  past  ages, 
and  derived  from  them,  and  from  one  or  a  few  original 
germs.  This,  popularly,  is  supposed  to  be  the  theory 
which  Darwin  stated  for  the  first  time  in  his  epoch-making 
book.  But  the  genetic  continuity  of  all  life  on  this  planet, 
both  animal  and  vegetable,  had  been  admirably  stated  by 
Spencer  seven  years  before  Darwin's  book  was  published  ; 
while  the  general  doctrine  of  evolution  had  been  taught 
for  over  two  thousand  years.  It  Avas  not  the  theory  of 
descent  which  Darwin  discovered  and  announced,  but  the 
method  by  which  the  descent  of  all  life,  from  a  few  orig- 
inal germs,  was  accomplished  ;  and  it  was  this  method 
which  had  been  overlooked  by  all  investigators  before, 
even  by  Spencer.  This  method  was  stated  in  the  title  of 
his  great  book,  "The  Origin  of  Sj^ecies  by  Means  of  Natural 
Selection^  We  might  say  that  before  Darwin  evolution 
was  simply  a  brilliant  guess — a  philosophy  that  made 
luminous  human  history  ;  but  it  was  not  a  science.  Darwin 
made  it  a  science,  not  by  stating  the  ivhat,  but  by  show- 
ing the  lioio  of  the  continuity  aiid  relationship  of  life  on  this 
planet  "by  means  of  Natural  Selection.''  Natural  selec- 
tion is  what  has  opened  more  than  all  else  into  the  won- 
derful working  of  nature,  and   solved   what  had  hitherto 


THE  METHODS  OF  EVOLUTION.  375 

been  regarded  as  insoluble.  It  was  one  thing  as  a  phi- 
losopher to  declare  the  theory  of  descent  and  voluminously 
illustrate  it,  and  make  it  appear  a  reasonable  theory,  a 
valid  explanation  of  the  universe  and  the  processes  of  its 
life.  This  is  what  Spencer  did.  It  is  another  and  a 
greater  thing  to  demonstrate  the  theory  of  descent  and 
show  how  it  was  done  by  an  induction  from  facts  which 
cannot  be  questioned,  and  this  is  what  Darwin  has  accom- 
plished. He  has  made  evolution  a  science.  With  Spencer 
it  was  a  philosophy  more  deductive  than  inductive.  We 
might  say  that  both  Spencer  and  Darwin  were  necessary 
to  the  grandest  development  and  understanding  of  the 
doctrine  of  evolution.  Both  have  been  of  incalculable 
service  ;  only  it  is  well  to  understand  their  relation  to 
each  other,  and  to  know  what  each  accomplished.  Spen- 
cer swept  the  whole  universe,  and  correlated  all  facts,  all 
history,  all  life.  Darwin  took  one  department,  but  in  that 
department  he  accomplished  the  supremest  triumph  that 
is  possible  to  human  genius.  He  demonstrated  where 
Spencer  inferred. 

There  are  three  great  theories  of  evolution  frequently 
confounded  in  the  popular  mind,  but  which  should  be  kept 
separate  in  order  to  understand  modern  progress. 

First,  the  general  or  universal  theory,  that  is.  Monism  ; 
that  which  affords  a  rational  interpretation  of  the  whole 
universe  by  bringing  all  phenomena  into  a  uniform  process 
of  evolution. 

Second,  the  theory  of  transmutation  or  descent,  which 
is  an  essential  and  indispensable  element  in  the  general 
evolution  theory,  and  which  explains,  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
origin  of  organic  species.     This  is  the  theory  of  Lamarck. 

It  will  be  noted  that  these  two  theories  existed  before 
Darwin,  and,  therefore,  it  is  improper  to  label  either  one 
of  them  Darwinism,  as  is  frequently  done. 

The  third  theory  is  the  theory  of  selection,  mainly 
natural  selection,  and  this  is  Darwin's  theory. 


376  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

The  theory  of  natural  selection  was  founded  upon  the 
fact  of  artificial  selection.  Artificial  selection  is  well 
known.     Man  has  practiced  it  for  centuries. 

Now,  what  man  does  consciously,  nature  does  uncon- 
sciously, only  it  will  be  seen  with  an  immensely  greater 
number  of  appliances  and  energy  of  life,  and  with  im- 
mensely greater  results.  Nature  is  at  work  all  the  time, 
in  every  part  of  the  universe,  with  an  infinite  array  of 
forces.  Nature,  as  we  have  seen,  is  living  throughout,  is 
never  at  rest,  and,  therefore,  the  effect  of  nature's  selection 
must  be  infinitely  varied,  vast,  and  magnificent.  It  is 
more  potent  than  any  possible  miracle  of  any  possible 
god.     God  is  simply  ruled  out.     There  is  no  need  of  him. 

Darwin,  first  of  all,  studied  artificial  selection,  and  then 
he  studied  nature,  as  nature  had  never  been  studied  be- 
fore, and  nature  revealed  to  him  her  most  pregnant  secret. 
In  the  whole  history  of  the  world  no  one  man  has  con- 
tributed so  much  to  human  knowledge  as  Darwin ;  no  one 
man  has  so  changed  the  outlook  of  the  human  race,  so 
changed  its  morality,  its  religion,  its  hope,  its  intellectual 
and  practical  motive,  as  Darwin.  Like  Siiakspere  in  poetry 
is  Darwin  in  science.  Darwin  uses  the  term  "  Natural 
Selection."  Spencer  uses  the  term,  "Survival  of  the 
Fittest."  Both  terms  are  liable  to  misunderstanding. 
Selection  implies  intelligence,  but  Darwin  does  not  affirm 
any  intelligence  in  the  operations  of  nature.  The  selection 
of  nature  is  without  will  or  intelligence.  It  is  natural 
selection  and  not  artificial  selection. 

The  word  "  fittest  "  implies  that  what  we  think  to  be  fit- 
test, which  is  fittest  from  our  moral  or  intellectual  stand- 
point, survives,  m  liich  is  by  no  means  the  case  universally. 
That  what  we  tliink  most  unfit  survives,  simply  because 
it  has  the  best  surroundings.  In  other  words,  the  fittest 
is  simplv  the  strongest,  not  simply  in  quality  or  quantity. 
but  by  favorable  circumstances.  This  universe  no  more 
exists   to  satisfy  the  moral    or  intellectual   ideal  of  man 


THE  METHODS  OF  EVOLUTION.  377 

than  it  does  to  satisfy  the  moral  or  intellectual  ideal  of  an 
aut,  a  bee,  a  lion,  or  a  hippopotamus.  The  glory  of  man 
is  no  more  considered  in  the  sweep  of  universal  nature 
than  the  glory  of  the  grass  or  of  an  ox.  Man  has  simply 
to  look  out  for  himself;  he  must  take  his  chances  and 
win.  Fortunately  he  has  won,  but  exactly  in  the  same 
way  that  others  have  won.  The  conditions  were  favor- 
able, and,  therefore,  he  was  "  selected  ;  "  but  having  gained 
a  vantage  ground,  then  his  will  comes  into  play,  and 
through  his  will  he  makes  advancement;  but  that  will 
must  not  depend  on  God  or  nature.  It  must  annihilate 
God  and  use  nature.  Man  has  the  power  of  reaction. 
Goethe  states  it : 

"  All   members  develop  themselves  according  to  eternal 

laws, 
And  the  rarest  form  mysteriously  preserves  the  primitive 

type. 
Form,  therefore,  determines  the  animal's  way  of  life. 
And  in  turn  the  way  of  life  powerfully  reacts  upon  all 

form. 
Thus  the  orderly  growth  of  form  is  seen  to  hold 
Whilst  yielding  to  change  from  eternally  acting  causes." 

Natural  selection  does  not  account  for  the  whole  pro- 
cess of  organic  evolution  ;  although  it  accounts  for  the 
largest  number  of  facts,  but  some  facts  seem  to  be  outside 
of  it.  Darwin  says  :  "  I  am  convinced  that  natural  selec- 
tion has  been  the  main,  but  not  the  exclusive,  means  of 
modification."  Besides  natural  selection,  Darwin  brings 
forward  the  theory  of  sexual  selection,  which  Wallace 
opposes. 

The  theory  of  sexual  selection  is  to  account  for  the 
ornamentation  which  apparently  exists  in  nature,  among  the 
birds  especially,  and  which,  of  course,  cannot  be  produced 
by  natural  selection,  for  natural  selection  includes  only  the 
useful,  not  the  ornamental.     I  think   Darwin  is  right,  and 


378  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

that  ornameutatiou,  simply  as  such,  does  exist  in  nature, 
and  is  the  result  of  sexual  selection.  Of  course,  as  Wal- 
lace argues,  beauty  and  grace  might  exist  as  the  incident 
of  use  ;  for  instance,  brilliant  colors  in  certain  places  con- 
duce to  concealment  and  safety.  Therefore,  brilliant  col- 
ors exist.  Speed  conduces  to  grace  of  form,  as  in  the 
horse.  So  grace  exists.  This,  no  doubt,  accounts  for 
much  of  the  beauty  and  grace  which  are  seen  in  nature. 
The  extreme  beauty  of  flowers,  sea-anemones,  corals,  and 
so  forth,  cannot  of  course  be  explained  by  sexual  selec- 
tion. But  there  is  such  a  thing  as  ornamentation  in  nat- 
ure, as,  for  instance,  the  peacock's  tail,  and  natural  selection 
will  not  account  for  it. 

We  thus  discover  the  method  of  evolution.  It  is  first 
of  all  from  the  simple  to  the  complex — from  the  monera 
to  man ;  and  this  by  the  laws  of  persistence,  variation, 
struggle  for  existence,  natural  selection,  artificial  selec- 
tion, sexual  selection,  and  the  use  and  disuse  of  organs. 
It  will  be  seen,  however,  that  natural  selection  is  the  heart 
of  modern  evolution,  and  while  natural  selection  is  not 
coextensive  with  evolution  in  its  universal  philosophic 
sense,  it  is  the  illumination  and  all-conclusive  proof  of 
evolution  and  its  supreme  method,  althou<j:h  there  may  be 
subordinate  methods.  Natural  selection,  therefore,  is  the 
battle-ground.  There  are  some  who  call  themselves  evo- 
lutionists, who  do  not  accept  natural  selection  as  its  cause 
and  main  procedure.  If  one  accepts  natural  selection,  in 
the  main,  all  is  accepted  ;  if  one  rejects  natural  selection, 
then  he  might  as  well  reject  evolution  altogether.  His 
evolution  is  simplv  a  mask  for  tlie  creation  theory. 

Proofs  of  Evolution. 

Having  ascertained  the  method  of  evolution,  the  ques- 
tion is  now  as  to  the  proofs  of  evolution. 

There  are,  says  Huxley,  three  classes  of  facts  in  the 
universe  :   tliose  wliich  are  neither  favorable   nor  unfavor- 


E.  H.  HEY  WOOD  (p.  750), 


PROOFS  OF  EVOLUTION.  379 

able  to  the  theory  of  evolution,  like  the  persistency  of 
types  of  life  through  many  thousands  of  years  ;  those 
which  are  favorable  to  evolution,  like  the  discovery  of  birds 
with  teeth,  which  is  evidence  of  the  common  origin  of 
birds  and  reptiles ;  and  those  facts  which  demonstrate  evo- 
lution, like  the  history  of  the  horse,  etc.  These  classes 
exhaust  all  known  facts,  and  therefore  there  are  no  facts 
against  evolution,  although  all  facts  do  not  require  evolu- 
tion ;  but  some  facts  cannot  possibly  be  explained  without 
evolution,  and  therefore  whatever  evidence  there  is  is  in 
favor  of  evolution. 

What  is  the  evidence  for  creation?     Simply  none. 

Prof.  Asa  Gray  says :  "  The  strength  of  evolution  ap- 
pears by  comparing  it  with  the  rival  hypothesis  of  imme- 
diate creation,  which  neither  explains  nor  pretends  to  explain 
anything.''' 

Creation  explains  nothing.  Evolution  does.  In  that 
it  has  an  immense  advantage  ;  but  furthermore  there  are 
facts  which  demand  evolution  as  an  explanation.  The 
proof,  therefore,  we  might  say,  is  mathematically  perfect. 
As  Professor  Le  Conte  says :  "  The  evidence  for  evolution 
is  more  certain  than  the  evidence  for  gravitation." 

Since,  therefore,  we  must  accept  creation  or  evolution, 
as  there  can  be  no  third  hypothesis,  and  as  the  question 
must  be  settled  by  evidence,  and  as  there  is  not  one  fact 
for  creation,  and  millions  of  facts  for  evolution,  there  can 
be  no  question  which  theory  the  honest,-  impartial,  en- 
lightened inquirer  will  choose.  One  might  as  well  deny 
that  two  and  two  are  four,  as  to  deny  evolution. 

When  it  comes  to  natural  selection,  a  method  of  evolu- 
tion, the  evidence  is  not  so  overwhelming  and  decisive; 
that  is,  as  to  the  extent  of  natural  selection,  and  whether 
it  is  to  be  considered  as  a  cause  or  merely  an  occasion  of 
development.  On  these  questions  scientific  men  can  and 
do  difi'er.  Let  it  be  understood,  though,  that  the  exist- 
ence of  natural  selection  as  a  fact  cannot  be  denied. 


380  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Professor  Gray  says  on  this  point :  "  Here  it  may  be 
remarked  that  natural  selection  by  itself  is  not  a 
hypothesis,  nor  even  a  theory.  It  is  a  truth,  a  catena  of 
facts  and  direct  inferences  from  facts." 

Natural  selection,  therefore,  is  an  undoubted  truth,  and 
it  must  be  a  part  of  general  evolution. 

Given  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  natural  selection 
must  operate.  It  does  not  create  the  variations  or  the 
struggle,  but  it  does  shape  the  course  of  the  variations  and 
the  result  of  the  struggle.  It  is  practically  the  cause  of 
the  organic  universe  of  to-day.  It  is  the  one  supreme 
factor,  whatever  others  may  exist. 

Natural  selection,  therefore,  being  an  undeniable  truth, 
is  it  not  also  a  cause  ?  Natural  selection  does  not  account 
for  the  introduction  of  life,  but  for  its  diversification  into 
the  forms  and  kinds  which  we  now  behold.  It  is  not  the 
cause  of  the  variations  originally.  Variation  would  exist 
without  natural  selection.  Variation  is  an  inexhaustible 
factor  upon  wliich  natural  selection  works  as  a  sculptor 
might  work  upon  the  marble.  Of  course  the  sculptor  is 
not  the  cause  of  the  marble,  but  is  lie  not  the  cause,  and 
tlie  efficient  and  prime  cause,  of  the  completed  statue? 

And  so,  taking  the  universe  as  it  is  to-day,  it  can  be 
scientificallv  affirmed  that  natural  selection  is  a  cause,  and 
by  all  odds  the  most  potent  factor  in  the  history  of  nature. 

It  is  useless  further  to  multiply  proofs.  Evolution  in 
general  has  been  mathematically  demonstrated.  Natural 
selection  is  ec[ually  demonstrated  as  the  supreme  method 
in  the  process  of  evolution.  The  subordinate  factors, 
namely,  the  influence  of  environment,  the  increased  use 
and  disuse  of  organs,  and  sexual  selection,  will  be  ad- 
mitted according  to  evidence. 

Spontaneous  Genekation. 

The  truth  or  falsity  of  spontaneous  generation  has  noth- 
ing logically  to  do   witli    the  truth  or    falsity  of  natural 


THE  RESULTS  OF  EVOLUTION.  381 

selection.  Spontaneous  generation  is  the  origination  of 
organic  life  from  inorganic  life.  Natural  selection  has 
simply  to  do  with  organic  life  and  its  processes,  and  not 
with  the  origin  of  organic  life.  Undoubtedly,  however,  the 
general  theory  of  evolution,  or  the  highest  form  of  evolu- 
tion, namely,  Monism,  does  demand  spontaneous  gener- 
ation, logically,  although  at  present  there  is  no  physical 
evidence  to  demonstrate  it.  But  evolution  affirms  unity 
of  existence,  and,  therefore,  all  forms  of  existence  are  cor- 
related, and,  therefore,  at  some  point  inorganic  life  be- 
comes organic,  or  evolution  ceases.  There  are  no  chasms 
in  nature,  no  breaks,  no  interventions.  As  Goethe  says, 
with  his  deep  insight : 

"  We  must,  contemplating  nature, 
Part,  or  whole,  give  equal  heed  to ; 
Naught  is  inward,  naught  is  outward, 
For  the  inner  is  the  outer. 
Nature  has  neither  kernel  nor  shell, 
It  is  she  that  is  all  in  all  at  once" 

Since  we  have  joined  the  bird  and  reptile,  and  the  plant 
and  animal,  and  know  that  they  all  have  the  same  source, 
we  may  be  able  hereafter  to  do  physically  what  now  we 
must  do  logically — unite  in  the  same  existence  the  organic 
and  the  inorganic.  Spontaneous  generation  conveys  the 
idea  to  some  of  life  from  no  life,  and  so  savors  of  the  mi- 
raculous. It  does  not  mean  that,  for  if  nature  is  a  "  living 
whole,"  as  Humboldt  says,  where  are  the  limits  of  life  ? 

Organic  and  inorganic  are  definitions  of  nature  from 
our  standpoint.  There  may  be  chasms  between  the  defini- 
tions, but  there  cannot  be  in  nature  herself. 

The  Results  of  Evolution. 

It  now  comes  briefly  to  note  the  vast  and  manifold 
results  of  evolution,  which  must  have  been  seen  by  a  care- 


382  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

ful  reading  of  the  foregoing  exposition  of  what  evolution 
is,  its  methods,  and  its  proofs. 

In  the  first  place,  it  will  be  understood  that  evolution 
includes  in  its  sweep  the  whole  intellectual  and  moral  nat- 
ure of  man.  There  is  no  exception  along  the  line — nothing 
supernatural  in  man's  greatest  endowments. 

Sa^'s  Darwin  :  "There  is  no  fundamental  difference  be- 
tween man  and  the  higher  mammals  in  their  mental  fac- 
ulties." 

There  is  no  difference  in  the  act  of  reasoning  in  the 
brain  of  an  ape,  a  Hottentot,  or  a  Newton.  The  difference 
is  in  degree,  not  in  kind.  All  science,  says  Huxlej-,  is 
common  sense.  Genius,  says  Newton,  is  simply  patience. 
Every  one  with  common  endowments  can  follow  all  the 
reasoning  of  a  Newton.  No  scientific  discovery  need  be 
accepted  on  authority.  Everyone  can  find  it  out  for  him- 
self, if  he  will  try.  As  there  is  no  difference  between  the 
mental  faculties  of  a  savage  and  a  Shakspere,  so  there  is 
no  difference  between  the  mental  faculties  of  a  savage  and 
an  ape.  This  has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated.  The 
difference  is  not  in  natural  capacity,  but  in  environment  and 
opportunity.  The  structure  of  tlje  brain  of  man  is  like 
the  structure  of  the  brain  of  an  ape.  Tljere  has  been  no 
addition  to  the  brain  of  man.  It  simply  deals  with  a 
larger  number  of  facts  and  relations,  hence  a  Newton  and 
Shakspere. 

Tijat  animals  reason  as  man  reasons  is  now  beyond 
question. 

Instinct  is  simply,  we  might  say,  crystallized  reason, 
transmitted  by  heredity.  It  originates,  in  fact,  in  reason- 
ing,  becomes  habitual,  and  is  inherited. 

Darwin  also  maintains  that  "  the  first  foundation  or 
origin  of  the  moral  sense  lies  in  the  social  instincts,  in- 
cluding sympathy ;  and  these  instincts,  no  doubt,  were 
primarily  gained,  as  in  the  case  of  the  lower  instincts, 
through  natural  selection." 


RELIGION. 


•383 


Conscience  is  not  a  "  supernatural  gift ;"  it  has  no  "  di- 
vine origin."  History  proves  this.  The  conscience  of 
man  is  continually  changing,  and  is  evidently  the  result  of 
surroundings.  As  Ingersoll  says  :  "  It  is  a  thing  of  cli- 
mate." The  conscience  can  be  developed  by  man  himself, 
like  his  intellectual  being.  The  conscience  is  not  always 
right.  It  is  sometimes  fearfully  wrong,  and  fills  the  world 
with  bloodshed  and  horror.  It  is  the  conscience  that 
made  the  Inquisition  and  the  instrument  of  torture.  Con- 
science has  made  war,  assassinations,  and  kindled  the  fires 
of  persecution.  Look  at  the  Crusades.  What  an  exhibi- 
tion of  terror,  devastation,  cruelty,  and  crime  !  It  is  simply 
absurd  to  say  that  man's  conscience  came  from  heaven. 
If  so,  then  heaven  is  the  abode  of  devils  as  well  as  angels. 

A  good  conscience  is  a  matter  of  reason,  of  education 
of  growth.  It  must  be  evolved,  and  it  must  be  trained, 
or  it  will  lead  to  terrific  consequences. 

In  the  highest  or  lowest  developments  of  humanity, 
there  is  no  exception.  Evolution  is  universal  throughout 
all  the  knowledge  and  experiences  of  man.  Whatever 
happens  is  the  result  of  previous  natural  conditions.  It 
comes  from  "  resident  forces."  There  is  no  compromise 
between  evolution  and  creation  at  any  point.  The  combat 
is  everywhere,  and  evolution  triumphs,  be  it  in  the  stars, 
or  in  the  vast,  rocky  pages  of  earth,  or  in  plants  and  ani- 
mals, or  in  man  and  his  noblest  and  most  splendid  endow- 
ments. Let  us  see  the  effects  of  evolution  in  our  new  ideas 
of  religion,  morality,  and  social  progress. 

Religion. 

Religion  is  now  entirely  natural.  Christianity  is  simply 
a  Topsy — it  "  growed."  All  miracles  and  myths  are  swept 
away.  Angels  disappear,  and  devils,  too.  Christianity 
came  about  by  due  process  of  evolutionary  law,  like  a 
rock,  a  mountain,  a  cloud,  or  an  earthquake.  It  is  simply 
the  outcome  of  previous  conditions. 


384  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

I  need  not  enlarge  upon  the  natural  evolution  of  Chris- 
tianity. This  is  sufficiently  pointed  out  and  demonstrated 
in  the  chapter  on  Gibbon. 

The  main  doctrine  of  evolution  in  regard  to  all  religious 
is  what  has  been  called  the  "  sympathy  of  religions,"  that 
is,  all  religions  have  the  same  origin  and  are  essentially 
alike.  There  is  no  special  religion,  no  religion  that  can 
claim  a  different  or  a  better  origin  than  other  religions. 
If  they  come,  as  evolution  declares,  from  the  same  foun- 
tain, how  can  one  be  superior  to  any  or  all  others,  except 
in  that  which  accompanies  or  is  incidental  to  it,  but  is  not 
the  religion  itself  ?  If  Christianity,  in  its  outward  aspect, 
is  better,  it  is  because  a  better  race  has  taken  hold  of  it 
and  civilized  it,  but  in  essence  it  is  still  the  same,  and  all 
other  religions  are  equally  valuable,  and  could  produce 
the  same  results  under  the  same  conditions. 

All  religions  have  about  the  same  cosmogony,  the  same 
mythology,  the  same  miracles,  the  same  saviors,  the  same 
institutions,  the  same  heaven  and  the  same  hell.  The 
difference  is  in  the  aspect,  not  in  the  original  idea.  Euse- 
bius,  the  father  of  church  history,  affirmed  that  there 
was  really  nothing  new  in  Christianity.  It  was  in  anterior 
paganism.  It  was  simply  a  new  combination.  Take,  for 
instance,  the  cross  ;  that  is  nothing  new.  It  was  a  religious 
symbol  long  before  Jesus  was  born.  So  with  the  rite  of 
baptism,  etc.  The  story  of  Jesus  is  like  the  story  of 
Buddha.  The  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  is  better  told  in 
more  ancient  mythologies  than  in  that  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. There  is  no  need  of  multiplying  instances.  The 
identity  of  all  religions  is  a  demonstration  of  history. 

Wliatever  religion  is — good,  bad,  or  indifferent — it 
nnist  be  admitted  that  it  is  n  feeling  smd  not  a.  thought. 
If  man  were  a  purely  intellectual  being,  he  would  not  be  a 
religious  being.  He  is  religious  because  he  is  sentimental. 
I  will  not  argue  whether  the  sentimentality  is  a  disease  or 
not,  or  beneficial  or  not ;  but  that  it  is  a  sentimentality 


WILLIAM  DENTON  (p.  714). 


RELIGION.  385 

cannot  be  denied.  Religion  is  the  child  of  emotion. 
Theology  is  the  child  of  religion  and  is  the  intellectual 
expression  of  religion,  and  there  is  not  so  much  sympathy 
between  the  different  theologies  of  the  world  as  between 
the  different  religions,  for  thought  tends  to  differentia- 
tion, being  in  its  nature  analytic. 

The  theologies  are  different  explanations  for  the  same 
feeling.  Natural  theology  might  improve  with  the  ad- 
vance of  science  ;  that  is,  granting  there  were  a  creator, 
science  might  give  more  enlightened  views  of  him  from 
time  to  time ;  or  if  God  is  simply  a  creation  of  the  fancy, 
then  the  progress  of  man  would  make  a  better  god,  and 
the  flashing  epigram  of  Ingersoll  applies,  "  An  honest 
God  is  the  noblest  work  of  man."  A  theology  of  nature 
might  improve,  but  not  a  theology  of  revelation,  for  the 
revelation  is  unchanged.  The  books  are  closed,  and  as 
the  theology  is  bound  up  in  the  books,  it  must  be  the 
same  in  spite  of  scientific  attainments. 

Religion  in  itself  cannot  advance — only  the  outward  in- 
tellectual expressions  of  it.  Religion  has  apparently 
advanced  by  constantly  changing  its  definitions.  There 
has  been  a  progress,  I  admit,  in  the  definitions  of  re- 
ligion, but  no  progress  in  the  thing  itself;  and  it  never 
will  progress.  Religion  is  in  the  sweep  of  evolution,  but 
universal  evolution  is  not  always  progress.  It  is  also  retro- 
gression, reversion,  dissolution.  It  is  a  change,  but  not 
necessarily  a  change  for  the  better.  There  is  no  purpose 
in  evolution.     It  simply  goes  on. 

It  can  change  the  condition  of  religion,  but  not  its 
essence,  any  more  than  it  can  change  the  essence  of  poetry 
and  art. 

The  savage  contemplates  the  universe  sweeping  around 
him  in  sun  and  star,  flame  and  storm,  whirlwind  and 
flood,  thunder  and  earthquake,  sky  and  sea,  with  feelings 
of  awe  and  wonder  and  terror,  and  out  of  these  feelings 
flows  religion.     All  religions  originate  with  the  savage,  not 


386  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

with  the  philosopher,  and  it  has  been  well  said  that 
"ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion."  The  most  re- 
ligious nations  are  the  barbaric  nations,  and  where  the 
phenomena  of  nature  are  the  most  stupendous  and  awful 
and  terrible  there  is  the  most  religion.  Penetrate  to  the 
most  radical  feeling  of  religion,  and  we  find  it  is  a  depend- 
ence on  and  fear  of  nature.  If  man  had  not  been  afraid  of 
nature  he  never  would  have  been  religious.  Simple  ad- 
miration of  nature  does  not  make  the  soul  of  religion,  but 
dread  of  its  apparently  illimitable  and  destructive  forces. 
There  is  no  religion  without  the  element  of  fear,  and  this 
element  has  ever  been  its  main  support.  Take  the  ele- 
ment of  fear  out  of  any  religion,  and  how  long  would  it 
remain  ?  The  heaven  of  every  religion  has  simply  been 
an  escape  from  hell,  and  without  hell  there  13  no  heaven. 
Heaven  is  not  a  positive  joy.  It  is  simply  a  negative  con- 
dition. It  is  being  out  of  hell,  and  that  is  all  the  heaven 
that  the  Christian  dreams  of  to-day.  He  is  satisfied  if 
he  can  get  out  of  that  dreadful  place  of  torment.  The 
pleasure  of  a  Christian  is  simply  tlie  pleasure  of  a  man 
recovering  from  a  disease.  It  is  a  reaction  from  sickness. 
All  religions  are  the  same,  and  the  religion  of  a  savage 
is  identical  with  the  religion  of  the  most  civilized  human 
being,  as  evolution  declares. 

Morality. 

There  is  progress  in  morality,  for  morality'  is  a  judg- 
ment and  not  a  feeling.  Religion  is  not  necessarily  so- 
ciable, while  morality  is  essentially  sociable,  for  without 
society  there  is  no  such  thing  as  morality.  This  is  the 
absolute  and  radical  difference  between  evolution  and 
theology.  Theology  founds  morality  upon  God's  will,  and 
evolution  founds  morality  upon  social  affections.  Relig- 
ious morality  is  duty  and  service  to  God.  Evolutional 
moralitv  is  duty  and  service  to  man.  It  is  founded  upon 
human   liberty  and  human   equality.     Liberty  is  law  and 


MORALITY,  387 

iiot  license.  If  I  am  free,  then  I  must-  grant  that  others 
are  free,  and,  therefore,  in  the  exercise  of  my  freedom  I 
must  needs  respect  others'  freedom.  In  the  affirmation 
of  personal  liberty  I  must  affirm  its  limitation,  namely, 
the  equal  personal  liberty  of  every  other  individual.  The 
standard  of  morality  is  universal  happiness,  for  evolution 
declares  the  identity  of  life.  The  life  of  the  individual  is 
one  with  the  life  of  all.  Therefore,  as  cue  becomes  more 
enlightened  his  morality  becomes  more  enlightened  and 
far-reaching.  His  judgments  as  respects  himself  and 
others  are  wiser.  At  first  morality  includes  simplv  the 
family,  or  we  might  say,  first  of  all,  the  mother  and  the 
child.  In  the  beautiful  picture  of  the  Madonna,  and  that 
is  its  immortal  loveliness,  we  see  the  beginning  of  human 
morality.  There  is  the  origin  of  all  the  wonders  of  co- 
operative civilization.  Morality  thus  originates  with  the 
mother  as  she  looks  upon  the  child,  another  life  than  her 
own  and  yet  the  same  ;  and  the  joy  of  motherhood  be- 
comes duty  and  service,  wherein  there  is  no  fear,  but  duty 
and  delight.  Thence  the  moral  judgment  comes  into  play  ; 
the  intellect,  which  decides  as  to  how  the  moMier  can  con- 
duce to  the  well-being  of  the  child,  whose  \''ell-being  is 
her  own  well-being.  And  thus  morality  circles  out 
through  the  whole  family,  and  is  established  in  the  rela- 
tions of  man  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  brother  and  sis- 
ter. It  then  broadens  out  into  the  communit]'  and 
includes  friends  and  neighbors  in  the  oneness  of  the 
home-life.  In  process  of  ages  it  goes  beyond  the  family 
and  near  community  into  the  tribe,  the  nation,  the  race, 
the  universal  world,  until  it  embraces  all  life,  and  millions 
flow  into  reciprocal  relations.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
morality  is  progressive — progressive  in  the  recognition  of 
the  unity  of  existence,  progressive  in  the  use  of  those 
means  by  which  universal  happiness  can  be  attained,  and 
progressive  in  the  solution  of  that  mighty  problem  by 
which   the  liberty  of  each   can  be  harmonized  with  the 


388  FOUR  HUNDRED.  YEARS  OP  FREETHOUGHT. 

liberty  of  all.  The  chapter  on  education  and  ethics  wil) 
still  further  elucidate  the  moralit}-  of  evolution  and  its 
progress,  and  there  is  no  need  of  additional  explanations. 
Evolution  is  for  the  highest  morality  conceivable  to  the 
human  mind,  but  not  for  a  fixed  morality,  but  for  ever  ad- 
vancing life,  more  grand  and  beautiful  as  man  understands 
better  the  conditions  of  his  natural  existence,  and  forgets 
God  and  remembers  humanity. 

Evolution  and  Progress. 

And  here  comes  in  the  question  of  the  relation  of  Evo- 
lution to  human  progress.  What  are  its  inspirations  and 
hopes  to  man  ?  Carlyle  called  evolution  a  "  gospel  of 
dirt."  "We  are  derived  from  the  ape,  hence  there  is  no 
hope  for  man.  What  a  logical  conclusion,  indeed  !  Strange 
that  men  like  Carlyle  and  Agassiz  were  so  frightened,  like 
little  children,  at  the  dreadful  shadow  of  evolution. 

Well,  let  us  see  the  relation  of  Evolution  to  human 
progress,  and  whether  it  is  so  much  worse  to  come  from 
the  ape  than  Adam.  I  am  Avilling  to  be  descended  from 
Mother  Eve.  I  like  her  courage.  She  and  the  devil  did 
a  splendid  thing,  according  to  the  story.  They  started 
the  human  race  on  a  path  of  knowledge  and  glory.  I  have 
no  respect  for  the  Adam  or  the  God  of  that  story.  Adam 
was  a  sneak  and  God  a  liar.  The  ape,  so  far  as  I  can  find 
out,  is  superior  both  to  Adam  and  the  Bible  deity,  who 
commanded  the  murder  of  women  and  children.  Apes 
have  never  burned  and  tortured  one  another  for  opinion's 
sake.  They  have  no  oecumenical  councils,  or  popes,  or 
preachers.  How  much  better  off  in  this  respect  they  are 
than  man  !  If  it  is  a  choice  between  Adam  and  the  ape,  I 
freely  choose  the  ape ;  and  I  would  rather  come  from  the 
monera,  the  worm,  the  fish,  the  reptile,  than  from  the  God 
of  the  Bible,  the  most  cruel  and  cursed  being  that  ever 
darkened  the  universe.  Evolution  has  certainly  done  one 
good  thing — it  has  annihilated  this  infernal  deity. 


EVOLUTION  AND  PROGRESS.  389 

But,  as  Huxley  says,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  choice.  We 
came  from  the  ape  and  we  cannot  help  ourselves,  and  the 
preachers,  all  of  them,  came  from  the  ape.  Say  what  they 
will,  the  ape  is  their  ancestor.  This  is  no  longer  an  open 
question.  It  is  a  settled  question.  There  is  no  doubt 
about  it.  The  priest  may  curl  the  lip  of  scorn,  but  never- 
theless he  cannot  get  rid  of  the  rudimentary  tail.  The  tail 
is  there,  and  universal  science  declares  it  is  there,  and  the 
priest  must  acknowledge  it.  If  he  does  not  acknowledge 
it  I  def}'  him  to  submit  to  an  examination.  His  very  ears 
announce  his  ape-like  origin,  and  certainly  there  could  not 
be  a  much  bigger  argument. 

But  let  us  compare  the  theories  of  Creation  and  Evo- 
lution, as  to  the  hope  they  give.  Which  is  the  better  gos- 
pel ?  Gospel  means  good  news.  Which  gives  to  toiling, 
struggling,  earnest,  enlightened  and  victorious  man  the 
*'best  news"  for  what  he   can  and  will   be? 

The  "  bloom  and  blossom "  of  the  theory  of  creation 
is  in  the  Presbyterian  creed,  the  creed  of  the  vast  majority 
of  the  Christian  churches  of  to-day.  It  is  the  creed  of 
the  Bible,  for  it  is  founded  upon  the  Bible.  But,  further- 
more, it  must  be  the  creed  of  every  one  who  believes  in  a 
God,  that  is,  if  he  believes  this  God  has  a  purpose.  If 
this  universe  was  created  by  an  all-wise  omniscient,  omnip- 
otent deity,  then  that  deity  knew  what  he  was  about 
when  he  created  the  universe,  and  is,  therefore,  responsi- 
ble for  all  that  is  in  the  universe  ;  for  all  that  has  been, 
for  all  that  is,  and  for  all  that  will  be  ;  and  therefore  he 
is  responsible  for  all  the  suffering  in  the  universe.  He 
made  it.  He  is  the  author  of  it,  and  toward  any  such  God 
I  have  only  feelings  of  the  utmost  abhorrence.  I  hate 
him.  I  detest  him.  I  scorn  him.  Any  God  who  makes 
one  particle  of  suffering  is  worthy  of  our  condemnation 
even  as  a  man  who  willfully  makes  suffering  is  worthy  of 
condemnation,  for  if  God  makes  suffering  he  ivillfully 
makes  it.     God,  by  the  very  definition,  is  not  the  creature 


390  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

of  circumstance.  He  is  omnipotent.  He  is  not  bound  by 
conditions ;  and  therefore  when  he  makes  suffering  he 
does  that  which  he  was  not  obliged  to  do.  In  the  place 
of  that  suffering  he  could  have  made  happiness,  and  he 
did  not  make  happiness.  Of  his  will,  and  without  com- 
pulsion, he  made  suffering.  What  is  he,  then,  but  an 
almighty  fiend  ?  His  good  acts  cannot  excuse  his  evil  acts, 
any  more  than  the  good  acts  of  a  murderer  can  condone 
his  crime.  Previous  good  conduct  will  save  no  confessed 
criminal  from  deserved  punishment,  and  God  is  a  con- 
fessed criminal,  and  all  the  good  that  he  does  will  not 
save  him  from  the  curses  of  his  bad  actions.  I  don't 
praise  a  man  for  saving  my  life  if  he  burns  my  dwelling 
and  murders  my  loved  ones.  I  will  kill  him  just  as  quick 
notwithstanding  his  so-called  "goodness."  You  can't 
balance  things  with  God.  God  must  be  all  good,  or  else 
not  good  at  all. 

It  is  not  the  immensity  of  suffering  that  annihilates 
God,  but  the  fact  of  any  suffering.  One  single  wrong  in 
this  universe,  even  to  a  worm,  unseats  God.  The  suffering 
of  a  flea  is  just  as  contrary  to  the  goodness  of  God  as  the 
suffering  of  a  man,  and  the  death  by  violence  of  a  flea  just 
as  much  disproves  the  existence  of  infinite  goodness  as 
the  death  by  violence  of  billions  of  human  beings,  or  bill- 
ions of  angels,  or  billions  of  cherubim  and  seraphim.  It 
is  not  a  question  of  quantity,  but  of  quality.  The  least 
wrong  in  this  universe  is  incompatible  with  infinite  justice, 
the  least  suffering  with  infinite  benevolence. 

The  theory  of  creation  must  result  in  the  Presbyterian 
creed.  This  creed  simply  gives  a  bare  statement  of  what 
many  would  cover  up  with  rhetorical  flowers.  The  logic 
of  the  creation  theory  is  absolutely  destructive  of  human 
will,  human  freedom,  human  responsibility.  That  one  can 
just  exactly  see  what  is  the  logical  outcome  of  the  propo- 
sition, "There  is  a  God,"  I  quote  the  following  from  the 
Presbvtpfian  oroeil  : 


AMY  POST. 


EVOLUTION  AND  PROGRESS.  391 

*'  By  tlie  decree  of  God,  for  the  manifestation  of  his 
glory,  some  men  and  angels  are  predestinated  unto  ever- 
lasting life,  and  others  foreordained  to  everlasting 
death. 

"These  angels  and  men,  thus  predestinated  and  foreor- 
dained, are  particularly  and  unchangeably  designed  ;  and 
their  number  is  so  certain  and  definite  that  it  cannot  be  either 
increased  or  diminished. 

"  Those  of  mankind  that  are  predestinated  unto  life, 
Ood,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  was  laid,  accord- 
ing to  his  eternal  and  immutable  purpose,  and  the  secret 
council  and  good  pleasure  of  his  will,  hath  chosen  in 
Christ  unto  everlasting  glory  out  of  his  mere  free  grace  and 
love,  without  any  foresight  of  faith  or  good  ivories,  or  persever- 
ance in  either  of  them,  or  any  other  thing  in  the  creature. 

"  The  rest  of  mankind  God  was  pleased,  for  the  glory 
of  his  sovereign  power  over  his  creatures,  to  pass  by  and 
to  ordain  them  to  dishonor  and  wrath  for  their  sin,  to  the 
praise  of  his  glorious  justice. 

"Elect  infants,  dying  in  infancy,  are  regenerated  and 
saved  by  Christ.  Others,  not  elected,  never  truly  come  to 
Christ,  and  therefore  cannot  be  saved. 

"  Works  done  by  unregenerate  men,  although,  for  the 
matter  of  them,  they  may  be  things  which  God  commands, 
and  of  good  use  both  to  themselves  and  others ;  yet,  be- 
cause they  proceed  not  from  a  heart  purified  by  faith, 
they  are,  therefore,  sinful  and  cannot  please  God. 

"  They  who  having  never  heard  the  gospel,  know  not 
Jesus  Clirist,  and  believe  not  in  him,  cannot  be  saved,  be 
they  never  so  diligent  to  frame  their  lives  according  to  the  light 
of  nature.^' 

This  creed  makes  humanity  like  clay  in  the  hands  of 
the  potter.  The  universe  is  a  prison-house,  man  a  slave, 
and  God  a  despot. 

Let  us  contrast  with  this  the  gospel  or  "  good  news" 
of  evolution  to  the  world  of  to-day. 


392  i^'OUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

Evolution  affirms  law,  not  a  law  put  upon  nature,  but  a 
law  in  nature  working  eternally.  The  law  is  invariable, 
majestic,  and  supreme  throughout  space  and  time. 

Is  man,  therefore,  a  slave  to  law  ?  Is  he  a  stick  or 
stone  ?  or  is  he  a  living  force  in  evolution  itself  ? 

What  is  the  general  statement  of  the  universal  law  ? 
It  is  this,  Given  the  same  antecedents,  always  the  same 
consequence.  This  is  the  unalterable  method  of  nature, 
and  on  this  method  all  science  is  based. 

But  science  makes  a  twofold  statement,  as  follows  :  the 
invariability  of  the  law,  and  the  variability  of  phenomena. 
The  law  changes  not.     Phenomena  do  change. 

Does  man,  by  his  will  and  intelligence,  change  phenom- 
ena? He  certainly  does,  that  is,  he  changes  the  antece- 
dents, and  therefore  he  chaDges  the  consequence.  He 
violates  no  law,  but  he  uses  law.  He  cannot  go  against 
the  wind,  but  he  can  tack.  He  cannot  change  the  law  of 
gravitation,  but  he  can  make  the  force  of  gravitation  grind 
his  corn  and  chop  his  wood.  As  Emerson  says  :  "  Man 
can  hitch  his  wagon  to  a  star." 

The  theory  of  creation  entirely  destroys  man's  freedom 
and  responsibility.     Evolution  asserts  it. 

Not,  however,  does  it  assert  any  metaphysical  freedom 
of  will.  That  question  is  now  ruled  out  of  court.  It  is 
useless  to  discuss  it.  Free  will,  in  that  sense,  must  depart 
with  the  "  infinite  "  and  "  absolute."  Such  free  will  is  in- 
conceivable, for  it  would  be  a  will  acting  without  motive. 
But  as  evolution  rules  out  this  absolute  "free  will,"  so  it 
rules  out  "fate"  and  "necessity."  These  terms  belong  to 
the  theory  of  creation,  to  foreordiuation.  If  God  foreor- 
dains, then  things  must  be.  But  evolution  does  not  say, 
"must  be;"  it  simply  says,  "will  be."  In  the  place  of 
"  necessity  "  it  puts  "  certainty."  Huxley  makes  tlie  dis- 
tinction, and  so  does  Jonathan  Edwards,  than  whom  there 
is  not  a  greater  metaphysician.  A  stone  is  thrown  up  into 
the   air.     We   are   not  authorized   by  human  experience, 


EVOLUTION  AND  PROGRESS.  393 

says  Huxley,  to  affirm  it  7nust  come  down ;  only  to  affirm 
that  it  ivill  come  down.     Whence  this  must  ? 

It  is  an  idea,  not  a  fact.  Science  cannot  affirm  neces- 
sity, only  certainty.  Necessity  could  only  be  affirmed  by 
an  infinite  experience,  not  by  a  finite  experience.  Finite 
experiences  must  deal  with  certainties,  not  with  necessities. 
There  is  no  more  scientific  proof  of  fate  and  necessity  in 
the  universe  than  of  God.  With  God  fate  and  necessity 
depart.  Certainty  remains,  and  that  is  amply  sufficient 
for  human  progress.  It  is  well  to  make  these  distinctions, 
and  get  rid  of  words  that  really  mean  nothing. 

Throwing  aside  fate  and  necessity,  what  do  we,  in  the 
evolutionary  sense,  mean  by  man's  freedom  and  power. 
We  mean  simply  this :  man  can  and  does  change  antece- 
dents, and  therefore  consequences.  This  is  simply  a  mat- 
ter of  fact.  Further  than  this  we  cannot  go.  It  is  useless 
to  ask  the  question.  Can  man  choose  other  than  he  does? 
As  all  questions  must  be  settled  by  experience,  and  as 
man  never  experiences  the  "  other  than  he  does."  that  is, 
the  contrary  choice,  how  can  we  ever  know  that  he  could 
exercise  it  or  could  not  ?  It  is  a  waste  of  time  to  ask  a 
question  of  that  sort.  It  is  the  practical  outcome  that 
concerns  us.  Man  chooses.  There  is  no  question  about 
that,  and  in  the  expression  of  his  choice  he  changes  the 
face  of  nature.  He  makes  the  wilderness  bloom  and 
blossom  like  the  rose.  Artilicial  selection  is  a  prodigious 
and  wonderful  evolution  of  man's  choice.  It  is  amazing 
what  man  has  thus  accomplished.  He  has  made  tlie  horse 
of  to-da}-,  the  dog,  the  pigeon,  the  orange,  tlie  apple,  the 
peach,  etc.  All  over  the  world  the  potent  power  of  man 
is  manifested,  his  abilitv  to  change  the  course  of  nature. 
Is  it  not  evident  that  if  man  can  make  a  better  horse,  a 
better  dog,  a  better  apple,  a  better  orange,  as  he  does, 
then  also  he  can  make  a  better  man,  and  he  does  make  a 
better  man  ?  Man,  therefore,  is  his  own  providence.  He 
can  build,  he  can  improve.     He  can  take  the  universe  as  it 


394  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREBTHOUGHT. 

is,  and  make  it  more  grand  and  splendid ;  more  adapted  to 
himself ;  more  serviceable  ;  more  fruitful.  There  is  no 
evidence  of  any  of  God's  achievements,  but  there  are  in- 
numerable evidences  of  man's  achievements,  of  his  "crea- 
tive power,"  of  his  "  divinity,"  of  his  foresight,  wisdom, 
benignity,  justice,  love,  and  desire  for  good.  Man,  as  a 
part  of  nature,  has  filled  nature  with  beauty  and  grandeur. 
Out  of  nature  he  has  crowned  nature  with  wonder  and  joy. 
He  has  made  a  thousand  mistakes,  and  a  thousand  failures. 
Dark  and  terrible  has  been  his  path  ;  enormous  his  sufferings. 
Crushed,  bleeding,  tortured,  ignorant,  weak,  selfish,  brutal, 
yet  he  has  won  his  way  to  hights  of  nobility  and  virtue,  of 
splendor  and  delight,  and  the  future  is  to  be  shaped  by 
his  genius,  kindling  with  the  power  of  nature  herself. 

This  is  the  gospel  of  evolution,  the  "good  news"  cap- 
able of  arousing  all  the  faculties  of  man  ;  for  when  man 
does  realize  that  he  must  depend  upon  himself,  and  that 
nature  affords  him  opportunities,  then  he  will  bestir  him- 
self. 

Nature  does  not  exist  for  his  especial  benefit,  nor  does 
nature  work  for  him,  or  against  him,  with  any  beneficent  or 
maleficent  purpose.  Nature  is  purely  non-ethical.  In  her 
relations  with  man,  she  is  neither  father  nor  mother, 
brother  nor  sister.  Nature  is  neitlier  just  nor  wise,  nor 
merciful,  nor  loving.  She  is  simply  matter  and  force,  but 
matter  and  force  in  constant  activity,  in  orderly  methods 
or  laws. 

Man  must  wrest  from  nature  what  he  wants.  He 
must  depend  neither  upon  nature  nor  God,  but  himself, 
upon  his  own  "eternal  vigilance."  Nature  buffets  and  de- 
feats him,  and,  at  last,  kills  him,  but  still  man  subdues 
nature,  and  compels  her,  so  long  as  he  does  live,  to  minis- 
ter to  his  wants ;  and  out  of  nature  he  can  build  for  him- 
self a  majestic  domain.  The  supreme  lesson  of  evolution 
is  self-reliance ;  not  optimism,  the  perfection  of  the  uni- 
verse;  not  pessimism,  which  is  despair,  but  what  is  termec 


EVOLUTION  AND  PROGRESS.  395 

meliorism.  That  is,  the  universe  is  not  so  good  but  what 
we  can  improve  it,  and  not  so  bad  but  what  we  can  pa- 
tiently endure  and  make  some  gain.  When  man  studies 
his  own  history,  and  realizes  that  it  is  his  own  will  that 
has  given  him  the  vantage  point  of  to-day  ;  certainly  this 
is  an  impressive  motive  power 

If  we  say  that  through  the  ages  ''one  iucreasing  pur- 
pose runs,"  it  is  man's  purpose  altogether,  and  that  is 
"  an  increasing  purpose,"  and  the  study  of  evolution  will 
conduce  to  a  still  greater  purpose.  Evolution  in  humanity 
is  not  a  blind  force.  It  is  intelligence.  It  is  wisdom  and 
it  is  love.  Can  there  be  any  more  sublime  or  cheering 
teaching  than  this  ?  Let  theology  stand  aside.  The  era 
of  God  was  an  era  of  ignorance,  of  slavish  dependence,  of 
fear  and  blood.  The  era  of  man  is  an  era  of  knowledge, 
of  power,  of  effort,  of  courage.  It  is  an  era  neither  of  in- 
dolence nor  despair,  but  of  manly  endeavor. 

While  man  is  thus  the  greatest  of  sentient  beings,  he 
is,  nevertheless,  not  distinct  from  the  universal  life.  All 
is  one,  and  man  is  no  separate  existence.  And  there  is 
something  wonderfully  noble  in  this  monistic  conception 
of  evolution.  Out  of  this  will  flow  the  art,  the  poetry, 
and  the  romance  of  the  future.  Hjalmar  Hjorth  Boyesen 
has  expressed  the  grandeur  and  delight  of  this  feeling  : 

"A  sacred  kinship  I  would  not  forego 
Binds  me  to  all  that  breathes. 
I  am  the  child  of  earth  and  air  and  sea, 
My  lullaby  by  hoarse  Silurian  storms 
Was  chanted.     Through  endless  changing  forms 
Of  plant  and  bird  and  beast  unceasingly. 
The  toiling  ages  wrought  to  fashion  me. 
Lo,  these  large  ancestors  have  left  a  trace 
Of  their  strong  souls  in  mine,  defying  death  and  time. 
I  grow  and  blossom  as  the  tree, 
And  ever  feel  deep,  delving,  earthly  roots 


396  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Building  me  closer  to  the  common  clay; 
Yet,  with  its  airy  impulse,  upward  shoots 
My  soul  into  the  reaim  of  light  and  day. 
And  thou.  O  Sea,  stern  mother  of  my  soul, 
Thy  tempests  rock  in  me ;  thy  billows  roll." 


LUCY  N.   CULM  AN  (p.   "lO'J). 


CHAPTER  XYII. 

Modern  Eueope — Politics. 

Europe  overflows  with  life  to-day  in  every  direction. 
There  never  was  such  an  array  of  purely  physical  force, 
with  intellectual  and  moral  powers.  Theories  are  launched 
forth  like  volcanoes.  The  stoutest  monarchies  tremble. 
There  is  an  impalpable  presence,  a  "  coming  terror,"  which 
it  seems  impossible  to  escape,  and  the  most  far-sighted 
cannot  define  it.  No  one  feels  secure.  Armies  themselves 
may  melt  away  like  dew.  Never  before  was  the  pen  so 
mighty,  and  the  sword  so  brilliant.  Gunpowder  keeps 
peace  and  dynamite  thunders.  There  is  an  irrepressible 
conflict.  Ancient  authorities  and  ancient  institutions  are 
going  by  the  board.  But  what  will  take  their  place  ? 
What  new  and  better,  or  worse,  is  not  within  the  scope 
of  the  keenest  vision. 

It  is  no  use,  however,  to  despair,  and,  like  the  old 
hermits,  flee  to  the  desert.  The  one  supreme  comfort  is 
that  the  world  is  full  of  life.  It  is  not  a  dead  world.  Ifc 
is  a  world  of  knowledge  and  power,  Europe  is  not  effete. 
There  was  never  so  much  blood  and  brain  in  it  as  to-day. 
Whatever  happens  will  be  worth  seeing,  whether  it  is  ruin 
or  attainment. 

The  fighting  power  of  Europe  is  a  factor  of  such  omi- 
nous importance  that  it  must  be  noticed.  The  standing 
army  of  Europe  is  almost  inconceivable  in  its  splendor 
and  multitude.     Says  a  writer  : 

"  Marshal  the  myriads  that  constitute  the  living  armies 


398  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

of  Europe,  what  a  crowding  of  warriors  there  would 
be  upon  the  immense  plain !  From  every  quarter  of 
the  continent  the  shining  cohorts  would  muster.  From 
the  pine -clad  crags  of  Dovrefield  to  the  black  coast  of 
the  Euxine ;  from  the  interminable  steppes  of  Mus- 
covy to  the  laughing  plains  of  Andalusia ;  from  the 
sober-hued  rifleman  of  Great  Britain  to  the  gorgeous 
capoted  Albanian  they  would  throng  in  thousands,  nay, 
by  millions — helmeted,  turbaned,  skakoed,  kepied.  hatted 
and  capped — to  meet  in  this  grand  military  camp  of 
the  nations,  this  universal  gathering  of  the  clans  and 
races  of  Europe.  We  believe  ourselves  to  be  at  peace ; 
to  be  reposing  under  our  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  with  the 
clouds  of  war  far  from  their  shadow.  The  sound  of  drum 
and  fife  is  rarely  heard  except  on  parade.  Yet  never 
within  the  annals  of  history  have  the  nations  maintained 
such  stupendous  armies,  or  mankind  witnessed  such  fear- 
ful destruction  on  the  battlefield.  Never  has  the  spirit  of 
war  been  more  systematically  fostered  and  a  military  edu- 
cation among  tlie  people  encouraged." 

In  France  one  hundred  thousand  youths  are  annually 
torn  from  their  homes,  drafted  into  the  army.  It  has  a 
standing  force  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men, 
wliich  can  be  easily  increased  to  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand. 

In  Russia  the  policy  of  aggression  inherited  from 
Peter  and  Catherine  demands  an  immense  army.  "  The 
dream  of  each  sovereign  as  he  mounts  the  throne  is  how 
he  shall  reach  the  blue  waters  of  the  Golden  Horn  and 
plant  the  cross  of  St.  Vladimir  on  the  dome  of  St.  Sophia 
at  Istamboul.  In  the  rocky  fastnesses  of  the  Caucasus  the 
bones  of  numberless  Muscovite  soldiers  bleach  on  the 
fierce  soil,  testifying  to  the  imperial  lust  for  power; 
whilst  in  the  heart  of  the  empire  itself  ignorance,  poverty, 
and  national  demoralization  are  the  results  of  this  vast 
militarv  svstem."     Tlie   total  armv  of  Russia  is  estimated 


MODERN  EUROPE— POLITICS.  399 

at  eleven  hundred  thousand  privates,  besides  thirty-six 
thousand  officers.  "  This  mighty  force  surges,  like  the 
waters  of  the  ocean,  against  every  frontier,  and  by  per- 
petually lashing  it  eventually  disintegrates  and  acquires 
a  portion  of  it." 

It  is  estimated  that  Austria  has  an  army  of  half  a 
million,  raised  by  conscription. 

Turkey  boasts  an  army  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand. 

Italy  is  still  on  her  guard  ;  is  still  couchant  as  a  tiger 
ready  to  spring  on  her  prey.  She  has  an  army  for  self- 
defense  of  three  hundred  thousand  men. 

Switzerland  has  a  mobile  fighting  force  of  tliree  hun- 
dred and  forty  thousand  men.  This,  however,  is  not  a 
standing  army.  It  is  a  sort  of  patriotic  home  guard.  The 
Swiss  motto  is  :  "  Defense  and  not  defiance." 

"  Constitutionally  speaking,  England  has  no  permanent 
army.  It  exists  simply  on  the  permission  or  sufferance 
of  Parliament.  In  the  good  old  da3's  when  Englishmen 
fought  for  freedom  they  were  jealous  of  the  power  which 
a  standing  military  force  gave  the  sovereign-commander  ; 
and  they  guarded  themselves  and  their  children  against 
the  possible  tyranny  of  such  a  body  of  men  by  every 
measure  they  could  devise.  Tlje  Bill  of  Rights  surren- 
dered the  British  army  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the 
parliament,  and  without  the  vote  and  sanction  of  the 
House  of  Commons  not  a  single  soldier  could  appear  in 
our  streets,"  says  an  English  writer.  The  army  of  Great 
Britain  is  abouc  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  It  is  a 
purely  voluntary  body,  raised  by  enlistment.  Besides  this 
is  a  militia  force  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand,  and 
also  the  citizen  troops  of  about  the  same  number. 

The  population  of  Europe  at  the  present  time  is  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  millions.  Out  of  this  is  main- 
tained an  army  of  six  millions,  at  a  cost  of  five  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  a  year.     Are  not  these  uppalliiig  facets? 


400  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

These  six  millions  are  the  most  healthful  and  strongest  of 
the  male  population,  and  instead  of  being  used  for  the 
reproduction  of  the  race  they  are  used  entirely  for  its 
destruction.  In  time  of  war  what  an  engine  for  murder ! 
In  time  of  peace  what  a  vast  organization  of  stagnant 
energy !  It  tyrannizes  over  the  liberties  of  mankind.  It 
eats  up  the  resources  of  the  wealthiest  kingdoms.  It 
threatens  all  with  poverty  and  bankruptcy. 

No  wonder  there  is  revolt  in  Europe  against  this  per- 
petual crime.  No  wonder  the  people  seethe  with  indig- 
nation. No  wonder  there  is  no  rest  or  peace.  There 
never  will  be  until  this  incubus  is  removed. 

Napoleon  said :  "  In  fifty  years  Europe  will  be  all 
Cossack  or  all  Republican."  It  will  be  a  semi-barbarous 
empire  maintained  by  tremendous  armies,  or  it  will  be  a 
Republic,  or  Anarchy,  or — what  ? 

There  are  three  vast  tendencies  in  Europe  to-day,  away 
from  the  old  monarchical  governments — to  Republicanism, 
to  Socialism,  and  to  Anarchy. 

Mazzini  has  given  in  general  a  correct  definition  of 
these  three  tendencies.  Anarch}-  "declares  the  seat  of 
sovereignty  to  be  in  individual  man,  in  the  human  ego.  It 
founds  its  whole  organization  upon  inviolable  rights.  The 
general  interest,  say  the  disciples  of  this  school,  will  be 
a  sufficient  guide  to  prevent  the  innumerable  conflicts 
arising  between  these  small  local  sovereignties.  In  poli- 
tics Anarchy  leads  to  resistance  to  all  governmental  dicta- 
tion. In  international  matters  it  leads  to  non-intervention ; 
in  economy,  to  unlimited  competition.  It  bases  its  social 
system  upon  liberty  alone. 

"  Socialism  is  in  all  things  the  opposite  of  this.  It 
declares  the  sovereignty  to  be  in  the  collective  will,  in  the 
We.  It  regards  the  state  as  all  in  all.  The  instruments 
of  labor,  of  production,  are  the  property  of  the  state,  and 
the  laws  of  distribution  are  by  the  state.     As  liberty  is  all 


MODERN  EUROPE— POLITICS.  401 

in  all  to  Anarchy,  so  authority  of  the  collective  will  is  all 
in  all  to  the  Socialist." 

In  Republicanism  there  must  be  a  union  of  liberty  and 
authority.  The  republican  formula  is,  says  Mazzini,  "  the 
liberty  of  all  through  the  association  of  all." 

"  Liberty  and  association,  the  individual  and  the  na- 
tion, the  I  and  the  We — all  these  are  inseparable  elements 
of  human  nature,  essential  each  and  all  to  its  organized 
development." 

An  enlightened  republic  is  certainly  the  ideal  of  hu- 
man society,  where  liberty  is  the  largest  possible,  and 
where  authority  is  used  only  for  the  benefit  of  the  people 
and  is  constantly  based  upon  the  free  consent  of  all  the 
citizens. 

It  is  impossible  to  more  than  suggest  the  nature  of 
these  three  tendencies.  It  might  be  said  that  Repub- 
licanism is  evolutionary,  while  Socialism  and  Anarchy  are 
revolutionary,  and  Socialism  and  Anarchy  sweep  in  op- 
posite directions,  one  to  authority  for  the  benefit  of  all, 
and  the  other  to  liberty,  whatever  the  benefit  may  be. 

These  tendencies  are  powerful  in  themselves ;  they 
conflict  with  one  another  and  with  the  old  order  of  things. 
Each  is  represented  by  men  of  burning  purpose,  who  are 
willing  to  sacrifice  life  itself  for  the  sake  of  their  ideals. 

Besides  the  armed  monarchies,  with  their  six  millions 
of  soldiers,  and  the  vast  onward-sweeping  forces  of  Repub- 
licanism, Socialism,  and  Anarchy,  is  another  power  unique 
and  extraordinary,  willing  to  use  any  of  these  forces  for 
its  own  aggrandizement,  yet  ever  maintaining  its  supreme 
and  awful  claims,  its  spiritual  power  ;  and  this  is  the  Vati- 
can, the  heir  of  the  ages,  hoary  with  antiquity,  built  in  the 
faith  of  millions,  wielding  the  sword — a  lion,  a  fox,  a 
wolf,  a  lamb — anything  and  everything  that  can  entrap, 
ensnare,  cajole,  and  conquer  the  human  race.  It  never  has, 
it  never  will  abandon  its  claims  to  universal  empire.  It 
is  the  vicegerent  of  heaven,  the  representative  of  God,  and 


402  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

it  is  insatiable.  It  hesitates  at  nothing  in  the  way  of 
crime,  if  that  aids  its  purpose.  It  claims  every  virtue,  and 
draws  its  income  from  every  vice.  The  prince  and  peasant 
kneel  side  by  side  before  its  throne.  The  foot  of  the  pope 
is  on  both  alike.  There  are  no  class  distinctions  with 
Rome  ;  all  are  on  a  level.  All  are  to  be  equally  duped  and 
equally  plundered,  king  and  noble,  citizen  and  soldier. 
There  is  nothing  too  high  or  too  low  for  its  rapacity.  The 
widow's  mite  is  as  acceptable  as  the  crown  or  the  sovereign. 
All  counts,  and  swells  the  coffers,  and  adds  to  the  dominion 
of  the  church. 

It  is  this  power — calm,  cold,  supreme,  calculating — 
that  mingles  in  the  drama  of  modern  Europe,  and  it  seems 
destined  to  continual  life.  It  is  an  eternal  menace  to  all 
science,  to  all  progress.  Defeated  and  driven  from  the 
seven-hilled  city,  it  still  rears  its  tiara  in  other  lands. 

Along  with  this  vast  church  power  itself,  supported  by 
the  faith  of  millions  of  people,  who  in  blind  devotion  see 
nothing  in  it  but  the  loveliness  of  heaven,  there  is  the 
subtle  and  enormous  Jesuitical  organization.  The  Jesuits 
are  the  secret  enemies  of  all  mankind.  They  have  been 
driven  from  nearly  every  country,  and  yet  they  always 
return.  It  was  the  Jesuit  that  saved  the  Papacy  from 
Protestantism,  and  the  Jesuit  is  the  educator  and  con- 
troller of  the  Papacy  to-day.  It  is  both  a  spiritual  and 
political  organization.  It  is  a  vast  detective  agency.  It 
is  the  eye  of  Rome  and  its  hidden  dagger.  All  not  directly 
interested  in  Rome  fear  it  and  hate  it,  king  and  repub- 
lican alike.  It  is  a  grim  shadow,  with  hand  of  steel  and 
brain  of  Mephistopheles,  which  plays  its  shifting  part  in 
the  great  drama  of  modern  Europe. 

With  three  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  people  thus 
divided,  in  possession  of  the  greatest  instruments  of  de- 
struction, animated  by  intense  hates  and  loves,  poets, 
dreamers,  philosophers,  politicians,  conspirators,  kings, 
nobles,    priests,    soldiers,    crowding    the    checkered    and 


0.  CHILD  (p.   7U0) 


KOSSUTH.  403 

•stormy  scenes,  who  can  unroll  the  curtain  of  to-morrow? 
It  would  take  volumes  to  interpret  the  last  half  cent- 
ury of  Europe.  I  can  only  endeavor  to  throw  some  light 
upon  this  panorama  by  a  consideration  of  those  characters 
most  representative  of  the  elemental  forces.  I  can  only 
give  a  picture  of  those  who,  in  some  way,  against  stupen- 
dous power,  have  battled  for  freedom  and  progress  ;  who 
have  failed,  but  who  leave  inspiration  for  future  efforts ; 
whose  failure  is  a  glory  to  themselves ;  a  failure  which 
does  not  drape  the  world  in  darkness,  but  gilds  it  with  the 
luster  of  splendid  deeds. 

Kossuth.— 1806. 

Kossuth  in  poverty  is  greater  than  any  king  in  his  pal- 
ace. In  him  is  the  unconquerable  mind,  whatever  may 
be  the  fortune  of  war.  He  gave  his  countrj'  everything. 
Youth,  enthusiasm,  hope,  talents — all  were  for  heroic  ser- 
vice in  its  behalf.  When  he  could  no  longer  do  anything 
for  his  country  he  chose  exile.  In  the  prime  of  life  tbe 
star  of  his  hope  sank.  His  country's  flag  was  folded  and 
treason  was  victorious.  Hungary  vanished  from  the  list 
of  nations.  The  valor  of  her  sons  availed  not  against  con- 
solidated oppression.  Tiie  tyranny  of  the  Christian  cross 
could  be  escaped  only  by  taking  refuge  under  the  Moslem 
crescent.  It  was  one  of  the  tragedies  of  history.  God, 
as  usual,  was  on  the  side  of  heaviest  battalions. 

The  young  Republic  of  the  West,  on  whose  broad 
bosom  no  monarch  had  ever  trod,  or  any  throne  or  palace 
been  built,  gave  rejoicing  welcome  to  the  statesman,  the 
warrior,  the  orator,  who  bore  his  defeat  so  grandly.  Those 
who  remember  the  visit  of  Kossuth  to  America  cannot  for- 
get the  thrill  of  his  marvelous  eloquence.  It  stirred  the 
pulses  of  the  people  like  martial  music.  It  was  lofty,  im- 
passioned, and  radiant.  The  oriental  fire  of  the  great  race 
to  which  he  belonged  was  in  it ;  the  race  that  once  owned  no 
master  in  its  irresistible  march.     It  was  a  significant  pict- 


404  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

ure,  the  leader  of  an  aucieut  and  famous  people,  fronting 
the  multitudes  of  a  country  not  yet  a  century  old,  who 
from  his  glowing  lips  learned  something  still  of  liberty's 
eternal  struggle. 

Mazzinl— 1805-1872 

Mazzini  was  the  untiring  preacher  of  Italian  Repub- 
lican unity.  It  is  necessary  to  understand  the  political 
and  religious  principles  of  this  devoted  reformer;  other- 
wise we  cannot  interpret  the  man  in  his  actions  and  in- 
fluence. 

Mazzini  was  thoroughly  opposed  to  Socialism  ami  An- 
archy. He  was  a  Republican.  By  Republicanism  he 
meant  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for 
the  people,  wherein  both  authority  and  liberty  were 
blended.  He  says  :  '  Authority  and  liberty,  rightfully  con- 
ceived, are  equall}-  sacred,  their  union  is  indispensable  to 
the  right  solution  of  ever}'  social  question." 

Again,  "Republicanism  is  the  negation  of  every  ex- 
tinct authority  based  solely  on  the  fact  of  its  existence  in 
the  past,  or  upon  privilege  (of  birth  or  other),  maintained 
witljout  the  free  consent  of  all  the  citizens,  and  inacces- 
sible to  future  progress." 

Mazzini  was  a  Theist,  and  it  is  well  to  understand  his 
creed,  for,  in  this  case,  the  creed  is  the  man.  It  is  much 
like  the  creed  of  Thomas  Paine,  except  tliat  Paine  regards 
government  as  a  necessary  evil,  while  Mazzini  regards  it 
as  a  necessary  good.  It  will  be  seen  that  Mazzini  is  anti- 
orthodox,  and  opposed  to  all  special  and  miraculous  rev- 
elations. 

Mazzini 's  Creed. 

"  I  believe  in  God  ; 

"In  a  providential  law  prefixed  by  him  to  life; 
"A  law,  not  of  fall,  expiation,  and  redemption   through 
grace  of  past -or  present  intermediates  between  God  and 


MAZZINI'S  CREED.  405 

man,  but  of  indefinite  progress,  founded  upon  and  meas- 
ured by  our  own  efforts  ; 

"  In  the  unity  of  life ;  misconceived  by  the  philosophy 
of  the  last  two  centuries ; 

"  In  the  unity  of  the  law ;  both  as  regards  the  collec- 
tive and  individual  manifestations  of  life  ; 

"  In  the  immortality  of  the  ego ;  which  is  but  the  ap- 
plication of  the  law  of  progress  (irrefutably  revealed  by 
the  combined  evidence  of  historical  tradition,  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  human  soul,  and  the  discoveries  of  science) 
to  the  individual  manifestation  of  life  ; 

"  In  free  will ;  without  which  responsibility,  conscience, 
and  the  power  of  deserving  progress  are  impossible  ; 

"  In  the  association — successive  and  ever-increasing — 
of  all  the  human  faculties  and  powers ;  as  the  sole  method 
of  progress,  at  once  individual  and  collective  ; 

"  In  the  unity  of  the  human  race,  and  moral  equality 
of  all  the  children  of  God ;  without  distinction  of  sex, 
color,  or  position,  and  never  to  be  interrupted  save  by 
crime  ; 

"And  therefore, 

"  In  the  sacred,  inexorable,  dominant  idea  of  duty,  as 
the  sole  rule  of  life — duty  embracing  for  each,  according 
to  his  sphere  and  power,  alike  the  family,  the  fatherland, 
and  humanity  ;  the  family,  altar  of  the  fatherland  ;  tlie 
fatherland,  sanctuary  of  humanity ;  humanity,  portion  of 
the  universe  and  temple  erected  to  God,  who  creates  it 
that  it  may  gravitate  toward  him  ;  duty,  which  commands 
us  to  promote  the  progress  of  others,  in  order  to  achieve 
our  own,  and  our  own  in  order  to  benefit  others  ;  duty, 
without  which  no  right  can  exist,  and  which  creates  the 
one  pure,  sacred,  eflficacious  virtue,  Sacrifice  ;  the  halo  that 
crowns  and  sanctifies  the  human  soul." 

Mazzini  was  an  immortal  dreamer.  He  was  devoted  to 
ideals.  He  would  not  compromise.  He  set  his  mark  high 
and  determined  to  win  it.     He  was  a  Republican  without 


406  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

compromise.  He  would  have  uotliing  to  do  with  mon- 
archy in  any  shape,  no  matter  how  beneficial  it  might  ap- 
pear.     He  said  : 

"  It  is  time  to  renounce  a  policy  of  expedients,  oppor- 
tunism, concealment,  intrigue,  reticence,  and  parliament- 
ary compromise,  characteristic  of  the  languid  life  of 
nations  in  decay,  for  the  simple,  virgin,  loyal,  and  logical 
policy,  deduced  from  a  moral  law  and  dominant  principle, 
which  has  ever  inaugurated  the  young  life  of  nations 
called  to  a  high  destiny." 

Mazzini  was  not  altogether  in  harmony  either  with 
Cavour  or  Garibaldi.  Cavour,  the  greatest  statesman  of 
the  Italian  monarchy,  whose  services  to  political  freedom 
in  certain  directions  were  of  the  first  importance,  dealt 
with  men,  not  as  a  philosopher,  but  as  a  statesman.  He 
understood  the  world  of  Italy  as  it  was,  and  made  the 
best  of  it.  His  policy  was  that  half  a  loaf  is  better  than 
none.  He  got  the  half  loaf  and  struck  a  blow  at  papal 
supremacy.  "A  free  church  in  a  free  state,"  was  his  motto. 
To  that  extent  he  was  a  Liberal,  and  while  far  behind 
Mazzini  as  an  ideal  reformer,  we  might  say  that,  in  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed,  where  Mazzini 
utterly  failed,  Cavour  achieved  a  fruitful  victory.  Cavour 
was  not  a  man  of  genius,  and  he  succeeded  because  he 
was  not ;  being  a  man  of  affairs,  and  of  worldly  wisdom, 
and  accommodating  himself  to  circumstances,  swaying 
them,  if  not  to  the  best,  at  least  to  the  better. 

Mazzini  failed  because  he  was  a  man  of  genius  ;  be- 
cause he  had  ideals  far  beyond  the  mass  of  circumstances 
about  him,  far  beyond  what  the  people  could  realize  ;  but 
these  are  the  men  who  make  inspirations  for  after  ages. 
They  become  an  ever-growing  power,  and  such  is  Mazzini. 

Garibaldi.— 1807-1882. 

What  a  shining  figure  presents  itself  when  we  speak 
the  name.  Garibaldi — a    figure    of    romance,  of    glorious 


GARIBALDI.  407 

action,  a  hero  of  song  and  story !  The  grand  old  myths 
seemed  to  be  realized  in  Garibaldi,  his  genius  is  so  simple 
and  childlike,  his  achievements  so  vast.  He  is  like  the 
Greek  god  Hercules,  bright,  strong,  triumphant ;  and  he 
was  like  Ulysses  in  his  world-wide  wanderings.  He  lived 
that  glorious  motto  of  Paine,  "Where  liberty  is  not, 
there  is  my  country."  He  was  ready  at  all  times  to  strike 
a  blow  for  freedom ;  ready  to  live  the  humblest,  rather 
than  to  surrender  the  integrity  and  independence  of  his 
being.  He  was  of  the  people.  He  lived  with  the  people. 
He  desired  no  honor  or  leadership  that  would  separate 
him  from  the  people.  On  both  continents,  like  Paine,  he 
battled  for  liberty.  He  was  a  soldier  through  and  through, 
but  a  soldier  of  humanity.  He  was  no  idealist  like  Maz- 
zini.  He  had  no  impracticable  dream ;  nor  was  he,  like 
Cavour,  a  shrewd  politician,  a  manipulator  of  kings  and 
princes.  He  was  a  man  of  action.  He  was  a  doer,  with 
big  brain  and  heart.  As  a  warrior  he  was  unsurpassed. 
No  man  living  could  create  such  splendid  enthusiasm. 
He  was  like  a  flame.  He  kindled  men.  He  was  one  who 
made  poetry  for  the  masses,  who  inspired,  being  an  em- 
bodiment of  that  which  the  people  love  and  admire.  He 
believed  in  this  earth ;  that  this  earth  could  be  made 
beautiful.  He  did  not  believe  in  waiting  for  a  heaven 
hereafter.  He  wanted  happiness  now,  real  human  happi- 
ness on  the  fair  bosom  of  his  beloved  Italy. 

His  father  wanted  him  to  be  a  priest.  Garibaldi  ob- 
jected. He  preferred  a  sailor's  life.  He  preferred  the 
breezy,  stormy  ocean  to  the  cloister  and  the  cathedral. 
Garibaldi  rejoiced  in  winds  and  skies,  in  waves  and  clouds, 
in  nature  and  man ;  but  he  hated  the  priest.  He  hated 
his  laziness,  his  insincerity,  his  narrowness,  his  filth,  his 
fat,  his  shaved  head  and  cowl.  How  he  poured  out  his 
scorn  upon  him.  His  sword  and  his  pen  were  equally 
valiant,  and  cut  to  the  heart  of  superstition  and  tyranny. 

Garibaldi  is  one  of  the  noblest  characters  in  history,  a 


408  FOUR    HU^S^DRKD   YEAR8   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

true  representative  of  modern  democracy.  He  was  the  in- 
carnation of  plain  common  sense.  Mazzini  was  liaunted 
by  a  god,  and,  like  all  gods,  it  blinded  him  to  facts  ;  and 
his  faith  in  God  sometimes  made  him  break  his  head 
against  stubborn  realities.  Mazzini's  God  was  a  beautiful 
god,  but  a  fiction,  nevertheless  ;  and  no  god  has  ever  _yet 
changed  or  destroyed  a  single  fact.  Garibaldi  wrote  a 
letter  as  follows :  "  Dear  Friend  :  Man  has  created  God, 
and  not  God  man.  Yours  ever,  Garibaldi."  Garibaldi 
kept  his  powder  dry,  but  he  didn't  trust  in  God.  In  the 
gray  dawn  of  history  Garibaldi  would  have  been  a  god 
himself.  He  was  just  the  kind  of  a  man  to  make  a  god 
out  of ;  he  had  all  the  elements  of  a  first-class  deity — 
strength,  success,  brilliancy,  romantic  adventures,  extraor- 
dinary valor,  commanding  station.  Of  course  he  wouldn't 
make  a  Bible  God.  He  was  too  good  for  that.  He  had 
too  much  human  sympathy,  too  much  justice;  in  short,  he 
was  too  much  of  a  man ;  but  he  would  make  a  shining, 
beautiful  Balder  if  the  mists  of  antiquity  were  floating 
about  him.  But  in  the  sunlight  of  modern  days  all  gods 
must  disappear,  but  the  fierce  glare  of  matter  of  fact  does 
not  dim  the  real  greatness  of  Garibaldi.  We  honor  him 
as  a  sailor  and  soldier,  a  soap  and  candle  maker,  a  farmer. 
Whatever  he  did  he  dk\  with  simplicity,  with  nobility, 
with  courage,  Avitli  truth,  and  with  a  certain  sort  of  joyous 
recklessness  which  makes  him  delightfully  attractive.  We 
like  the  bluff,  honest,  jovial,  generous,  superb  man  that  is 
in  him,  and  which  is  never  lost  in  the  wild  and  cruel  and 
magnificent  fortunes  of  his  varied  career. 

Garibaldi  did  not  agree  fully  with  Mazzini  nor  fully 
with  Cavour.  As  a  product  of  the  people  it  seems  that 
Garibaldi  was  the  nearest  right  of  all  these,  and  yet 
all  of  them  were  right  in  their  own  way — right  for  them- 
selves, and  so  greath*  helpful  to  the  mighty  cause  in  which 
they  were  enlisted.  The  differences  between  these  tliree 
supreme  men  of  modern  Italian   ]~)olitical  progress  shows 


SUSAN  H.  WIXON  (p.  .s24). 


PROUDHON.  409 

the  manifold  nature  of  man  himself,  the  manifold  nature  of 
the  circumstances  in  which  he  is  placed,  the  manifold  na- 
ture of  reform,  and  how  far  and  wide  and  varied  is  Free- 
thought  in  its  individual  and  universal  manifestations.  It 
seems  the  wisest  course  for  each  one  to  be  true  to  him- 
self, join  hands  where  he  can,  pusli  forward  on  his  chosen 
line,  and  not  indulge  in  orthodox  anathemas. 

While  we  honor  Garibaldi  the  man,  we  must  honor  the 
woman  also,  his  wife,  the  brave  and  beautiful  Anita 
JRivera,  who  flung  her  fortune  with  his  in  the  splendid 
passion  and  sacrifice  of  a  woman's  heart.  The  glorious 
future  of  the  liuman  race  is  tlius  prophesied,  man  and 
woman  blending  in  heroic  endeavor.  Garibaldi  died  in 
1882,  and  directed  by  will  that  he  should  be  cremated 
without  any  religious  ceremony.. 

A  united  and  regenerated  Ital}',  Rome  rescued  from 
papal  authority  and  made  the  center  of  Liberal  progress, 
the  capital  of  a  vast  and  splendid  republic — what  a  hope 
that  is,  not  for  Italy  only,  but  for  all  the  world  !  Who  is 
there  that  does  not  love  Italy  ?  Who  is  not  enclianted  by 
her  sublime  and  romantic  history?  Who  does  not  read  it 
with  tears  of  sadness  and  thrills  of  exultation  ?  How  the 
centuries  shine  with  her  glory!  How  are  they  darkened 
with  her  tragedies  !  What  poetry  and  art  and  music  be- 
neath her  lovely  skies  !  What  horror  and  desolation  along 
her  vineclad  hills  and  melodious  groves  !  What  grandeur 
gathers  about  the  mighty  name  of  Rome  !  It  has  wielded 
the  thunders  of  a  material  and  spiritual  despotism.  Will 
not  this  same  Rome,  where  the  monument  of  Bruno  blazes 
against  the  Vatican,  bear  the  torch  of  reason  and  liberty? 
The  cry  of  Garibaldi  was  "Freedom  for  Rome  !"  Let  the 
cry  ring  on.  The  Eternal  City  shall  yet  be  for  science 
and  humanity. 

Peoudhon.  —1809-1865. 

To  understand  the  drift  of  revolutionary  opinion  and 
action  in  modern  Europe,  it  is  necessary,  in  contrast  witli 


410  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  Republicanism  of  Mazziui  and  Garibaldi,  to  note  the 
philosophy  of  Proudhou,  one  of  the  greatest  political  and 
economical  writers  of  the  world,  and  who  represents  the 
most  radical  movement  of  the  present  age.  In  behalf  of 
human  liberty  and  justice  Proudhon  would  entirely  abolish 
the  state,  on  the  ground  not  only  of  individual  freedom, 
but  also  that  the  true  order  and  well-being  of  society  will 
be  better  promoted  without  the  state  than  with  it. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  clearly  define  the  state  in  order 
to  understand  what  it  is  that  Proudhon  purposes  by  the 
abolition  of  the  state. 

The  state,  says  George  Washington,  is  not  persuasion, 
but  force. 

This  is  the  fundamental  element  of  the  state  which 
Proudhon  opposes — the  use  of  force. 

The  word  anarchy,  in  its  original  and  philosophic  sense, 
does  not  mean  the  absence  of  order,  but  the  absence  of 
rule — that  is,  of  compulsion. 

It  is  the  belief  of  Proudhon  that  the  best  order,  the 
best  cooperation  and  association  of  men,  will  come  about 
by  universal  liberty,  and  not  by  the  employment  of  any 
force. 

It  is  on  the  line  of  the  Jefi'ersonian  democracy,  which 
declares  that  "  that  government  is  best  which  governs 
least,"  and  of  Thomas  Paine,  who  says  that  government  is 
a  "  necessary  evil." 

Anarchy,  therefore,  as  proposed  by  Proudhon,  means 
the  absence  of  any  political  rul.e  or  authority.  As  it  op- 
poses the  use  of  force  on  the  part  of  the  state,  it  also 
opposes,  in  the  dissemination  of  its  own  opinions,  or  of 
any  opinions,  by  the  use  of  aggressive  force.  Force  should 
be  used  only  for  self-defense. 

While  in  economics  there  is  harmony  between  Proud- 
hon and  Karl  Marx,  in  politics  they  are  radically  opposed. 
In  fact,  Proudhon  would  have  no  politics  at  all,  while 
Marx  would  have  all  politics.     The  end  proposed  by  both 


TROUDHON.  411 

of  these  great  revolutionary  reformers  is  the  same — the 
equalit}'  aud  welfare  of  all  ;  but  Marx  would  make  the 
state  the  supreme  and  universal  means,  while  Proudhon 
would  entirely  abolisli  the  state  ;  while  between  these  two, 
and  opposing  the  old  monarchical  system,  is  the  Repub- 
licanism of  Mazziui,  Gambetta,  and  Bradlaugh. 

It  is  impossible  to  more  than  state  the  differences  oi 
these  vast  tendencies  of  modern  thought.  It  is  the  eternal 
contradiction,  tlie  "antinomy"  of  life  itself.  Tiiey  are 
like  the  opposite  poles  of  an  electric  pile,  and  will  no 
doubt  always  exist.  "The  problem,"  says  Proudhon  him- 
self, "  is  to  discover,  not  their  fusion,  which  would  be 
death,  but  their  equilibrium — an  equilibrium  forever  un- 
stable, varying  with  the  development  of  society." 

Proudhon  was  born' of  the  peasant  people,  and  it  was 
for  the  people  that  he  always  labored.  He  lived  a  life  of 
poverty  and  toil.  His  genius  was  readily  recognized,  but 
he  was  thoroughly  sincere,  and  would  not  win  applause-or 
wealth  by  any  surrender  of  his  convictions.  He  expressed 
them  openly,  however  unpopular.  Proudlion  was  born  to 
be  an  agitator,  to  striiie  fire  wherever  he  went.  He  was 
an  original  thinker,  a  philosopher  like  Descartes  and 
Hume,  giving  new  light  to  mankind,  although  in  a  differ- 
ent direction. 

He  uttered  that  startling  sentence:  "Property  is  rob- 
bery." But  he  said  himself :  ''  I  am  no  agent  of  discord, 
no  firebrand  of  sedition.  I  disclose  a  truth  whose  devel- 
opment we  may  try  in  vain  to  arrest.  I  live  in  a  century 
in  which  reason  submits  only  to  fact  and  evidence.  My 
name,  like  yours,  is  Truthseeker.  My  mission  is  written 
in  these  words  of  the  law  :  speak  luithout  hatred  and  without 
fear  ;  tell  that  ivhich  thou  knoivest.  The  work  of  our  race  is 
to  build  the  temple  of  science,  and  this  science  includes  man 
and  nature.  Now  truth  reveals  itself  to  all — to-day  to 
Newton,  to-morrow  to  the  herdsmen  in  the  valley,  and  the 
journeymen    in    the    shop.      Disregard    my  title    and    my 


412  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FRf'^ETHOUGHT. 

character,  aud  attend  only  to  my  arguments.  Have  the 
courage  to  follow  me.  It  is  my  purpose  to  warn  you  and 
not  defy  you.  You  will  find  here  only  a  series  of  experi- 
ments upon  justice  and  right.  The  operations  shall  be 
conducted  under  3'our  very  eyes,  and  you  shall  weigh  the 
result.  I  build  no  system.  I  ask  an  end  to  privilege,  tlie 
abolition  of  slavery,  equality  of  rights,  and  the  reign  of 
law.  Justice,  nothing  else—  that  is  the  alpha  and  the  omega 
of  ray  arguments.  To  others  I  leave  the  task  of  govern- 
ing the  world.  We  need  to  live  our  lives  according  to  the 
dictates  of  our  reason.  It  is  our  right  to  maintain  our 
freedom.     It  is  our  duty  to  respect  that  of  others. 

"  Liberty  is  essentially  an  organizing  force.  To  insure 
equality  between  men  and  peace  among  nations  agricul- 
ture and  industry,  and  the  centers  of  education,  business, 
and  storage,  must  be  distributed  according  to  the  climate 
and  geographical  position  of  the  country,  the  nature  of 
the  products,  the  character  and  natural  talents  of  the  in- 
habitants, etc.,  in  proportions  so  just,  so  wise,  so  har- 
monious, that  in  no  place  shall  there  ever  be  either  an 
excess  or  a  lack  of  population,  consumption,  or  products. 
Then  commences  the  science  of  public  and  private  right, 
the  true  political  economy. 

"  For  myself,  I  have  as  great  a  horror  of  miracles  as  of 
authorities,  and  aim  only  at  logic. 

"I  do  not  believe  it  necessary,  in  order  to  reach  equal- 
ity, to  turn  everything  topsy-turvy. 

"  'If  God  did  not  exist'  (it  is  Voltaire  who  says  so),  'it 
would  be  necessary  to  invent  him.'  Why  ?  '  Because,' 
adds  the  same  Yoltaire,  '  if  I  were  dealing  with  an  Atheist 
prince  whose  interest  it  might  be  to  have  me  pounded  in 
a  mortar,  I  am  very  sure  I  should  be  pounded.'  Strange 
aberration  f)f  a  great  mind  !  And  if  you  were  dealing  with 
a  pious  ])vince,  whose  confessor,  speaking  in  the  name  of 
God,  should  command  that  you  be  burned  alive,  would  you 
not  be  very  sure  of  being  burned  alive  also?     Do  you  for- 


PROUDHON.  413 

get,  tlieu,  the  Inquisition,  and  tlie  Saint  Bartholomew,  and 
the  stakes  of  Yanini  and  Bruno,  and  the  tortures  of  Gali- 
leo, and  the  martyrdom  of  so  many  Freethinkers  ? 

"And  for  my  part  I  say  :  the  first  duty  of  man,  on  be- 
coming intelligent  and  free,  is  to  continually  hunt  the 
idea  of  God  out  of  his  mind  and  conscience.  For  God,  if 
he  exists,  is  essentially  hostile  to  our  nature,  and  we  do 
uot  depend  at  all  upon  his  authority.  We  arrive  at  knowl- 
edge in  spite  of  him,  at  comfort  in  spite  of  him,  at  society 
in  spite  of  him.  Every  step  we  take  in  advance  is  a  victory 
m  which  we  crush  Divinity. 

"  Let  it  no  longer  be  said  that  the  ways  of  God  are  im- 
penetrable. We  have  penetrated  these  ways,  and  there 
we  have  read  in  letters  of  blood  the  proofs  of  God's  im- 
potence, if  not  of  his  malevolence.  My  reason,  long  hu- 
miliated, is  gradually  rising  to  a  level  with  the  infinite  ; 
with  time  it  will  discover  all  that  its  inexperience  hides 
from  it ;  with  time  I  shall  be  less  and  less  a  worker  of 
misfortune,  and  by  the  light  that  I  shall  have  acquired, 
by  the  perfection  of  my  liberty,  I  shall  purify  myself, 
idealize  my  being,  and  become  the  chief  of  creation,  the 
equal  of  God.  .  A  single  moment  of  disorder,  which  the 
omnipotent  might  have  prevented,  and  did  not  prevent, 
accuses  his  providence,  and  shows  him  lacking  in  wisdom  ; 
the  slightest  progress  which  man,  ignorant,  abandoned,  and 
betrayed,  makes  toward  good,  honors  him  immeasurably. 
Imbecile  God,  your  reign  is  over;  look  to  the  other  beasts 
for  other  victims.  Jupiter  or  Jehovah,  we  have  learned 
to  know  you.  You  are,  you  w^ere,  you  ever  will  be,  the 
jealous  rival  of  man,  the  tyrant  of  Prometheus. 

"  I  deny,  therefore,  the  supremacy  of  God  over  hu- 
manity. I  reject  his  providential  government,  the  non- 
existence of  which  is  sufficiently  established  by  the  meta- 
physical and  economical  hallucinations  of  humanity — in  a 
word,  by  the  martyrdom  of  our  race.  I  decline  the  juris- 
diction of  the  supreme  being  over  man.     I  take  away  his 


414  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OP  FREETHOUGHT. 

titles  of  father,  king,  judge,  good,  merciful,  pitiful,  help- 
ful, rewarding,  and  avenging.  All  these  attributes,  of  which 
the  idea  of  Providence  is  made  up,  are  but  a  caricature  of 
humanity,  irreconcilable  with  the  autonomy  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  contradicted,  moreover,  by  the  history  of  its 
aberrations  and  catastrophes. 

"Of  all  facts  the  most  certain,  most  constant,  most  in- 
dubitable, is  certainly  that  in  man  knowledge  is  pro- 
gressive, methodical,  the  result  of  reflection — in  short, 
experimental ;  so  much  so  that  every  theory  not  having 
the  sanction  of  experience,  that  is,  of  constancy  and  con- 
catenation in  its  representations,  thereby  lacks  a  scientific 
character.  In  regard  to  this,  not  the  slightest  doubt  can 
be  raised.  Mathematics  themselves,  though  called  pure, 
are  subject  to  the  concatenation  of  propositions,  and  hence 
depend  upon  experience  and  acknowledge  its  law. 

''Man's  knowledge,  starting  with  acquired  observation, 
then  progresses  and  advances  iu  an  unlimited  sphere. 
The  goal  which  it  has  in  view,  the  ideal  which  it  tends  to 
realize  without  ever  being  able  to  attain  it,  placing  it,  on 
the  contrary,  farther  and  farther  ahead  of  it,  is  the  infinite 
and  absolute. 

"  If,  then,  God  exists,  something  of  him  appears  to  us 
in  the  univeree  and  in  ourselves  ;  but  this  something  is 
in  flagrant  opposition  with  our  most  authentic  tendencies, 
with  our  most  certain  destiny  ;  this  something  is  contin- 
ually being  effaced  from  our  souls  by  education,  and  to 
make  it  disappear  is  the  object  of  our  care.  God  and  man 
are  ttvo  nattires  ivhich  shun  each  other  as  soon  as  they  hnoio 
each  other ;  in  the  absence  of  a  transformation  of  one  or  the 
other,  or  both,  how  covld  they  ever  be  reconciled?  " 

In  these  extracts  Ave  see  the  bold,  original,  radical,  and 
profound  genius  of  Proudhon.  He  places  a  sublime  ideal 
before  tlie  human  race.  He  is  constructive  as  well  as 
destructive.  He  is  not  simply  a  Nihilist,  like  Bakounine. 
He  is  a  builder.     He  penetrates  into  the  depths  of  time,, 


* 


D,  A,   BLODGETT  (p.   698). 


BAKOUNINE.  415 

far  oiiward  into  the  future,  and  upon  ideal  foundations 
rears  a  vast  and  beautiful  social  edifice  transcending 
present  difficulties  and  attainments.  He  is  an  untiring 
foe  of  despotism.  He  stands  for  liberty,  but  a  liberty 
which  shall  be  the  result  of  reason,  of  education,  of  a 
fully  developed  humanity  ;  a  liberty  to  be  attained  not  by 
violence,  but  by  evolution.  He  labored  along  the  lines  of 
Paine  and  Jefferson  for  a  democratic  federal  republic 
founded  on  the  consent  of  the  governed.  He  was  in  favor 
of  societies,  associations,  cooperations,  the  unity  of  man, 
but  against  all  centralized  authority,  be  it  in  a  monarchy 
or  democracy.  The  political  and  economical  progress  of 
Europe  will  be  illuminated  by  his  daring  and  stimulating 
ideas,  which  must  modify  to  a  great  extent  the  vast  repub- 
lican movement  of  mankind.  His  philosophy  is  a  part  of 
liistory  more  far-reaching  than  the  victories  of  Napoleon. 

Bakounine.— 1814-1873. 

This  name  seems  to  bring  us  to  the  verge  of  a  mighty 
precipice,  and  we  look  upon  tremendous  chasms  of  revo- 
lution, Anarchy,  and  Nihilism.  Bakounine  represents  a 
different  movement  from  that  of  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi,  a 
movement  vast  in  itself,  and  which  must  be  understood  if 
we  would  know  modern  Europe.  Nihilism  might  not  have 
existed  under  any  other  form  of  government  than  that  of 
Hussia.  As  that  is  the  most  cruel  and  despotic  govern- 
ment which  has  ever  existed,  there  seems  to  be  no  way  out 
of  its  authority  except  by  the  absolute  destruction  of  the 
present  order  of  society.     S;iys  Wendell  Phillips  : 

"Nihilism  is  the  righteous  and  honorable  resistance  of 
a  people  crushed  under  an  iron  rule.  Nihilism  is  evidence 
of  life.  "When  '  order  reigns  in  Warsaw,'  it  is  spiritual 
deatli.  Nihilism  is  the  last  weapon  of  victims  choked  and 
manacled  beyond  all  other  resistance.  It  is  crushed  hu- 
manity's only  means  of  making  the  oppressor  tremble. 
Ood  means  that  unjust  power  shall  be  insecure  ;  and  every 


416  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

move  of  the  giaut,  prostrate  in  chains,  whether  it  be  to 
lift  a  single  dagger  or  stir  a  city's  revolt,  is  a  lesson  in  jus- 
tice. One  might  well  tremble  for  the  future  of  the  race  if 
such  a  despotism  could  exist  without  provoking  the  blood- 
iest resistance.  I  honor  Nihilism,  since  it  redeems  hu- 
man nature  from  the  suspicion  of  being  utterly  vile,  made 
up  only  of  heartless  oppressors  and  contented  slaves. 
Every  line  in  our  history,  every  interest  of  civilization, 
bids  us  rejoice  when  the  tyrant  grows  pale  and  the  slave 
rebellious.  We  cannot  but  pity  the  suffering  of  any  hu- 
man being,  however  richly  deserved  ;  but  such  pity  must 
not  confuse  our  moral  sense.  Humanity  gains.  Chatham 
rejoiced  when  our  fathers  rebelled.  For  every  single  rea- 
son they  alleged,  Russia  counts  a  hundred,  each  one  ten 
times  bitterer  than  any  Hancock  or  Adams  could  give. 
Sam  Johnson's  standing  toast  in  Oxford  port  was,  '  Suc- 
cess to  the  first  insurrection  of  slaves  in  Jamaica,'  a  sen- 
timent Southey  echoed.  '  Eschew  cant,'  said  that  old 
moralist.  But  of  all  the  cants  that  are  canted  in  this  cant- 
ing world,  though  the  cant  of  piety  may  be  the  worst,  the 
cant  of  Americans  bewailing  Russian  Nihilism  is  the  most 
disgusting. 

"I  know  what  reform  needs,  and  all  it  needs,  in  a  land 
"where  discussion  is  free,  the  press  untrammeled,  and 
where  public  halls  protect  debate.  There,  as  Emerson 
says,  '  What  the  tender  and  poetic  youth  dreams  to-day, 
and  conjures  up  with  inarticulate  speech,  is  to-morrow  the 
vociferated  result  of  public  opinion,  and  the  day  after  is 
the  charter  of  nations.'  Lieber  said  in  1870:  'Bismarck 
proclaims  to-day  in  the  Diet  the  very  principles  for  wliich 
we  were  hunted  and  exiled  fifty  years  ago.'  Submit  to 
risk  your  daily  bread,  expect  social  ostracism,  count  on  a 
mob  now  and  then,  'be  in  earnest,  don't  equivocate,  don't 
excuse,  don't  retreat  a  single  inch,'  and  you  will  finally  be 
heard. 

"  But  such  is  not  Russia.     In  Russia  there  is  no  press, 


BAKOUNINE.  i  417 

no  debate,  no  explanation  of  what  government  does,  no 
remonstrance  allowed,  no  agitation  of  pnblic  issues.  Dead 
silence,  like  that  which  reigns  at  the  summit  of  Mont 
Blanc,  freezes  the  whole  empire,  long  ago  described  as  '  a 
despotism  tempered  by  assassination.'  Meanwhile,  such 
despotism  has  unsettled  the  brains  of  the  ruling  family, 
as  unbridled  power  doubtless  made  some  of  the  twelve 
Caesars  insane ;  a  madman,  sporting  with  the  lives  and 
comfort  of  a  hundred  million  of  men.  The  young  girl 
whispers  in  her  mother's  ear,  under  a  ceiled  roof,  her  pity 
for  a  brother  knouted  and  dragged  half  dead  into  exile  for 
his  opinions.  The  next  week  she  is  stripped  naked,  and 
flogged  to  death  in  the  public  square.  No  inquiry,  no  ex- 
planation, no  trial,  no  protest,  one  dead  uniform  silence, 
the  law  of  the  tyrant.  Where  is  there  ground  for  any 
hope  of  peaceful  change  ?  Where  the  fulcrum  upon  which 
you  can  plant  any  possible  lever  ?" 

When  we  know  what  Kussia  is,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
indignation  burns  in  the  hearts  of  millions  of  its  people. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  the  volcanic  flame  bursts  forth.  It  is 
no  Avonder  that  dynamite  explodes.  Human  nature,  goaded 
by  such  infinite  torture,  can  do  no  otherwise.  The  govern- 
ment of  Kussia  to-day  is  simply  a  colossal  crime.  Hence 
Nihilism.     It  is  the  child  of  injustice  and  wrong. 

Nihilism  is  purely  negative.  Its  watchword  is  simply 
universal  destruction,  nildl,  nothing.  It  proposes  nothing 
in  the  place  of  the  present  system.  The  present  system 
is  so  radically  wrong  that  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  utterly 
destroy. 

Tliere  is  a  certain  religious  fanaticism  in  Nihilism.  Its 
followers  are  perfectly  willing  to  die.  Life  is  valueless  ; 
let  it  be  sacrificed.  Nihilism  is  itself  a  terrible  enthusi- 
asm. There  is  nothing  cold-blooded  about  it.  It  is  the 
human  heart  on  fire.  Men  and  women  of  the  noblest,  of 
the  most  humane  sentiments,  are  enlisted  in  this  cause. 
Nihilism  is  a  curious  phenomenon,  and  shows  what  mighty 


418  FOUR   HUNDRED   YKARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

processes  of  change  are  going  on  in  Europe,  created  by  its 
extraordinary  conditions.  Nihilism  is  an  expression  of 
fierce,  violent  life.  It  is  not  an  accident.  It  is  a  natural 
result.  It  is  a  declaration  that  the  people  of  Europe  are 
not  dead  but  living. 

Wlien  we  look  at  the  fighting  power  of  Europe ;  civil- 
ized stattes  at  war,  either  open  or  secret,  draining  their 
populations,  and  retaining  for  military  service  the  flower 
of  the  nation's  youth  ;  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  reduced 
to  live  on  bread  and  water,  potatoes  and  corn,  the  upper 
classes  living  luxuriously,  and  enormous  debts  pressing 
everywhere,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  cry  of  destruction 
goes  forth  and  accumulates  from  year  to  year. 

Bakounine  was  born  in  1814,  of  an  ancient  aristocratic 
family.     He  early  became  imbued  with  revolutionary  ideas. 
In  1841  he  went  to  Berlin  and  studied  the  Hegelian  phi- 
losophy, and  published  some  essays.     In  1843  he  visited 
Paris,  and  became  the  disciple  of  Proudhon.     Proudhon 
says  :  "  No  authority  ;  no  government.    What  society  needs 
is  Anarchv.     The  object  to  be  obtained  is  the  abolition  of 
authority;  the  clearing  away  of  all  government  organism." 
Bakounine  adopted  these  principles  and  devoted  to  them, 
as  lono-  as  he  lived,  the  extraordinary  energy  and  genius 
which  he  possessed.     He  was  expelled  from  France  at  the 
demand  of  Eussia,  whose  government  set  a  price  of  10.000 
roubles   on   his   head.     He   was   arrested  May,   1850,   and 
condemned  to  death.     He  escaped  to  Austria ;  was  again 
captured,  handed  over  to  Eussia,  and    deported  to  Siberia. 
In   this  vast  and  desolate   prison-house   it   seemed   as   if 
there  could  be  no  hope  for  the  tortured  prisoner.     After 
several  years,  however,  he  escaped,  traveled  over  a  thou- 
sand  miles,  reached    the   sea,   and  sailed  to  Japan.     He 
came  to  California,  and  from  there  went  to  New  York  and 
London,  and  continued,  with  unabated  industr}^  his  revo- 
lutionary work.     He  took  part  in  the  establishment  of  the 
International  Society,  but  as  he  was  opposed  to  State  So- 


KARL  MARX  419 

cialism,  be  and  Karl  Marx  could  not  agree,  and  he  with- 
drew from  that  body.  He  died  in  1873.  He  left  behind 
a  work  entitled,  "  God  and  the  State,"  a  most  vigorous  de- 
fense of  human  liberty.     It  is  crowded  with  thought. 

Bakounine  was  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  century, 
and  his  influence  will  long  be  felt.  In  Germany,  in  Si- 
beria, in  America,  in  England,  in  France,  in  Switzerland, 
he  was  a  potent  personality.  He  was  majestic  in  appear- 
ance, powerful  in  vitality,  vehement  in  eloquence,  rich  in 
ideas,  and  of  untiring  zeal.  He  spent  entire  nights  in 
preparing  long  letters  to  his  friends  in  the  revolutionary 
world.  He  was  constantly  endeavoring  to  strengthen  the 
timid,  arouse  the  sluggish,  and  outline  plans  of  revolt. 

Kael  Marx.— 1818-1883. 

Directly  the  opposite,  politically,  of  Bakounine,  who 
would  abolish  all  authority,  is  Karl  Marx,  who  would  es- 
tablish the  most  universal  authority  that  has  ever  existed 
on  this  planet,  an  authority  for  the  universal  benefit,  as 
opposed  to  the  authority  of  despotism.  Marx  is  the 
founder  of  State  Socialism,  and  State  Socialism  leads  to 
an  entirely  different  result  from  Anarchy.  With  this  end  in 
view,  the  peace  and  happiness  of  all  mankind,  Marx  was, 
no  doubt,  profoundly  sincere  in  his  convictions ;  and  he 
labored  for  them  with  an  enthusiasm  equal  to  that  of 
Bakounine.  On  purely  economical  questions,  the  relations 
of  capital  and  labor,  where  Marx  did  his  most  valuable 
and  renowned  work,  there  is  no  radical  difference  between 
him  and  Proudhon ;  but  on  the  question  of  liberty  and 
authority  they  were  wide  asunder  as  the  poles.  State 
Socialism  is  becoming  a  vast  movement.  It  seems  to  many 
the  only  way  to  overthrow  the  ancient  despotism.  It  must 
be  authority  against  authority.  Socialism  has  indeed  a 
most  fascinating  aspect,  for  while  Anarchy  does  not  under- 
take, theoretically,  to  answer  tlie  question  what  will  be 
after  the  destruction  of  the  present  order.  Socialism  does 


420  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

give  a  beautiful  dream  of  the  future,  when  the  state,  made 
universal  as  society,  shall  be  in  the  control  of  the  wisest 
and  the  best,  when  every  one  shall  be  well  cared  for, 
happy  and  contented.  There  shall  be  work  for  all,  reward 
for  all,  homes  for  all.  There  shall  be  no  poverty  and  no 
sufferinii;.  There  shall  be  no  struggle  for  existence. 
There  shall  be  peace  and  fraternity.  No  one  shall  be 
neglected  or  go  hungry  and  naked.  Of  course  such  a 
dream  as  this  is  enchanting  to  the  weary  millions  of 
Europe.  It  is  a  haven  of  rest.  It  seems  a  fair  solution 
of  the  problems  of  societ}',  a  harmony  of  labor  and  capital 

This  is  what  State  Socialism  promises,  and  this  is  the 
source  of  its  strength. 

It  is  practically  making  every  one  a  soldier.  It  is  an 
enlistment  for  life.  The  world  becomes  a  military  camp, 
orderly,  magniticent ;  where  every  duty  is  assigned,  where 
the  drum  beats  to  service,  and  leisure  is  prescribed. 

It  is  a  vast,  glittering  machinery  which,  by  tlieory, 
ought  to  work  only  for  the  good  of  mankind,  but  which 
may  work  far  more  evil  than  what  now  exists. 

Instead  of  decreasing  the  function  of  the  state,  it 
increases  the  function  of  the  state  until  it  becomes 
co-extensive  with  human  activity.  Herbert  Spencer  has 
defineil  State  Socialism  as  "The  Coming  Slavery."  Bak- 
ounine  was  opposed  to  it  on  grounds  of  liberty,  and  Maz- 
zini  on  grounds  of  re]:)ublicanism. 

It  is  a  purely  political  movement.  It  is  neither  relig- 
ious nor  anti-religious.  It  will  use  the  pope's  infallibility, 
or  the  pope's  toe,  if  it  can  do  so.  It  will  join  hands  with 
the  Jesuits,  not  in  friendship,  but  for  policy.  Its  object 
is  the  absolute  control  of  the  state. 

This  great  movement  is  growing.  It  is  a  factor  of  im- 
mense significance  in  Europe. 

Marx  devoted  his  life  to  State  Socialism.  To  him  it 
was  the  gos]iel  of  humanity.  In  it  alone  he  saw  the  sal- 
vation of  Europe  and  the  happiness  of  the  people. 


CONVERSE  CLOSE  (p.   706). 


LASSALLB.  421 

Karl  Marx's  great  work  is  "  Capital,"  It  is  often  called, 
on  the  continent,  "  the  Bible  of  the  working  people." 
These  recognize  in  this  book  the  most  adequate  expression 
of  their  conditions  and  aspirations. 

Ferdinand  Lassalle  — 1825-1864. 

Lassalle  seems  to  be  one  of  those  extraordinary  men 
who  are  born  for  revolution  and  romance,  to  be  different 
from  other  people,  to  pursue  an  ideal  as  the  star  of  their 
destiny.  He  could  not  live  withoub  agitation.  He  was 
brilliantly  gifted,  and  in  any  sphere  of  life  would  have 
made  a  shining  mark.  He  was  well  equipped,  and  if  not 
a  profound  thinker,  he  could  grasp  and  luminiously  de- 
velop the  great  thoughts  of  others.  He  had  no  patience 
with  anything  orthodox,  be  it  in  theology  or  politics.  He 
wanted  a  new  world  ;  a  new  world  of  thought,  a  new  world 
of  action.  All  the  gods  of  the  past  must  be  swept  away, 
and  all  its  kings  and  potentates.  He  believed  in  a  beau- 
tiful fiiture,  when  all  wrong  should  be  righted  ;  at  least, 
when  the  earth  should  yield  her  plenty  to  every  man  ;  and 
labor  siiould  be  organized  and  victorious  in  one  vast, 
united  society.  He  adopted  the  principles  of  State  Social- 
ism, and  labored  for  their  triumph  with  all  the  energy  of 
his  attractive  mind ;  but  the  very  audacity  of  his  nature 
prevented  the  full  rounding-out  of  his  career. 

Lassalle  did  not  have  the  capacity  of  looking  upon  two 
sides.  He  saw  only  one  way,  and  into  that  he  flung  him- 
self with  irrepressible  ardor.  His  whole  life  was  eager, 
impetuous,  romantic,  as  if  traced  by  nature's  hand  for  a 
pathetic  and  splendid  fate.  He  seemed  to  have  no  reserve 
power.  All  he  was  flashed  upon  the  surface.  Every 
faculty  was  in  motion.  His  chief  value  was  in  his  power 
of  expression,  not  in  words  only,  but  in  magnetic  action. 
He  made  people  think.  No  matter  what  men's  opinions 
about  Lassalle,  they  had  to  have  some  opinions.     If  Las- 


422  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

salle  was  not  born  to  be  a  leader  of  the  people,  he  was  at 
any  rate  born  to  compel  them  to  confront  new  ideas. 

Gambetta.— 1838-1882. 

Leon  Gambetta  is  the  incarnation  of  the  French  Re- 
public. He  adopted  the  aphorism  of  Comte  :  "  Progress 
can  only  arise  out  of  the  development  of  order."  Gam- 
betta was  a  philosopher  as  well  as  statesman.  He  read 
the  meanings  of  history.  He  also  understood  men  and 
he  knew  what  could  be  done  with  them,  or  rather,  what 
they  could  do  for  themselves ;  for  he  realized  that  no 
man,  however  great  he  himself  might  be,  could  command 
the  forces  of  the  world.  He  must  be  in  the  stream  and  of 
the  stream,  and  he  could  but  little  change  its  course. 
Gambetta  was  not  an  idealist  like  Mazzini,  and  kept  up  no 
hopeless  fight  with  destiny.  Gambetta  accepted  the  op- 
portunity of  the  hour.  He  did  not  waste  his  energy  in 
dreams.  He  was  a  politician,  perhaps,  but  he  was  an 
honest  politician. 

He  was  devoted  to  France  and  her  glory,  and  the  repub- 
lic was  to  him  the  true  order  and  fountain  of  national  prog- 
ress. His  fibre  was  entirely  popular.  He  had  no  faith 
whatsoever  iu  theology  or  the  church.  He  wanted  no 
crutches  for  the  people.  Gambetta  was  the  true  son  of 
Paris. .  The  life,  the  ambition,  the  refinement,  and  also  the 
coarseness  of  that  great  city  were  in  him.  He  was  not  a 
model  man  by  any  means,  and  he  did  not  try  to  be.  But 
he  had  the  genius  to  lead  forty  millions  of  people.  He 
was  the  creator  of  the  republic  ;  he  was  the  representative 
of  the  people.  While  living  he  was  in  the  mind  of  all 
Europe.  When  dead  there  seemed  to  be  a  great  gap.  A 
supreme  force  had  disappeared.  He  needed  not  to  hold 
office  to  be  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  He  was  a  ruler 
wherever  his  station  might  be.  He  was  the  greatest  per- 
sonal power  in  France  since  Danton. 

In  November,  1868,  he  was  a  briefless,  unknown  bar- 


GAMBETTA.  423 

rister.  In  the  early  spring  of  1869  he  was  the  terror  of 
the  empire.  His  famous  speech  had  filled  Europe  with 
amazement.  Paris  was  seething  with  insurrection.  The 
entire  working  class  was  in  defiance,  but  there  was  no  one 
to  voice  the  deepening  change  until  Gambetta  spoke. 

France,  after  Sedan,  was  saved  by  the  energy  of  Gam- 
betta. He  aroused  France  from  her  slumber,  upheld  her 
banner,  and  planted  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  the  image 
of  the  republic.  His  name  became  a  household  word. 
He  was  known  to  every  living  Frenchman — man,  woman,  or 
child.  He  was  to  all  the  inspirer  of  love  of  countrv.  He 
gave  France  back  to  Europe  a^  one  of  its  great  forces. 

The  establishment  of  the  republic  in  France  tlirough 
untold  difiiculties  is  the  most  pregnant  acluevement.  of  the 
century.  It  is  the  beginning  of  the  republic  throughout 
Europe.  Feudalism  and  monarchy  must  disappear.  The 
republic  is  the  extinction  of  hereditary  claims  of  every 
kind,  and  the  admission  of  capacity  and  merit  to  every 
function  of  the  state.  Gambetta  solved  the  problem  for 
France,  and  through  France  he  has  changed  the  destinies 
of  Europe. 

Gambetta  was  born  of  the  people.  He  had  no  aristo- 
cratic blood.  He  lived,  died,  and  was  buried  as  the  son 
of  the  grocer  of  Cahors. 

Gambetta  was  both  revolutionary  and  conservative. 
He  relied  for  the  success  of  the  principles  of  the  R-^volu- 
tion  on  popular  conviction.  He  believed,  with  Thomas 
Paine,  in  constitutional  means.  He  was  a  progressive 
Republican.  He  believed  that  government  by  the  people 
tlirough  reason  was  the  normal  condition  of  advanced  civ- 
ilization ;  a  government  which  represents  the  mass  of  tiie 
people,  without  privileged  families,  or  governing  class,  or 
hereditary  office  ;  a  government  in  the  name  of  the  people, 
in  the  interests  of  all  equally,  in  sympathy  with  the  peo- 
ple ;  where,  so  tar  as  the  state  is  concerned,  neither  wealth 
nor  class  gives  any  prerogative  whatever.     It  was  for  this 


424  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

democratic  republic  that  Gambetta  labored  and  to  which 
he  devoted  his  genius.  He  encountered  much  opposition 
on  all  sides  ;  for  France  is  teeming  with  every  kind  of  rev- 
olutionary opinion,  and  he  had  foes  both  among  the  con- 
servatives and  radicals.  Gambetta  set  his  mind  on  what 
was  attainable.  To  him  Opportunism  was  the  basis  of  true 
statesmanship.  He  had  a  clear  idea  of  what  could  be  ac- 
complished, and  he  let  the  impossible  go.  Gambetta  was 
the  first  great  statesman  in  this  century  to  formally  repu- 
diate theology  in  any  shape,  and  who  ruled  on  purely 
human  sanctions.  He  was  a  Freethinker  in  politics  and 
his  Freethought  was  a  power.  He  was  not  merely  skeptical. 
He  was  constructive  on  the  basis  of  Secularism.  He  had 
neither  God  nor  saint,  but  humanity  was  to  him  a  living 
force,  and  in  itself  contained  the  powers  of  progress,  of 
liberty,  and  of  order. 

"  It  is  a  thing,"  says  Frederic  Harrison,  "  which  the 
world  will  remember  one  day — that  vast  ceremony  in 
Paris — such  a  funeral  as  no  emperor  ever  had  ;  a  day  that 
recalled  the  gathering  of  the  dawn  of  the  Revolution  in 
1789 ;  and  from  first  to  last  in  that  throng  where  Paris 
did  honor  to  the  son  of  the  dealer  of  Cahors,  no  Catholic 
emblem  or  priest  was  seen  ;  not  a  thought  but  for  the 
great  human  loss  and  human  sorrow,  not  a  word  but  of 
human  and  earthly  hopes.  For  the  first  time  in  this  cent- 
ury Europe  looked  on  and  saw  one  of  its  foremost  men  laid 
in  his  rest  by  a  nation  in  grief  without  priest  or  church  or 
prayer  or  hymn." 

Castelar. — 1832. 

We  might  not  think  it  possible  that  in  Spain,  a  land 
crushed  by  the  Inquisition,  over  whose  fertile  plains  the 
bloody  cross  has  flourished,  whose  people  appear  to  be 
steeped  in  superstition,  the  genius  of  liberty  could 
unfurl  its  banners.  Yet,  when  we  study  deeply  into  the 
history  of  Spain,  we  shall  find,  after  all,  that  there   was 


CASTELAR.  425 

much  independence  among  its  people ;  that  it  was  not 
universally  monarchical  or  papist.  There  was  more  or 
less  a  protesting  spirit,  and  some  constitutional  rights 
and  democratic  traditions.     Castelar  says  : 

"  We  have  not  the  same  republican  traditions  possessed 
by  Italy  and  France.  Our  people,  always  at  war,  have 
always  needed  a  chief,  and  this  chief  required  not  only 
the  sword  of  the  soldier  to  fight,  but  the  scepter  of  the 
monarch  to  rule.  Notwithstanding  this  ancient  monarch- 
ical character,  there  are  regions  which  have  been  saved 
from  the  monarchy,  and  which  have  preserved  their  de- 
mocracy and  their  republic.  There  still  exist  in  the  north 
provinces  possessed  of  an  autonomy  and  an  independence 
which  give  them  points  of  resemblance  to  the  Swiss  can- 
tons. The  citizens  give  neither  tribute  nor  blood  to  the 
kings.  Their  firesides  are  as  sacred  from  the  invasion  of 
authority  as  those  of  the  English  or  of  the  Americans. 
Evei*y  town  is  a  republic,  governed  by  a  council  elected 
by  the  citizens  at  the  summons  of  the  church-bell.  When 
the  time  fixed  by  their  constitution  arrives,  the  represent- 
atives of  the  towns  come  together  in  the  shade  of  the 
secular  trees  of  liberty,  vote  taxes,  draw  up  or  amend  the 
laws,  name  new  officers  and  retire  the  old  ones,  with  the 
calmness  and  moderation  of  a  people  accustomed  to  govern 
themselves  in  the  midst  of  the  agitations  of  liberty. 

"And  we  not  only  have  these  living  examples  of  democ- 
racy, but  we  have  also  democratic  traditions — traditions 
which  we  may  call  republican.  Our  Cortes  of  Castile  suc- 
ceeded frequently  in  expelling  the  ecclesiastical  and  aris- 
tocratic estates  from  their  sessions.  Our  Cortes  of  Aragon 
attained  such  power  that  they  named  the  government  of 
their  kings,  and  obtained  fixed  days  for  their  sessions. 
Navarre  was  a  species  of  republic  more  or  less  aristocratic, 
presided  over  by  a  king  more  or  less  respected.  And  the 
Castilian  municipalities  were  in  the  Middle  Ages  true 
democratic  republics.     All  the  citizens  came  to  the  council. 


426  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

they  elected  the  alcaldes,  and  alternated  on  the  jury. 
They  guarded  their  rights  of  realty  in  which  the  servitude 
of  the  tenantry  was  extinguished.  They  all  bore  arms  in 
the  militia,  all  held  safely  guarded  the  liberties  indispens- 
able to  life,  and  they  founded  together  the  brotherhood 
which  defended  these  against  feudalism,  and  which  was  a 
genuine  federation  of  plebeians." 

In  poetry  and  art,  in  romance  and  literature,  Spain  has 
shown  a  vigorous  aptitude,  in  spite  of  her  religious  degra- 
dation ;  and  the -land  of  Cervantes  and  Murillo  and  Cal- 
deron  must  certainly  possess  great  capacities  for  future 
development.  In  the  conditions  of  soil  and  climate,  Spain 
cannot  be  surpassed,  and  with  free  institutions  how  glori- 
ouslv  might  not  man  live  in  this  enchanting  world.  The  an- 
cient magnificence  might  reappear  under  happier  auspices. 
Spain  is  a  laud  for  love  and  song,  for  ardent  imagination, 
for  glowing  hopes.  Nature  pulses  with  tleliglit,  kindles 
and  enraptures  the  being.  Perhaps  there  is  too  much 
splendor  of  sky,  too  much  softness  and  music  in  the  air; 
so  that  the  rugged  virtues  do  not  prevail,  and  the  clear 
mental  vision  is  lacking. 

In  Castelar  himself,  the  representative  of  Republican 
Spain,  its  noisiest  orator,  its  splendid  literary  exponent, 
there  is  something  of  this  picturesque  haziness;  this  over- 
plus of  the  imaginative  faculty  whicli  controls  reason. 
Castelar  is  an  idealist,  not  a  level-headed  Materialist.  He 
studies  history  somewhat  throngh  the  vague  ami  misty 
luminositv,  we  might  say,  of  Hegel,  which  makes  history  a 
kind  of  divine  romance. 

It  is  that  method  of  interpret;itioii  which  tries  to  iind 
the  soul  of  good  in  things  evil,  whicli  is,  after  all,  a  phi- 
losophv  t)f  deceit,  for  evil  is  evil,  and  all  the  tlowers  and 
rhetoric  in  the  world  will  not  make  Ciiristianity  other 
than  it  is — a  curse.  Castelar  has  a  sort  of  eclectic  re- 
ligion and  philosophy.  He  is  a  Tlieist  and  non-orthodox 
Christian,  while  he  recognizes  and  glorifies  the  results   of 


L.  K.   WASHBURN  (p.  820). 


BRADLAUGH.  427 

modern  science,  in  evolution,  industry,  and  politics.  He  is 
not  like  Dauton  or  Bradlaugb,  but  more  like  Mazzini.  His 
services  have  been  most  brilliant.  His  oratory,  in  its  rich- 
ness and  grace,  is  something  like  that  of-  Ingersoll.  His 
literary  V  faculty  is  of  a  high  order.  His  philosophical 
learning  is  great,^  and  his  intellectual  sympathies  have  a 
wide  range.  He  is  both  a  poet  and  an  orator.  He  has  an 
exuberant  imagination,  and  a  glittering  flow  of  language. 
He  has  the  warmth  and  luxuriance  of  his  own  Spain. 

Castelar  favored  a  federative  republic  like  that  of 
America,  not  a  centralized  republic  like  that  of  France. 
In  his  description  of  the  republican  government  for  which 
he  labored  and  sacrificed,  he  outlines  the  ideal  republic  of 
the  future,  based  upon  human  rights  and  local  self-gov- 
ernment. In  his  speech  in  the  Spanish  Cortes,  in  1871, 
he  thus  speaks  of  America  and  declares  his  hopes  for 
the  future : 

"  America,  and  especially  Saxon  America,  with  its  im- 
mense virgin  territories,  with  its  republic,  with  its  equi- 
librium between  stability  and  progress,  with  its  harmony 
between  liberty  and  democracy,  is  the  continent  of  the 
future — the  immense  continent  stretched  by  God  between 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  where  mankind  may  plant,  essay, 
and  resolve  all  social  problems.  Europe  has  to  decide 
whether  she  will  confound  herself  with  Asia,  placing  upon 
her  lands  old  altars,  and  upon  the  altars  old  idols,  and 
upon  the  idols  immovable  theocracies,  and  upon  the  the- 
ocracies despotic  empires  ;  or  whether  she  will  go  by  labor, 
by  liberty,  and  by  the  republic,  to  collaborate  with  Amer- 
ica in  the  grand  work  of  universal  civilization." 

Bradlaugh.— 1833-1891. 

Charles  Bradlaugh  is  the  towering  figure  of  English 
Freethought  in  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
He  won  his  triumphs   purely  on  the  line  of   pronounced 


428  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Atheism.     He  made  no  compromise.     As  he  began,  so  he 
remained  until  death. 

Born  in  poverty,  living  a  life  of  struggle,  he  has  won  a 
noble  fame. 

Nature  equipped  him  for  storm  and  conflict,  with  a 
keen,  clear  brain,  and  a  body  superb  in  strength.  Like 
Lessini;-,  he  was  an  intellectual  athlete.  His  mind  was 
thoroughly  disciplined.  He  was  a  soldier  in  every  tiber 
of  his  being.  There  was  something  prophetic  in  his  early 
enlistment.  It  was  not  merely  an  expediency  ;  it  was  the 
door  of  destiny.  He  was  born  to  it.  He  was  always,  we 
might  say,  in  the  camp.  He  was  always  within  trumpet 
call  and  obeyed  the  summons.  He  was  the  knight  of 
modern  progress,  and  he  slept  upon  his  arms.  To  him 
there  was  no  peace.  If  he  rested,  it  was  like  a  sentinel 
relieved  from  duty  for  awhile.  He  must  take  his  post 
agahi.  He  was  daily  under  marching  orders.  There  was- 
no  "  mustering  out "  for  him  except  by  death. 

Bradlaugh's  Freethought  was  as  comprehensive  as 
humanity  itself.  It  had  no  narrow  range.  The  mental 
breadth  of  Bradlaugh  was  equaled  by  his  universal  svm- 
pathies.  He  comes  nearer  the  ideal  of  a  great  reformer 
tlian  any  man  in  modern  Europe.  There  was  no  senti- 
mentalism  about  him,  no  intellectual  weakness.  He  fol- 
lowed no  fashion.  He  bent  no  knee  to  God,  or  caprice,  or 
custom.  He  concealed  nothing.  Hh  professed  nothing. 
He  was  witiiout  fear  and  without  reproach.  His  banner 
was  upon  tlie  outward  walls.  Be  it  Atheism,  be  it  Mal- 
thusianism,  he  flung  his  convictions  forth  with  unwaver- 
ing frankness. 

The  grand,  brave,  patient,  determined  spirit  of  Brad- 
laugh  is  best  illustrated  by  his  own  words.  Nothing  else 
can  so  reveal  the  man  : 

"I  am  an  Infidel,  a  rough,  self-taught  Infidel.  What 
honors  sliall  I  win  if  I  grow  gray  in  this  career?  Critics 
who  break  a  lance  a'^^aiiist  me  in  niv  absence  will  tell  you 


BRADLAUGH.  429 

now  that  I  am  from  the  lower  classes,  without  university 
education,  and  that  I  lack  classical  lore.  Clergymen,  who 
see  God's  mercy  reflected  in  an  eternal  hell,  will  tell  you 
even  that  I  am  wanting  in  a  conception  of  common  human- 
ity. Skilled  penmen  will  demonstrate  that  I  have  not  the 
merest  rudiments  of  biblical  knowledge.  I  thank  these 
assailants  for  the  past ;  when  they  pricked  and  stung  me 
with  their  very  waspish  piety,  they  did  me  good  service, 
gave  me  the  clue  to  my  weaknesses,  laid  bare  to  me  my 
ignorance,  and  drove  me  to  acquire  knowledge  which  might 
otherwise  never  have  been  mine.  I  pray  the  opposing 
forces  to  continue  their  attacks,  that  by  teaching  me  my 
weakness  they  may  make  me  strong.  Some  (who  have  no 
taste  for  the  excavating,  tunneling,  and  leveling  work,  but 
are  vain  of  having  shaken  hands,  or  taken  wine,  with  the 
chairman  of  a  completed  line  of  railway)  say  :  '  Oh  !  a 
mere  puller-down  !'  Is  this  so  ?  I  have  preached  '  equal- 
ity,' not  by  aiming  to  reduce  men's  intellects  to  the  level  of 
my  own,  but  rather  by  inciting  each  of  my  hearers  to 
develop  his  mind  to  the  fullest  extent,  obtaining  thus  the 
hope,  not  of  an  equality  of  ignorance,  but  of  a  more  equal 
diffusion  of  knowledge.  I  have  attacked  the  Bible,  but 
never  the  letter  alone  ;  the  church,  but  never  have  I  con- 
fined myself  to  a  mere  assault  on  its  practices.  I  have 
deemed  that  I  attacked  theology  best  in  asserting  most  of 
the  fullness  of  humanity.  I  have  regarded  iconoclasm 
as  a  means,  not  as  an  end.  Tlie  work  is  wear}-,  but  the  end 
is  well.  The  political  prisoner  in  the  Austrian  dungeon 
day  by  day  files  at  the  massive  chain  and  sturdy  bar.  The 
labor  is  serious,  but  the  reward  is  great.  Tell  him  it  is 
poor  drudgery  work,  and  he  tells  you,  '  But  I  toil  for  free- 
dom !'  Watch  another  captive,  how,  with  an  old  nail, 
rusted  and  rotten,  he  picks,  atom  by  atom,  the  mortar  from 
between  the  stones  of  his  prison  wall.  Tell  him  that  other 
men  have  used  more  perfect  tools  ;  he  will  answer,  '  This 
old  red-rusty  nail  is  to  me  a  bright  silver  lever,  a  powerful 


430  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

instrument,  for  it  is  the  only  tool  1  have  wherewith  to  toil 
for  liberty.'  Tell  the  backwoodsman  who,  with  ax  in  hand, 
hews  at  the  trunks  of  sturdy  trees,  that  his  is  destructive 
work,  and  he  will  answer,  '  I  clear  the  ground  that  plow 
and  reaping-hook  may  be  used  by  and  by.'  And  I  answer 
that  in  many  men — and  women  too,  alas! — thought  is 
prison-bound  with  massive  chains  of  old-church  welding  ; 
that  human  capacity  for  progress  is  hindered,  grated  in  by 
prison-bars,  priest-wrought  and  law-protected  ;  that  the 
good  wide  field  of  common  humanity  is  over-crowded  with 
the  trunks  of  vast  creed  frauds,  the  outgrowth  of  ancient 
mythologies.  I  affirm  that  file,  old  nail,  and  ax,  are  useful, 
and  their  use  honorable,  not  as  an  end,  but  as  some  means 
toward  the  end  for  which  all  true  men  should  strive — that 
is,  the  enduring  happiness  of  mankind." 

Bradlaugh  was  not  of  a  coarse  or  brutal  nature,  or  un- 
cultured, whatever  his  experience  was  of  early  adversity. 
His  nature  was  elevated  and  heroic ;  his  feelings  were  re- 
fined and  noble.  He  used  only  those  methods  forced  upon 
him  by  the  occasion,  and  by  the  ignorance  and  stupidity 
of  his  opponents.  He  relied  upon  reason  whenever  pos- 
sible. He  was  not  a  prize-fighter.  If  a  giant  in  body,  he 
was  equally  a  giant  in  mind.  No  man  possessed  greater 
intellectual  resources,  and  no  man  rejoiced  more  in  pure 
intellectual  activity  than  Bradlaugh.  He  was  a  philoso- 
pher as  well  as  statesman.  Though  preeminently  a  man 
of  action,  an  organizer,  a  leader  of  the  people,  he  was 
superior  in  the  world  of  thought,  and  grasped  universal 
principles.  His  pen  was  keen  and  facile.  He  wrote  upon 
a  vast  variety  of  subjects  with  clearness  and  force.  His 
information  was  extensive.  He  was  not  a  loose  thinker, 
but  a  compact  and  systematic  one.  He  was  thoroughly 
scientific.  His  legal  knowledge  was  surpassed  by  none  of 
his  contemporaries.  As  an  orator,  whether  before  the 
people,  or  judge,  or  jury,  or  Parliament,  he  was  unques- 
tionably foremost.     He   could  compel  the  attention  even 


BRADLAUGH. 


431 


of  Ins  enemies;  and  at  tlie  last  win  their  respect.  He 
died  with  victory  flaming  over  his  worn-out  body.  He 
perished  in  the  prime  of  life,  the  martyr  of  his  cause. 
He  sacrificed  everything  for  the  sake  of  liberty;  not  of 
his  country  only,  but  of  the  whole  world.  He  was  cosmo- 
politan in  his  politics. 

His  name  will  shine  in  English  history,  with  its  great- 
est measures  of  reform  and  progress.  Parliament  was  to 
him,  not  an  arena  of  personal  conflict,  but  of  world-wide 
fame. 

In  the  annals  of  Freethought  he  will  be  cherished  with 
afi'ection  and  honor,  for  no  man  has  been  more  faithful  and 
fearless  in  its  service.  His  words  of  fire,  his  illustrious 
deeds,  are  an  imperishable  inheritance  for  the  toilers  of 
the  future. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Modern  Europe — Literature. 

The  literature  of  modern  Europe  is  a  ferment — an  up- 
heaval. It  is  a  storm  and  conflict,  a  bewildering  world  of 
beauty  and  terror.  It  has  every  variety  of  thought  and 
passion.  It  inherits  its  genius  from  the  past,  even  from 
the  most  savage  times  ;  yet  there  is  a  new  aspect.  The 
old  is  transformed.  The  era  of  originality  is  past. 
There  are  no  new  "  births  of  time,"  but  there  is  not  any 
diminution  of  force.  Modern  life  is  expressive  and  mani- 
fold. 

There  is  everywhere  a  breaking  away  from  the  estab- 
lished standards.  Orthodoxy  is  not  regarded,  even  by  the 
most  religious.  The  real  literature  of  the  times  is  Free- 
thought.  The  old  faith  is  gone,  the  supernatural  deity. 
On  every  side  is  struggle,  unbelief,  pain,  and  fury.  There 
is  no  patience  of  Job  in  this  century.  The  problem  of  evil 
is  no  longer  solved  in  that  ancient  way.  There  is  no  sub- 
mission. It  is  rebellion  even  in  those  who  professedly 
worship. 

While  modern  literature  seems  a  chaos  in  its  intermin- 
able variety  of  opinions,  the  tendencies  are  mainly  in  the 
same  direction,  and  forward.  There  is  a  tremendously 
earnest  spirit  abroad.  There  is  a  purpose  in  modern  lit- 
erature, a  questioning,  and  a  desire  beyond  all  that  has 
existed  before.  Men  themselves  enact  the  dramas  which 
they  write.     Poetry  is  philosophy  to-day,  and  philosophy 


E.  M.  MACDONALD  (p.  765). 


MODERN  EUROPEAN  LITERATURE.  433 

is  life.     It  is  not  merely  a  system,  it  is  the  burning  heart 
and  brain.     It  is  action. 

The  meaning  of  modern  literature  is  conveyed  in  that 
one  word — Realism.  AH  over  Europe  this  is  the  tendency, 
and  this  is  the  regenerating  power.  Realism  is  nature 
and  truth.  It  is  taking  the  world  as  it  is  ;  understanding 
it  as  it  is.  It  is  coming  from  cloudland,  and  walking  the 
solid  earth.     It  is  matter  of  fact. 

What  a  world  is  revealed  when  man  thus  studies  him- 
self and  his  surroundings — when  gods  and  angels  disap- 
pear, and  his  own  humanity  is  supreme  and  universal. 
When  literature  ceases  to  be  "classical"  and  "romantic," 
it  becomes  a  vast  liberating  energy.  There  is  nothing  so 
healthful  as  facts.  Realism  is  a  sign  of  progress.  It 
means  the  destruction  of  superstition.  It  is  the  tearing 
away  the  mask  from  hypocrisy.  It  is  exchanging  faith  for 
genuine  hope. 

Realism  is  not  despair.  It  is  the  cure  of  a  disease.  It 
is  the  surgeon's  knife.  It  is  a  cold  bath.  But  it  cuts  out 
the  cancer.     It  stirs  the  blood. 

The  universe  is  bad ;  nature  is  bad.  Why  not  know 
it  ?  Why  not  see  the  evil,  dissect  it,  analyze  it,  comprehend 
it,  and  conquer  it? 

Realism  is  art.  There  never  was  such  exquisite  art  as 
is  displayed  in  Zola,  Ibsen,  and  Turgeneff.  Literature 
was  never  so  artistic  as  to-day.  Realism  is  not  a  mass  of 
unrelated  facts.  It  is  selection — a  combination.  It  is  a 
picture.  The  material  is  real,  and  there  is  no  false  color- 
ing ;  while  grace,  beauty,  and  skill  are  in  the  delineation. 
Realism  is  not  a  photograph  of  nature.  It  is  a  transcript 
of  nature  through  genius. 

Realism  is  scientific.  It  disdains  nothing.  It  demands 
the  truth,  whether  agreeable  or  disagreeable.  It  is  not 
partial.  It  is  not  merely  a  choice  of  the  best.  It  is  the 
use  of  all.  It  is  the  knowledge  both  of  good  and  evil. 
We  cannot  understand  what  is  most  excellent  in  nature  or 


434  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

ill  man  unless  we  understand  the  whole,  and  the  evil  in  it. 
Realism  is  revolutionaiy.  It  accepts  nothing  because 
it  is  old  or  accredited.  It  judges  an  institution  by  its 
merits,  and  not  by  its  fashion.  Realism  levels  both  up 
and  down.  The  peasant  is  one  of  its  sublime  characters. 
He  is  of  more  value  than  the  king,  because  he  represents 
more.  Priests  do  not  like  realism.  It  topples  them  over. 
It  asks  their  credentials.  It  demands  a  certificate  of  char- 
acter. It  honors  only  for  "  value  received."  Never  were 
baseness,  humbug,  deceit,  and  pretense  so  thoroughly 
damned  with  scorn  and  contempt.  Never  has  vice  been 
so  mercilessly  exposed.  Never  have  the  foundations  of 
belief  been  so  tested,  shaken,  and  overturned.  Realism  is 
not  a  tame  imitation  of  nature.  It  is  not  slavery  to  nature. 
It  is  revolt,  defiance,  battle.  It  recognizes  the  greatness  of 
evil,  not  with  fear  but  with  courage. 

Realism  is  politics.  It  flashes  with  the  great  practical 
problems  of  the  day — the  state,  church,  industry,  mar- 
riage— everything  that  can  possibly  interest  humanity  in 
any  direction.  The  free  and  careless  song  of  Shakspere  is 
over.  Man  wrestles  now  with  nature  in  dead  earnest. 
He  is  determined  to  know  the  worst ;  to  sound  all  the 
depths  of  passion  and  suffering  ;  to  behold  nature  in  every 
aspect,  grim  and  terrible  as  well  as  beautiful.  Nothing 
is  to  be  taken  on  trust.  There  is  to  be  no  more  make- 
believe,  no  raai'e  flowers  of  rhetoric,  no  more  covering  up, 
no  more  concealment,  no  more  mere  dreaming.  If  there 
is  any  good  in  nature,  it  must  be  discovered,  not  by  im- 
agination but  bv  fact.  The  savage,  the  child,  tries  to  shirk 
things,  to  get  rid  of  things,  to  make  them  other  than  they 
are,  to  please  the  fancy.  Tlie  civilized  man  sees  the  use- 
lessness  of  this,  its  fraud  and  nonsense.  He  understands 
that  his  ])ower,  his  ])romise,  his  happiness,  now  and  here- 
after, must  come  from  what  is,  from  the  soil  and  all  that 
is  in  it,  from  the  earth  and  its  surroundings.  Heaven  and 
hell  ar<i  "swept  away  ;  but  the  lields  of  this  world  remain — 


MODERN  EUROPEAN  LITERATURE.  435 

the  sky,  the  flowers,  the  rocks,  the  worm,  the  beast,  the 
whirlwind,  the  earthquake,  and  man  battling  in  the  midst 
of  them — no  longer  an  angel  or  a  devil,  but  a  part  of  the 
vital  air  and  dust ;  imperfect,  but  finding  in  his  very  im- 
perfections, weaknesses,  sufferings,  and  agonies  the  im- 
pulse to  unlimited  progress. 

Realism  is  the  child  of  modern  evolution,  of  that  patient 
observation  of  nature  which  devotes  a  life-time  to  the 
study  of  a  beetle's  wing,  the  ocean's  film,  and  even  the 
microbe.  Man  cannot  know  himself  unless  he  knows  the 
very  slime  itself  as  well  as  the  stars. 

All  modern  literature  is  not  realistic.  There  are  still 
those  who  sail  along  the  "  shores  of  old  romance,"  but  the 
trend  is  more  and  more  to  simple  truthfulness.  The 
philosophy  of  Plato  is  no  longer  an  inspiration,  but  the 
science  of  Darwin.  Not  that  the  old  literature  is  worth 
less.  It  is  a  precious  inheritance,  and  for  its  day  was  real 
and  serviceable,  for  it  was  sincere.  But  it  cannot  be  re- 
peated. It  was  of  the  childhood  of  the  race,  and  should 
be  held  in  dear  remembrance.  The  "  classical "  and  the 
"  romantic,"  as  the  veritable  expressions  of  an  age,  are  in- 
valuable to  progressive  man.  But  we  cannot  weave  these 
fables  any  more.  We  can  accept  them  from  the  past,  but 
we  cannot  make  them  for  the  present.  What  was  a  myth 
in  the  past,  full  of  brilliant  meaning,  would  be  a  barren  lie 
to-day. 

The  civilized  man  must  be  practical,  and  his  poetry 
must  be  identical  with  his  new  discoveries  and  inventions. 
His  songs  must  reverberate  with  the  steam  whistle,  the 
hum  of  factories,  the  click  of  the  telegraph  wire,  and  the 
tramp  of  multitudes  along  the  pavement.  The  music  of 
the  spheres  lingers  onl}'  in  the  old-time  songs.  It  is  no 
longer  in  the  heavens.  The  rushing  planets  do  not  give 
it.  The  music  of  to-day  breathes  from  the  shop,  the  iron 
rail,  the  forge,  the  furnace,  and  the  steam  plow.  The 
mailed  knight  and  fair  lady  and  castle  walls  are  gone.     It 


436  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

is  the  peasant  now,  the  serf,  the  working-man  and  the 
working- woman  tliat  make  the  intense  materials  for  modern 
poetry  and  art. 

Realism  is  the  regeneration  of  humanity.  It  is  the 
only  path  for  literature,  as  for  science.  Its  triumph  is  the 
triumph  of  liberty  and  truth. 

We  may  linger  fondly  over  the  dreams  of  the  past,  its 
enchanted  lands,  its  shining  palaces,  its  flowery  meadows, 
its  pearly  streams,  its  gorgeous  warriors,  its  illustrious 
maidens  and  queens  walking  on  cloth  of  gold ;  but  we 
must  weave  our  romance  now  from  the  living  world  about 
us,  from  the  smoke  of  toil,  the  dust  of  to-day's  travel,  the 
rumble  and  roar  of  the  streets,  and  the  busy  fields  whose 
dew  is  smitten  not  by  the  step  of  love-lorn  lass,  but  the 
iron  wheel  of  labor. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  more  than  a  glance  at  the  vary- 
ing literary  tendencies  of  modern  Europe.  It  is  a  tran- 
sition age.  The  old  is  mingling  with  the  new  ;  and 
romance  and  realism  are  sometimes  in  deadly  feud.  Zola 
is  a  horror,  Ibsen  is  a  terror,  and  Tolstoi  is  unendurable 
still  to  the  cultured  mind. 

Tennyson  perhaps  more  than  any  other  represents  the 
transitional  man  of  to-day — the  man  who  looks  both 
'before  and  after"  and  knows  not  which  to  choose,  or 
perhaps  chooses   both  and    tries   to  harmonize. 

Tennyson  is  deeply  sympathetic  with  the  past,  and 
presents  it  in  its  noblest  aspect.  He  has  made  it  beauti- 
ful and  majestic.  He  has  not  given  us  the  real  past,  but  a 
past  transformed  with  the  spirit  of  the  present.  His  King 
Arthur  and  the  knights  of  the  Round  Table  are  the  choice 
spirits  of  the  London  of  the  nineteenth  century.  They 
have  the  philosophy  and  the  culture  of  the  present  time  ; 
its  wit  and  wisdom,  its  scholarship ;  and  we  might  say  to 
some  extent  its  democracy.  The  real  King  Arthur  was  no 
such  man  as  Tennyson  pictures  him  ;  nor  Guinevere  such 
a  woman.     Tennyson  has  flung   the  present  into  the  past. 


TENNYSON. 


437 


Tennyson  is  deeply  sensitive  to  the  scientific  progress 
of  to-day.  He  is  unorthodox.  The  stiff  okl  dogmas  have 
no  play  in  his  luminous  poetry.  But  Tennyson  does  not 
frankly  accept  all  that  science  teaches.  There  is  a  gentle 
melancholy  throughout  his  shining  domain,  as  if  it  were 
"  always  afternoon  "  with  the  vague  and  gorgeous  dreams 
of  the  opium  eater.  Tennyson  clings  with  a  sort  of  des- 
peration to  the  old  landmarks,  although  he  sees  them  van- 
ishing away.  He  has  not  the  stern  faith  of  Milton,  or  the 
cheerful  belief  of  Dryden  and  Pope.  He  has  only  a  dim 
kind  of  a  hope  like  a  star  in  a  misty  night.     He  speaks  of 

"Tears  from  the  depths  of  some  divine  despair." 

The  "  divine  despair  "  is  what  we  find  all  through  Ten- 
nyson ;  as  if  God  himself  were  struggling  with  fate,  and 
scarcely  sure  of  victory.  Again  he  speaks  of  the  stairs 
that 

"  Slope  through  darkness  up  to  God  ;" 

and  of  man  as 

"  An  infant  crying  in  the  night." 

It  is  the  cry  of  weakness.  It  is  the  cry  of  many  a  tortured 
heart,  that  cannot  give  up  altogether  the  old  faith,  yet 
sees  how  utterly  opposed  it  is  to  the  truth  of  to-day. 
Tennyson  sees  the  cruelty  of  nature ;  that  she  destroys 
and  builds  up  simply  to  overthrow ;  and  he  would  fain  go 
beyond  nature  to  some  transcendent  goodness  that  some 
day,  and  some  how,  Avill  right  it  all.  Tennyson  does  not 
fairly  confront  and  accept  the  latest  results  of  science. 
There  is  no  martial  music  in  his  strain  that  leads  forward 
to  the  future  with  glad,  triumphant  courage.  Tennyson 
floats  between  the  old  and  the  new  like  a  sea,  the  cold, 
gray  sea  that  breaks  on  crags,  and  yet  trembles  away  in 
the  far  distance  to  golden  horizons.  Tennyson's  poetry  is 
like  the  Northern  summer,  where  the  daj'  sinks,  not  into 
any  night,  but,  like  a  jewel,  melts  into  the  rising  dawn  of 


438  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP  FREETHOUGHT. 

another  day ;  and  evening  and  morning  are  blended  in 
strange,  dazzling  beauty.  So  the  golden  evening  of  the 
past  in  Tennyson  fades  away  with  enchanting  scenes,  while, 
in  the  very  fading,  flushes  and  burns  the  splendor  of  the 
new  time.  In  this  respect  Tennyson  is  the  most  represent- 
ative poet  of  the  age,  intellectual,  sympathetic,  and  some- 
thing like  an  ^olian  harp — passive  to  the  winds  of  heaven, 
with  marvelous  music  to  every  breeze,  Avhether  it  blows 
from  the  dim  aisles  of  the  old  or  the  freshness  of  the  new. 
Many  cultivated,  earnest,  poetic  minds  are  now  in  that  un- 
certain mood.  They  simply  believe  out  of  a  deep  want, 
while  with  clear  vision  they  see  its  foundations  rapidly 
disappearing.  There  is  intense  pathos  in  this  contradic- 
tion of  head  and  heart  which  Tennyson  subtly  and  power- 
fully expresses. 

The  tire  and  music  of  Swinburne  seems  to  exult 
over  the  ruin  of  the  past.  This  brave  and  miglity  poet 
sings  like  Apollo  when  Hyperion  is  dispossessed  of  his 
radiant  kingdom.  Swinburne  greets  the  future ;  he  be- 
lieves in  man  and  not  God,  and  that  man  will  win.  He 
has  the  melody  of  Shelley  and  his  aspiring  spirit,  with  a 
still  keener  insight  into  th6  vistas  of  democracy,  the 
future  of  the  human  race.  Kings  and  priests  and  lords, 
and  all  the  old  institutions,  are  condemned  by  this  icon- 
oclastic singer,  whose  song,  notwithstanding  its  fierce 
tumult,  is  the  sweetest  that  has  ever  charmed  the  ear  of" 
man,  and  stirs  the  blood  like  a  bugle  sound.  Swinburne  is 
a  poet  all  over ;  he  is  not  a  philosopher.  He  unfolds  no 
grand  svstem  of  truth  like  Goethe.  He  is  not  so  profound 
as  Shelley.  He  sees  the  universe  from  one  point,  and  not 
from  many ;  but  he  sees  onward.  He  is  intense  rather 
than  comprehensive.  He  pours  himself  in  one  stream, but 
that  stream  is  crystal  clear.  Every  thought  born  of  his 
brain  is  rhythmic.  Each  word  seems  a  note  of  music. 
Language  was  never  more  magical ;  so  like  the  liquid  voice 
of  a  lark  ;  so  like  the  vibrating  song  of  a  nightingale 


G.  E.  MACDONALD  (p.  7  67). 


LITERATURE  OF  FRANCE.  439 

Surely  there  is  no  more  cliiirming  singer  or  dreamer 
tlian  William  Morris — singer  of  the  past  and  dreamer  of 
the  future — a  worker,  too,  in  sympathy  with  toil,  and 
making  for  toil  a  golden  heritage.  It  is  somewhat  rare 
that  a  genius,  so  touched  with  the  glory  of  the  ancient 
time,  so  penetrated  with  its  spirit,  so  full  of  its  imagery 
that  it  lives  and  sparkles  in  his  verses  like  a  radiant 
presence,  should  throw  himself  with  such  glorious 
abandon  into  the  stream  of  practical  reform.  Keveling 
in  the  choice  beauty  of  the  past,  an  artist  in  every  fiber  of 
his  being,  he  heartily  believes  in  the  possibilities  of  the 
struggling  masses;  that  they,  notwithstanding  ignorance 
and  degradation,  can  and  will  build  a  future  more  splendid 
than  the  heroic  past.  Morris  is,  indeed,  a  beautiful  in- 
spiration to  those  who,  amidst  present  wrong,  would  see 
the  eternal  right. 

Gerald  Massey  is  the  bard  of  the  people — born  with 
the  people,  suffering  with  the  people,  and  knowing  all  the 
tragedy  of  poverty.  He  has  voiced  the  people  out  of  his 
hard  and  bitter,  yet  triumphant  life.  He  sang  his  way  to 
victory  with  songs  that  shall  not  be  forgotten,  for  they  are 
real  songs  ;  the  heart-blood  is  in  them,  the  burning  brain. 
They  have  the  music  of  reality.  They  are  not  "  sicklied 
o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought."  They  come  from  the 
great  deep  of  humanity,  from  its  struggle  for  existence, 
from  its  hope  in  the  midst  of  despair.  They  come  like 
flowers  from  the  soil.  The}-  represent  the  warmth  and 
splendor  of  nature,  its  blossoms,  its  sunshine,  together 
with  the  unconquered  spirit  of  man.  They  are  poems  of 
progress  in  that  they  declare  the  rights  of  man  and  the 
dignity  of  labor.  They  are  healthful,  exhilarating  songs. 
•"Onward  and  sunward"  is  the  bright  prophecy  of  these 
strains. 

The  literature  of  France  is  even  more  radically  pro- 
gressive than  that  of  England,  for  there  is  a  clearness  and 
"brilliance  in  the  French  mind  that  is  not  equaled,  perhaps. 


440  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

in  any  other  nation,  French  genius  has  always  been  more 
or  less  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  orthodoxy  from  the  days  of 
Abelard,  Montaigne,  aiul  Moliere.  Moliere  cut  so  deep 
into  the  hypocrisies  of  the  church,  and  so  lashed  the 
priests,  that  they  refused  to  give  him  extreme  unction  and 
would  have  buried  him  like  a  dog  if  they  could.  But, 
fortunately,  Moliere  had  the  wit  not  only  to  produce  the 
greatest  comedies  of  his  age,  but  to  play  off  the  king 
against  the  pope,  and  so  win  the  day,  and  burial  in  con- 
secrated ground.  The  Tartuffes  could  not  insult  his  dead 
body.  The  genius  of  Moliere  flashed  in  Voltaire,  who  had 
the  shrewdness  also  to  circumvent  the  church,  and  to  use 
kings  as  pawns  to  win  in  his  game  for  humanity  and 
progress.  Since  the  Revolution,  France  has  gone  far  be- 
yond the  ideas  of  Moliere,  Voltaire,  and  Rousseau,  and 
her  literature  to-day  is  the  most  advanced  of  any  in  Europe. 

It  is  possible  to  note  only  a  few  great  names  who  are 
the  most  representative  of  this  vast  galaxy  of  genius. 

Of  the  ideal  and  romantic  school,  of  those  who  select 
the  best  in  humanity  and  clothe  it  with  beautiful  colors, 
who  elevate  and  ennoble  man  with  richest  imagination, 
Victor  Hugo  is  the  supreme  name  ;  and  when  we  read  his 
freighted  books  out  of  a  great  heart,  a  great  mind ;  when 
we  listen  to  his  music,  his  lyrics,  melodious  as  the  sweep 
of  the  sea,  the  breath  of  a  summer's  day,  the  murmur  of 
great  pine  forests,  the  sounding  of  a  cataract  among  hills, 
the  song  of  birds  in  the  bosom  of  the  morning  ;  when  we 
read  his  great  dramas,  that  in  fire  and  vivacity,  in  deep  in- 
terpretations of  character,  in  play  of  motive,  come  close  to 
Shakspere  himself ;  when,  greater  than  all,  we  see  abound- 
ing human  nature,  from  child  to  man,  from  hut  to  palace, 
from  peasant  to  prince,  in  vast  panoramas  in  his  novels, 
and  listen  again  to  his  ringing  words  for  justice  and 
liberty,  with  detestation  of  all  wrong  and  scorn  of  super- 
stition in  every  shape,  we  feel  like  calling  him  the  greatest 
of  Frenchmen  ;  and  certainly  if  we  were  to  read  but  one 


RENAN.  441 

man,  we  might  say  that  in  Victor  Hugo  we  fiud  the  bright- 
est and  the  most  inspiring  expressions  of  the  life  of  his 
people.  In  intellect,  in  sympathy,  in  courage,  in  devotion 
to  principle,  in  heroic  sacrifice,  in  daring  thought,  in  ten- 
derness, in  wonderful  description,  in  dramatic  power,  in 
impetuous  song,  in  martial  strains  of  oratory,  in  citizen- 
ship aud  statesmanship  and  patriotism,  Victor  Hugo  is  a 
preeminent  man.  He  is  not  a  poet  ouh',  but  a  man  in- 
deed, a  brave  actor  on  the  stage  of  life. 

Renan  is  certainly  one  of  the  noblest  names  in  modern 
French  literature,  and  a  great  and  noble  character.  There 
is  an  epic  grandeur  in  his  life  of  poverty  and  toil  to  a 
splendid  fame.  He  sacrificed  nothing  of  his  manhood  to 
win  his  high  position.  It  was  the  meed  of  his  scholarly 
genius,  the  reward  of  integrity,  of  fearlessness,  of  thorough- 
ness, and  the  highest  order  of  literary  capacity.  Reuan 
was  both  a  poet  and  a  critic.  He  was  not  a  realist.  He 
did  not  re-write  history  in  the  dr}'  light  of  fact.  He  filled 
it  with  color.  He  delighted  the  eye.  He  charmed  the 
heart.  He  made  Jesus  and  Paul  sf)mewhat  like  char- 
acters of  fiction.  He  allowed  his  imagination  to  play 
about  them.  He  dealt  dramatically  rather  than  histori- 
cally with  the  original  material.  He  has  done  this  in  a 
masterly  manner.  He  has  given  the  world  a  new  Jesus,  a 
vast  improvement  upon  the  old.  In  this  respect  Renan 
has  been  a  fine  disintegrating  influence.  He  has  melted 
away  the  creeds  as  the  sun  melts  away  the  frost.  He  has 
changed  opinions  b}^  the  fascination  of  his  style.  He 
has  made  a  romance  of  the  gospels.  This  is  better  than  to 
make  them  dogma.  Next  to  Gibbon  no  one  has  done 
so  much  to  overthrow  historic  Christianity  as  Renan. 
Strauss,  of  course,  has  greatlv  aided  in  this  destructive 
work.  This  is  simply  the  beginning  of  an  enormous  and 
far-reaching  change.  Jesus  himself  will  ultimately  dis- 
appear from  human  history.  As  in  the  hands  of  Renan 
and   Strauss   he    has  passed   from  dogma  to   romance,   he 


442  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

will  inevitably  pass  from  romance  to  myth,  and  from  myth 
to  fossil.  Renan  occupies  a  middle  position.  He  has 
destroyed  the  Christ  of  the  church.  He  lias  substituted 
an  ideal  Christ.  The  ideal  Christ  will  dissipate  the 
church  Christ,  and  scientific  criticism  will  dissipate  the 
ideal  Christ,  and  the  real  man  will  be  in  the  onward  march 
of  humanity. 

Balzac  and  Zola  are  unquestionably  the  Titanic  leaders 
of  modern  realism.  The  revolution  which  they  are  ac- 
complishing is  akin  to  that  of  Darwin  and  Spencer.  It 
has  already  been  outlined.  It  is  the  literature  of  the 
future  and  is  the  only  possible  means  of  further  progress. 
Shakspere  and  Shelley  have  exhausted  the  literature  of  the 
imagination.  The  literature  of  reality  must  succeed — the 
literature  of  man  as  man,  without  reference  to  any  gods,  or 
fairies,  or  entities,  or  cloud-lands,  or  dream-lands — a  lit- 
erature of  life  itself,  which  depends  for  its  greatness  and 
equality  with  the  luxuriance  of  the  past,  not  upon  the  ex- 
uberance of  the  poet's  imagination,  but  upon  the  abound- 
ing vitality  of  nature  itself.  Balzac  and  Zola  are  supreme 
geniuses,  and  while  they  reflect  the  coarseness  of  nature, 
they  reflect  also  its  grandeur  and  beauty.  They  paint 
vice  ;  they  do  not  patronize  it.  They  analyze  wrong  ;  they 
do  not  glorify  it.  The  question  is  :  Shall  we  have  in  lit- 
erature the  truth  or  not  ?  Shall  we  have  honest  thought 
and  honest  language  ?  No  writers  are  exercising  through- 
out the  literary  world  of  to-day  such  a  potent  influence 
as  Balzac  and  Zola. 

The  great  Northland,  the  land  of  the  midnight  sun,  the 
land  of  the  Vikings — what  a  contribution  it  gives  to  the 
world's  literature  of  progress — a  distinctive  literature  born 
of  its  soil,  of  its  icy  palaces,  of  its  mountains  and  seas,  of 
its  gorgeous  sunsets  mingling  with  gorgeous  dawns ! 

The  name  and  fame  of  Bjornson  and  Ibsen  have  spread 
farther  over  the  world's  surface  than  that  of  any  of  their 
countrymen.     Their  works  are  now  eagerly  read  and  ad- 


IBSEN.  443 

mired  in  Europe  and  America.  Who  lias  not  been  re- 
freshed b}^  the  simple  story  of  the  "  Fisher  Girl  ?  " 

In  Bjornson  there  is  the  spirit  of  the  old  conquerors, 
and  yet  it  is  tender  and  beautiful  as  a  maiden's.  His 
romances  are  like  breezes  blown  from  the  sea.  His  songs 
are  the  loveliest  in  the  language.  His  exquisite  lyrics  are 
filled  with  vague  longings,  with  sweet  yet  sad  dreams. 
He  plucks  his  treasures  from  the  rich  hoard  of  antique 
sagas.  The  old  wild  fighting  life  is  there,  and  the  beauty 
of  woman.  In  his  dramas  there  are  Shaksperean  scenes. 
He  is  democratic  and  Freethought.  Ho  deals  with  peasant 
life.  He  affirms  the  dignity  of  man  in  every  station.  The 
king  is  but  an  ornament.     It  is  humanity  that  crowns. 

Ibsen  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  literary  power 
of  the  present  time.  He  seems  to  aim  at  an  entire  revolu- 
tion in  literature.  He  is  not  simply  of  Norway,  but  of 
the  whole  world.  However,  the  genius  of  Norway  pre- 
vails. Though  writing  amidst  the  luxurious  scenes  of  the 
south,  with  the  blue  waves  of  the  Mediterranean  about 
him,  yet  the  rough  Norse  life,  and  fjord  and  fjeld,  are  in 
his  dramas.  Ibsen  has  a  fermenting  brain.  It  is  full  of 
revolt.  Human  life  seems  to  him  something  like  a  dis- 
ease, and  with  his  keen  satire  he  would  cut  to  the  heart 
and  kill  the  patient,  if  need  be.  Truth  he  will  have. 
Though  capable  of  pouring  forth  the  sweetest  music,  he 
will  not  do  it,  for  he  will  not  create  an  illusion.  He  will 
write  in  prose  in  order  to  give  reality.  He  treats  the  hu- 
man mind  as  a  surgeon  would  the  body.  He  analyzes  it 
in  every  quivering  movement.  He  sees  the  motive.  He 
declares  the  law.  He  is  as  stern  as  the  old  Greek  poets, 
but  he  has  no  gods  to  aid  him  in  the  denouement — only 
nature.  He  is  thoroughly  scientific  and  evolutionary. 
He  is  as  patient  as  Darwin.  He  gives  the  drama  of  facts. 
Ibsen  wants  the  individual  to  be  free  and  true.  That  is 
the  onlj'  salvation.  Not  religion,  nor  mock-morality,  nor 
respectable  lies,  but  absolute  sincerity  and   liberty.     He 


444  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

says :  "  The  state  must  go !  That  will  be  a  revolution 
■which  will  find  me  on  its  side.  Undermine  the  idea  of 
the  state ;  set  up  in  its  place  spontaneous  action,  and  the 
idea  that  spiritual  relationship  is  the  only  thing  that 
makes  for  unity,  and  you  will  start  the  elements  of  a 
liberty  which  will  be  something  worth  possessing."  Again 
he  says  :  "  My  drama  is  not,  indeed,  a  tragedy  in  the  old- 
world  signification  of  the  word,  but  what  I  have  tried  to 
depict  in  it  is  human  beings,  and  for  that  very  reason  I 
have  not  allowed   them  to  talk  the  language  of  the  gods." 

Ibsen  is  a  literary  artist  and  a  political  moralist,  and  a 
social  ref(n-mer.  He  has  never  for  a  moment  resigned  the 
idea  of  showing  the  world  its  weakness,  its  falseness,  its 
shame,  its  disease. 

He  makes  woman  a  real  being,  and  he  would  make  her 
an  independent  being.  Nora  shall  no  longer  be  a  doll. 
He  teaches  that  emancipated  and  gratified  individuality 
leads  to  health  and  peace  ;  while,  restrained  and  balked, 
individuality  must  lead  to  tragedy  and  death. 

We  must  recognize  a  singular  greatness  in  Ibsen.  He 
makes  literature  alive.  He  makes  it  of  the  future  ;  he 
makes  it  the  develo]nnent  of  man. 

Russia  is  a  wonderful  country,  Avoiiderful  in  its  people, 
wonderful  in  its  language,  and  wonderful  in  its  literature. 
The  vast  Slavonic  race  seems  to  hold  now  the  promise  of 
to-morrow.  Russia  is  apparently  on  the  threshold  of  an 
immense  advance.  She  is  coming  upon  the  stage  Avith 
colossal  power  and  magnificence.  She  has  one  hundred 
and  thirty  millions  of  people,  and  these  people  are  in  the 
throes  of  a  revolution.  In  the  literature  of  Russia  the 
czar  is  apparently  insiguilicaut  compared  with  the  vast 
masses  of  people  who  are  moving  on  to  new  destinies,  and 
if  the  czar  is  in  the  way  he  will  eventually  be  crushed. 
For  centuries  the  Asiatic  element  has  prevailed  in  Russia. 
There  has  been  inertia  and  submission.     But  the  genius 


HELEN  H.  GARDENER  (p.  737). 


PUSHKIN.  445 

of  the  West  has  touched  her  enormous  domains,  and  the 
result  is  simply  amazing. 

The  great  literature  of  Eussia  began  with  the  present 
century,  with  Pushkin,  who  is  something  like  our  own 
Byron,  a  poet  of  surpassing  powers,  a  master  of  this  rich 
language  in  which  words  are  full  of  color,  melody  as  well 
as  ideas. 

Both  the  African  and  the  Slavonic  blood  was  in  Push- 
kin. He  was  impetuous  and  fanciful  from  his  youth,  a 
disciple  of  Voltaire.  His  mind  was  crammed  with  the  leg- 
ends, fables,  and  popular  tales  of  old  Bussia.  Pushkin 
was  of  the  romantic  school.  But  he  did  not,  as  tyrants 
would  have  him,  sing  of  nature,  but  of  man.  He  did  not, 
says  Castelar,  "  sing  of  the  groves,  of  larch  and  fir ;  the 
steppes,  immense  as  the  sea;  the  virgin  snow,  silvered 
with  the  rays  of  the  full  moon ;  the  waves  of  the  Baltic, 
heavenly  in  the  long  days  of  summer,  and  imprisoned  in 
icy  fetters  in  the  eternal  nights  of  winter ;  the  polar  hori- 
zons with  their  rosy  auroras,  whose  splendors  were  indefi- 
nitely repeated  by  the  crystal  deserts  and  peaks.  He  did 
not  sing  this  nature,  which  continues  the  same  in  its  move- 
ment and  brightness,  even  when  it  is  the  witness  of  crimes, 
which  gathers  and  drinks  with  cold  indifierence  the  blood 
of  martyrs,  and  fills  with  its  vivifying  air  the  lungs  of 
tyrants.  He  sang  the  spirit  with  its  ideas,  with  its  agita- 
tions, the  spirit  which  swells  with  internal  storms,  and 
sallies  forth  to  scale  heaven  in  the  path  of  justice  and 
liberty,  and  which,  when  it  falls  wailing  with  pain  and 
despair,  recognizes  not  even  in  God  himself  authority  and 
power  to  take  away  its  rights." 

It  is  said  that  Pushkin  was  not  only  exiled  but 
flogged.  He  suffered  unspeakable  agonies.  He  was  like 
Prometheus  chained  on  Caucasus. 

But  the  despot  finally  conquered.  The  poet  yielded. 
He  lived  a  life  of  luxury.  His  supreme  intellectual  faculty 
perished.     He  was  the  king's  chamberlain.     Despotism 


446  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

converted  liim  into  one  of  its  beasts  of  burden.  He  was 
mortalh'  wounded  in  a  duel.  He  was  not  even  publicly 
buried.  In  the  dead  of  an  icy  night,  the  emperor  gave  a 
grave  to  the  body.  Such  is  the  destiny  of  a  great  soul 
born  under  the  domination  of  absolute  power. 

The  realistic  school  of  Russian  literature,  nurtured  by 
the  vast  genius  of  Balzac,  sprung  into  almost  supreme  ex- 
cellence with  Gogol,  Turgeneff,  and  Tolstoi.  These  great 
writers,  politically  and  otherwise,  have  exerted  a  vast  in- 
Huence,  and  changed  the  face  of  Russia  to  the  world. 
They  are  not  distinctly  Freethought.  They  are  literary 
forces,  sources  of  agitation,  of  ideas.  They  have  produced, 
in  many  respects,  the  most  powerful  novels  of  the  age ; 
revelations  of  life  ;  pictures  of  the  soil,  pictures  of  man  as 
he  is,  without  ornamentation  or  fanciful  colors. 

Although  these  writers  are  thoroughly  humanitarian ; 
though  they  sympathize  profoundly  with  human  suffering 
and  the  bitter,  narrow  lot  of  millions,  and  would  lift  them 
out  if  possible,  yet  the  fair  light  of  science  is  obscured  by 
their  mystical  religion.  The}^  paint  human  nature  with 
wonderful  fidelity ;  but  when  it  comes  to  the  remedy  they 
are  essentially  weak.  They  are  not  prophets  of  the  future. 
They  are  not  scientific  in  the  sense  that  Goethe  was. 
Their  value,  however,  does  not  lie  in  the  Iiojdc  they  give, 
for  they  have  no  Promethean  fire,  but  in  the  tremendous 
reality  which  they  portray ;  in  the  life  they  unfold.  There 
is  no  falsehood  about  them ;  they  deal  not  with  the  lies  of 
civilization,  they  do  not  cover  up.  They  lay  bare  the 
bleeding  heart,  the  fermenting  brain,  the  quivering  nerve. 
They  show  the  suffering — the  horror — on  a  canvas  vivid 
as  nature  itself.  It  is  well  to  know  these  realities  revealed 
by  a  master  genius,  even  if  the  artist  himself  utters  a  cry 
of  despair  at  his  own  most  faithful  portraiture. 

The  martyr-hero  of  the  modern  revolution,  however, 
is  Tchernychewsky,  a  name  worthy  to  be  enrolled  in  the 
shining  annals  of  those   who  suffer  and  die   for  liberty. 


TCHKRNYCIIEWSKY.  447 

He  speaks  for  woman  as  well  as  for  man.  Siie  is  not  to  be 
an  animal  created  for  man's  benefit.  She  is  to  be  a  com- 
panion, endowed  with  genius. 

This  author  gives  th6  gospel  of  young  Kussia.  He 
writes  for  the  future  Nihilism  is  a  passion,  an  enthusi- 
asm. It  is  absolute  sacrifice  to  an  idea.  It  is  a  perfect  in- 
tellectual abandon  to  any  fate,  if  only  something  can  be 
done  for  freedom.  It  is  not  a  bliml  faith.  There  is  intel- 
ligence in  it.     It  is  a  brain-force,  not  a  mere  feeling. 

Tiie  reign  of  Nicholas  was  an  epoch  oc  hard  oppression. 
He  did  not  hesitate  to  pluck  out  the  brains  of  Russia  to 
save  his  tlirone.  He  seriously  consitlered  the  idea  ui  clos- 
ing Ills  fi'ontiers  with  a  cordon  of  troops  to  beat  back 
foreign  Liberalism,  like  the  cholera  or  plague.  He  was  an 
Iron  Czar,  always  clad  in  uniform.  He  was  the  Quixote 
of  absolutism.  The  close  of  his  reign  saw  the  dilapida- 
tion and  the  ruin  of  his  country.  A  chorus  of  maledic- 
tions arose  against  him.  He  heard  the  walls  of  his 
tyranny  crash  around  him,  though  cemented  with  the  blood 
and  tears  of  two  millions  of  human  beings  whom  he  had 
exiled  to  Siberia. 

Nihilism  is  the  outcome  of  this  fierce  despotism.  It 
could  be  no  otherwise.  There  must  be  a  tremendous 
reaction.  And  it  was  a  common  cause.  A  homogeneous 
spirit  prevailed,  while  subversive  and  revolutionary 
beyond  anything  in  the  past. 

Tchernychewsky  was  confined  for  twenty  odd  years  in 
a  Siberian  prison.  His  mind  was  shattered.  The  light 
of  genius  perished.  But  tyranny  shall  yet  feel  the  breath 
of  liberty  ;  and  the  martyr  buried  in  a  dungeon  shall 
illuminate  the  world  ;  and  the  imperial  criminal  shall 
tremble.  The  world  shall  hear  the  thunders  of  his  execu- 
tion. 

We  can  only  glance  at  the  greatest  representative  phil- 
osophical and  scientific  writers  who  have  contributed  to 
the  literature  of  modern  Europe. 


448  FOUR  HUNDRED  TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

Huxley  is  not  only  a  scientific  investigator  of  the  high- 
est order,  but  the  greatest  all-round  philosophical  critic 
of  this  or  of  any  age.  If  he  adds  nothing  new  to  philoso- 
phy, he  certainly  keeps  it  within  due  bounds.  He  carries 
out  the  Kantian  maxim  of  telling  us  what  we  do  not  know. 
Indeed,  he  is  so  subtle  at  times  that  he  seems  to  deny  all 
knowledge  ;  as  when  he  affirms  that  it  is  impossible  to 
disprove  the  idealism  of  Berkeley.  Of  course  it  is  impos- 
sible to  disprove  it,  since  it  will  grant  no  fact  for  a  start- 
ing-point. If  it  will  grant  one  fact  it  is  overthrown ;  but 
affirming  universal  ignorance,  how  can  it  be  disproved  ? 
Archimedes  said,  "  Give  me  where  I  may  stand  and  I  will 
move  the  universe."  Idealism  will  not  give  common 
sense  or  science  a  place  to  stand  and  hence  it  can  eternally 
rejoice  in  its  impregnable  position.  When  one  says,  "  I 
know  nothing,"  he  is  beyond  logic.  Grant  one  little  mat- 
ter of  fact,  however,  say  a  broken  head  against  a  lamp-post, 
and  idealism  vanishes  in  a  shower  of  stars. 

But  generally  Huxley  walks  the  solid  earth,  and  his 
pages  shine  with  Freethought  gems  like  the  following : 
"  To  assert  that  this  is  the  best  possible  universe  is  a  libel 
on  possibility." 

Tyndall  unites  real  poetry  with  real  science  better  than 
any  other  man  of  the  age.  He  is  like  keen  sunshine  in  his 
analysis  of  nature.  He  illuminates  it.  He  can  almost  see 
the  ultimate  ether  with  his  piercing  glance.  He  can  meas- 
ure the  dance  of  atoms.  Tyndall  is  not  a  closet  philoso- 
pher. He  is  a  kind  of  Homeric  character.  He  likes  to  be 
outdoors.  He  i*ejoices  in  the  mountains,  the  skies,  the 
winds,  the  rocks,  the  flowers  along  the  crags  of  snow. 
He  mingles  witli  nature  like  a  child,  and  studies  her  like 
a  god. 

His  declaration  that  "  in  matter  we  find  the  promise 
and  potency  of  all  life  "  is  immortal.  This  is  the  glad 
message  of  science  to  all  the  future  of  man. 

His  "  prayer  test,"  which  was  sprung  upon  the  world 


MILL.  449 

simph-  for  the  humor  of  the  thing,  was  a  shattering  joke 
agaiusfc  orthodoxy.  It  upset  more  than  the  most  ponder- 
ous jirguraents.     Since  then  prayer  has  been  at  a  discount. 

Back  of  the  poetical  brightness  and  literary  elegance 
of  Tyudall  is  a  knowledge  attained  by  strenuous  effort  and 
the  severest  induction.  Tyndall  is  not  a  dreamer.  He  is 
a  thinker,  but  he  thinks  in  rhythmic  beauty. 

The  diamond-like  intellect  of  John  Stuart  Mill  is 
among  "  the  splendors  of  the  firmament  of  time."  He  is 
for  liberty  and  for  man.  He  has  written  some  of  the 
greatest  books  of  the  century.  He  is  master  of  the  science 
of  logic  and  the  laws  of  evidence.  He  is  not  much  of  a 
fighter,  but  to  his  eternal  honor  he  said  this  in  his  answer 
to  a  declaration  of  Dean  Mansel  that  it  is  man's  duty  to 
worship  "a  being  whose  moral  attributes  are  affirmed  to 
be  unknowable  by  us,  and  to  be,  perhaps,  extremely  differ- 
ent from  those  which,  when  we  are  speaking  of  our  fellow- 
creatures,  we  call  by  the  same  names."  Mill  said  :  "If,  in- 
stead of  the  '  glad  tidings '  that  there  exists  a  being  in 
whom  all  the  excellences  which  the  highest  human  mind 
can  conceive  exist  in  a  degree  inconceivable  to  us,  I  am 
informed  that  the  world  is  ruled  by  a  being  whose  at- 
tributes are  infinite,  but  what  they  are  we  cannot  learn, 
nor  what  are  the  principles  of  his  government,  except  that 
'the  highest  human  morality  which  we  are  capable  of  con- 
ceiving '  does  not  sanction  them  ;  convince  me  of  it  and  I 
will  bear  my  fate  as  I  may.  But  when  I  am  told  that  I 
must  believe  this,  and  at  the  same  time  call  this  being  by 
the  names  which  express  and  affirm  the  highest  human 
morality,  I  say  in  plain  terms  that  I  will  not.  Whatever 
power  such  a  being  may  have  over  me,  there  is  one  thing 
which  he  shall  not  do — he  shall  not  compel  me  to  worship 
him.  I  will  call  no  being  good  who  is  not  what  I  mean 
when  I  apply  that  epithet  to  my  fellow-creatures  ;  and  if 
such  a  being  can  sentence  me  to  hell  for  not  so  calling  him, 
to  hell  I  ivill  go.*' 


450  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OP    FREETHOUGHT. 

Wise  Jeremy  Beiitham,  with  keen,  brilliant  intellect 
and  warm  heart,  who  organized  common  sense  into  law, 
into  love  and  justice,  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest 
number,  he,  too,  is  one  of  tlie  far-reaching  influences  of 
this  age. 

Humboldt,  what  a  name  this  is,  melodious  with  the 
music  of  the  spheres,  the  eternal  order  of  nature  !  It  is  as 
if  we  stood  upon  some  mighty  mountain  top,  and  the  earth 
was  spread  before  us  in  loveliness  and  grandeur,  and  the 
vast  harmony  was  revealed  of  hights  and  plains,  and 
sweeping  rivers,  and  flower-blooming  forests,  precipice 
and  vale,  a  cosmos,  breathing  in  living  splendor,  with 
heart  of  fire  and  crown  of  stars.  This  is  the  gift  of  Hum- 
boldt. 

Heine  is  both  a  poet  and  philosopher,  with  the  grand 
Teutonic  genius  and  the  imagination  of  the  orient.  He  is 
like  those  who  sang  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon.  There  was 
torture  in  his  bird-like  song.  He  revolted  against  God 
for  the  agony  of  life.  He  wanted  no  priestly  service  over 
his  ashes  in  the  longed-for  rest.  He  was,  indeed,  like  an 
"  infant  crying  in  the  night,"  reverberating  the  "  divine 
despair"  of  Tennyson.  But  he  would  accept  no  orthodox 
god.  He  would  accept  nothing  on  blind  faith.  He  would 
break  his  heart,  but  he  would  not  lie.  Of  him  the  lines 
oi  Shelley  are  true  : 

"Some  are  cradled  in  poetry  by  wrong, 
And  learn,  in  suffering,  what  they  teach  in  song." 

Heine  has  filled  the  world  with  wit  and  wisdon  and  bright- 
ness, like  a  lark  singing  at  heaven's  gate.  He  must  break 
forth  in  music,  and  he  must  make  smiles  even  at  death's 
door.  He  touches  the  hights  of  Goethe  and  Schiller  in 
the  loftiness  and  glory  of  his  genius.  The  joy  and  pathos 
of  Burns,  the  magic  of  Shakspere,  are  in  the  quick  tran- 
sitions of  his  radiant  pages. 

Buchner  like  a  keen  northern  blast  has  swept  away  the 


.MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGK  (p.  477). 


FEUERBACH.  451 

mists  of  Hegel,  and  the  German  mind  is  no  longer  be- 
fogged with  metaphysics.  Buchner  has  the  clearness  and 
brilliance  of  Hume  himself,  while  to  his  intellectual 
insight  is  added  the  wealth  of  modern  science.  Buchner, 
perhaps  more  thjan  any  other  writer  since  Comte,  has 
cleared  the  human  mind  of  every  kind  of  ghost.  Buchner 
gives  us  the  daylight.  He  has  been  a  tremendous  influ- 
ence throughout  Germany  and  revolutionary  Russia.  He 
is  unanswerable.  He  gives  the  mathematics  of  Free- 
thought.  Buchner  is  thoroughly  objective.  He  sees  a 
real  world  and  a  real  pathway  of  knowledge  and  progress. 
He  is  not  in  the  mystical  darkness.  He  follows  no  ignis- 
fatuus;  nor  is  he  lost  in  the  heated  fancies  of  his  own 
brain.  Kant  and  Hegel  to-day  must  be  read  in  the  light 
of  Buchner  ;  and  but  little  of  "  naked  truth  "  will  be  left 
in  Fitche  and  Schelling  when  this  sturdy  iconoclast  has 
swept  away  the  false  imageries  of  metaphysics.  Buchner 
may  not  be  a  genius  of  the  highest  order ;  but  he  has 
done  an  incalculable  service  to  Freethought,  for  the  pre- 
requisite to  free  thought  is  clear  thought.  Buchner's 
"  Matter  and  Force  "  is  a  vigorous,  eloquent,  and  masterly 
plea  for  a  common-sense  view  of  the  universe,  and  the 
scientific  world  must  accept  his  luminous  statements. 
Feuerbach,  we  might  say,  is  the  prose-poet  of  Free- 
thought.  He  is  rich,  exuberant,  full  of  fancies  and  anal- 
ogies, yet  all  is  subdued  to  the  strictest  logic.  He  is 
unsurpassed  in  his  reasoning  powers.  He  is  Aristotle 
and  Plato  in  one.  He  idealizes,  but  he  does  not  tran- 
scend fact.  How  utterly  he  abolishes  God,  and  yet 
with  what  a  manifold  beauty  he  endows  nature  !  How 
deeply  he  analyzes  every  human  feeling !  How  clearly 
he  penetrates  to  the  heart  of  religion  and  reveals 
its  identity  with  human  we.ihiipss !  He  says :  "  I  have 
abandoned  theology,  not,  however,  wantonly  or  reck- 
lessly or  from  dislike,  but  because  it  does  not  satisfy  me, 
because  it  does  not  give  me  what  I  indispensably  need. 


452  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

I  want  to  press  Nature  to  my  heart  from  whose  depths 
the  cowardly  theologian  shrinks  back.  I  want  to  embrace 
man,  but  man  in  his  entirety."  Nature  and  man  are  the 
great  themes  of  Feuerbach,  and  he  has  unfolded  nature 
and  man  in  nature  with  singular  felicity.  His  manner  is 
entirely  original.  His  pages  are  crowded  with  shining 
thoughts.  The  poetic  fire  illuminates  them.  He  gives 
color  and  magnificence  to  the  universe.  Through  all  her 
windings  and  intricacies  he  follows  the  clear  truth.  He 
is  not  the  slave  of  nature,  neither  does  he  seek  to  abolish 
nature  in  egoistical  sentimentality.  He  recognizes  the 
power  of  nature  and  also  the  power  of  man.  Nature  is  to 
him  ever  a  poetical  movement,  and  in  the  rhvthms  of 
nature  the  song  of  humanity  is  to  him  supreme  and  beau- 
tiful. To  him  humanity  is  Apollo  making  music  in  a 
pathway  of  splendor. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

America  Before  the  Civil  "Wae. 

According  to  Bacon,  Seneca,  in  the  chorus  of  his  Medea, 
gives  "a  prophecy  of  the  discovery  of  America :" 

"  There  shall  come  a  time,  in  the  later  ages,  when  ocean; 
shall  relax  his  chains,  and  a  vast  continent  appear,  and  a 
pilot  shall  find  new  worlds,  and  Thule  shall  be  no  more 
earth's  bounds." 

Petrarch  also  sang,  his  genius  piercing  behind  the  veil 
of  Time : 

"  The  daylight  hastening  with  winged  steps, 
Perchance  to  gladden  the  expectant  eyes 
Of  far-off  nations  in  a  land  remote." 

And  Pulci,  who  died  five  years  before  Columbus 
sailed,  sends  forth  this  glorious  prevision,  more  glorious 
than  anything  in  the  Bible,  and  far  more  gloriously  and 
literally  fulfilled : 

''His  bark, 
The  daring  mariner  shall  urge  far  o'er 
The  Western  wave,  a  smooth  and  level  plain, 
Albeit  the  earth  is  fashioned  like  a  wheel. 
Man  was  in  ancient  days  of  lesser  mould, 
And  Hercules  might  blush  to  learn  how  far 
Beyond  the  limits  he  had  vainly  set. 
The  dullest  sea-boat  soon  shall  wing  her  way. 


454  FOUR    EUNDRKD   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Men  shall  descry  another  hemisphere, 

Since  to  one  common  center  all  things  tend ; 

So  earth,  by  curious  mystery  divine, 

Well  balanced,  hangs  amid  the  starry  spheres  ; 

At  our  antipodes  are  cities,  states. 

And  thronged  empires  ne'er  divined  of  yore  ; 

But  see,  the  sun  speeds  on  his  western  path, 

T-:^  glad  the  nations  with  expectant  light." 

The  Puritans,  who  helped  so  much  to  shape  the  des- 
tinies of  this  prophesied  America,  were  a  "  peculiar  peo- 
ple." We  must  admire  them  in  spite  of  their  cruelty  and 
oppression.  They  were  both  rebels  and  tyrants.  They 
hated  the  king  of  England,  but  they  bent  in  lowly  subjec- 
tion to  the  king  of  heaven.  But  the  king  of  heaven  was 
a  Puritan,  and  hence  worthy  of  homage  in  their  eyes. 
There  was  a  somber  heroism  in  the  Puritans,  an  "  uncon- 
querable will,"  but  they  were  void  of  invention,  of  imag- 
ination They  held  their  narrow  opinions  with  harsh 
obstinacy. 

They  battled  for  their  own  rights ;  but  the}^  never 
thought  of  the  rights  of  others.  They  wanted  freedom  to 
worship  God,  but  not  universal  freedom  ;  and  their  God 
was  only  the  rigid  image  of  themselves.  Toleration  was 
beyond  their  scope.  Justice  was  unknown.  Never  was 
tljere  a  more  gloomy  or  terrible  despotism  than  that  of  the 
Puritans,  for  over  two  hundred  years  in  Massachusetts. 
It  crushed  out  thought,  hope,  and  progress.  In  1637 
went  forth  the  decree  for  the  suppression  of  heresy.  The 
first  synod  of  Massachusetts  churches  sat  through  twenty- 
four  days,  until  it  spread  upon  its  record  no  less  than 
eighty-two  "  opinions,  some  blasphemous,  others  erroneous, 
and  all  unsafe."  Having  performed  this  feat,  it  broke  up 
amid  general  congratulations.  Then  took  place  the  trial 
of  Anne  Hutchison,  and  she  was  condemned  to  banish- 
ment. 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIYIL  WAR.  455 

Massachusetts  then  and  there  renounced  all  claim  or 
desire  to  lead  the  advancing  column  of  religious  liberty 
and  progress.  The  Puritans  were  no  less  intolerant  than 
those  from  whose  intolerance  they  had  fled. 

In  1649  vanished  the  last  faint  glow  of  that  light 
Avhich  had  shone  strong  in  Sir  Harry  Yane  and  Roger 
Williams.  "A  deep  night,"  says  Adams,  "of  conventional 
old-time  theology  ensued — a  night  which  the  filio-pietistic 
historians  of  the  present  century  are  wont  to  dwell  upon 
with  self-satisfied  complacency,  as  a  period  during  which 
peace  and  quiet  reigned  in  the  land.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  cent- 
ury of  intellectual  torpor — a  torpor,  the  completeness  of 
which  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those  who  have  passed 
long  hours  toiling  through  the  sermons,  discourses,  and 
theological  treatises  which  bear  incontrovertible  witness 
to  it." 

Dissentients  and  intruders  were  expelled  from  the 
colony  under  penalty  of  death  ;  and  this  provision,  says 
the  historian,  "never  once  failed  of  its  intended  effect." 
The  magistrates  said  to  the  offenders :  "  There  is  no  place 
for  you  among  us." 

Without  a  protest  the  rulers  and  divines  of  Massa- 
chusetts were  suffered  to  block  every  loop-hole  through 
which  free  speech  could  make  itself  heard.  The  funda- 
mental idea  of  the  settlement  was  a  theocracy — an  Israel 
in  the  New  World,  a  reproduction  of  Bible  history. 

"A  theological  glacier,"  says  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
"  then  slowly  settled  down  upon  Massachusetts — a  glacier 
lasting  through  a  period  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  (ifty 
years,  the  single  redeeming  feature  in  which  was  that  be- 
neath the  chilling  and  killing  superincumbent  mass  of 
theology,  superstition,  and  intolerance  ran  the  strong, 
"vivifying  current  of  political  opposition  and  life." 

"  This  period  produced  not  a  poem,  nor  an  essay,  nor 
a  memoir,  nor  a  work  of  fancy  or  fiction  of  which  the 
■world  cared  to  take  note." 


456  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

The  only  literature  worthy  even  of  curiosity  is  Jona- 
than Edwards's  sermon  on  "  Eternity  of  Hell  Torments," 
which  made  strong  men  faint  awa}',  so  horrible  were  its 
descriptions,  and  Michael  "Wiggleworth's  poem,  "  The  Day 
of  Doom."  This  latter  was  the  most  popular  book  pro- 
duced in  America  before  the  Eevolution.  Of  it  Professor 
Tyler  says  :  "  No  narrative  of  our  intellectual  history  dur- 
ing the  colonial  days  can  justly  fail  to  record  the  enormous 
influence  of  this  terrible  jjoem  during  all  these  times. 
Not  only  was  it  largely  circulated  in  the  form  of  a  book, 
but  it  was  hawked  about  the  country  in  broadsides  as  a 
popular  ballad  ;  its  pages  were  assigned  in  the  course  to 
little  children,  to  be  learned  by  heart,  along  with  the  cate- 
chism ;  as  late  as  the  present  century  there  were  in  New 
England  many  aged  persons  who  were  able  to  repeat  the 
whole  poem."  And,  says  Adams :  "  Men  who  survived 
the  middle  of  this  centurj^  still  referred  to  the  excitement 
and  fright  with  which  they  read  it." 

This  strange,  fantastic,  horrible  doggerel  poem  re- 
mains in  the  literature  of  America  like  a  great  boulder 
from  past  ages  to  declare  the  intellectual  and  moral  con- 
dition of  those  times.  Volumes  of  ordinary  history  can- 
not so  reveal  the  life,  or  rather  no-life,  of  this  Puritan 
period,  its  literary  degradation,  savager}',  narrowness,  ab- 
sence of  genius,  of  human  aspiration,  of  anything  that  is 
really  beaiitiful  and  inspiring.  There  is  not  in  history  an 
age  so  barren,  so  stupid,  so  lacking  in  all  qualities  of 
poetry,  art,  and  progress,  as  this  theological  age  of  the 
Puritans,  which  repeats  all  the  dread  tyrannies  of  the  In- 
quisition. The  poem  itself  Avill  maintain  every  one  of 
these  assertions,  for  the  poem  itself  was  selected  by  this 
age  as  its  best  representative.  When  the  author  died,  Dr. 
Cotton  Mather  was  selected  to  preach  his  funeral  sermon, 
and  this  leading  divine  said  of  this  book:  "The  'Day  of 
Doom '  has  been  often  reprinted  in  both  Englands,  and  may, 
perhaps,  find  our  children  till  the  Day  itself  shall  arrive.'* 


H.  L.  GREEX  (p.  715) 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  457 

The  full  title  of  this  poem  is  "  The  Day  of  Doom  ;  or,  A 
Poetical  Description  of  the  Great  and  Last  Judgment." 
A  few  specimens  of  it  must  be  given  in  order  that  we  may 
accurately  measure  the  age  which  produced  it. 

All  are  called  before  the  bar  of  judgment,  and  assigned 
to  places  of  weal  or  woe. 

The  infants  are  reserved  to  the  last. 

"  Then  to  the  bar  all  they  drew  near 

Who  died  in  infancy — 
And  never  had  or  good  or  bad 

Effected  personally, 
But  from  the  womb  unto  the  tomb, 

Straightway  were  carried. 
Or  at  the  least,  ere  they  transgressed ; 

Who  thus  began  to  plead." 

The  infants  made  an  able  defense,  according  to  the 
poem,  and  it  seems  as  if  an}-  but  a  Puritan's  God  would 
have  let  them  go.  All  the  sin  they  committed  was  in  what 
Adam  did.  Adam  himself  was  saved.  Why  should  not 
infants  be  saved,  who  never  by  their  own  will  trans- 
gressed, and  whose  cradle  indeed  was  only  a  coffin  ? 

But  the  Puritan  God  is  a  first-class  lawyer,  and,  like 
Belial,  can  make  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason. 
This  is  what  he  says  : 

"  Then  answered  the  Judge  most  dread 
'  God  doth  such  things  forbid, 
That  men  should  die  eternally 

For  what  they  never  did. 
But  wliat  you  call  old  Adam's  fall 

And  only  his  trespass. 
You  call  amiss  to  call  it  his. 

Both  his  and  yours  it  was. 
ToTi  sinners  ai*e  ;  and  such  a  share 

As  sinners  may  expect, 


4:58  FOUR    HUNDRKD    YKARS    OF    FREKTHOUGHT. 

Such  you  shall  hyve  ;  for  I  do  save 

None  hat  mine  own  elect. 
Yet  to  compare  your  sin  with  theirs 

Who  lived  a  longer  time, 
I  do  confess  yours  is  much  less, 

Though  every  sin's  a  crime. 
A  crime  it  is,  therefore  in  bliss 

You  cannot  hope  to  dwell ; 
But  unto  you  I  shall  cdloiv 

The  easiest  rooms  in  helV  " 

O  blessed  God  of  the  Puritans  !  What  justice,  what 
mercy,  in  his  breast !  Think  of  it !  •  He  will  allow  the 
poor  infants,  who  went  straight  from  the  womb  to  the 
tomb,  the  "easiest  rooms  in  hell,"  seeing  that  they  were 
never  guilty  of  any  actual  transgressions. 

One  more  extract,  for  this  poem  is  the  frank  expression 
of  the  old  Puritan  faith  ;  one  of  the  greatest  curses  that 
has  ever  crushed  the  heart  and  hope  of  man.  We  may 
honor  the  Puritans  for  some  things,  but  we  must  ever  re- 
gard them  as  victims  of  a  most  terrible  insanity.  This  is 
the  doom  of  the  wicked  : 

"  With  iron  bands,  they  bind  their  hands 

And  cursed  feet  together. 
And  cast   them  all,  both  great  and  small. 

Into  that  lake  forever, 
Where  day  and  night,  without  respite, 

They  wail  and  cry  and  howl, 
For  tort'ring  pain  which  thev  sustain 

In  bcjd}'  and  in  soul. 

For  day  and  night,  in  their  despite. 
Their  torment's  smoke  ascendeth. 

Their  pain  and  grief  have  no  relief; 
Their  anguish  never  endeth. 

There  must  they  lie  and  never  die, 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  459 

Though  dying  every  clay  ; 
There  must  they  dying  ever  lie, 
And  not  consume  away. 

Die  fain  they  would,  if  die  they  could, 

But  death  will  not  be  had ; 
God's  direful  wrath,  their  bodies  hath 

Forev'r  immortal  made. 
They  live  to  lie  in  misery, 

And  bear  eternal  woe  ; 
And  live  they  must  while  God  is  just, 

That  he  may  plague  them  so." 

According  to  the  Puritan's  own  confession  this  is  the 
best  thing  he  produced  in  theology,  in  philosophy, in  poetry. 
Let  it  stand  as  a  lasting  record  of  Puritanic  faith,  and  the 
essence  of  orthodox  Christianity.  We  nee.  only  their 
own  poetry  to  condemn  their  religion  as  the  most  heart- 
rending superstition  of  the  ages. 

It  seems  impossible,  at  the  present  day,  that  any  hu- 
man being  could  assent  to  such  a  creed.  But  Wiggles- 
worth's  poem  remains  to  attest  it — the  "Iliad"  and  "Para- 
dise Lost,"  the  crown  of  Puritanic  literature.  It  cannot  be 
buried.  Let  us  know  the  truth ;  how  ignorant  and  bar- 
baric the  Puritans  were. 

The  redeeming  quality  of  the  Puritans  was  their 
struggle  for  equality  before  the  laAv,  for  political  rights. 
This  was  forced  upon  them  by  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  were  placed,  and  was  primarily  simply  a  struggle  for 
their  own  rights,  but  afterwards  it  became  a  struggle  for 
the  rights  of  man  ;  but  not  until  Thomas  Paine  had  sent 
forth  his  trumpet  call.  It  required  the  Freethinker  to 
smite  down  the  walls  of  theological  Puritanism,  and  reveal 
the  true  humanity  within. 

But  the  Puritan  was  not  in  advance  of  the  Cavglier  for 
human  freedom.  Virginia  joined  hands  with  Massachu- 
setts, and  Jefferson  had  a  deeper  insight  into  universal 


460  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

principles  than  Adams,  who  was  a  moJified  Puritan  ;  and 
it  was  Jefferson  who,  with  the  "Common  Sense  "of  Paine, 
flashed  forth  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Free- 
thought  political  document  hereafter  of  all  mankind. 
But  the  provincialism  of  Massachusetts  Puritanism  would 
never  have  produced  it;  nor  even  the  brilliant  cavalier 
spirit  of  the  South.  It  was  the  cosmopolitan  genius  of 
Paine,  the  man  of  two  worlds — the  inheritor  of  Bruno  and 
Yoltaire — who  flung  it  -forth. 

The  Revolution  came  and  triumphed,  and  a  new  flag 
was  unfolded  to  all  the  breezes  of  heaven.  It  was  a  glori- 
ous flag,  whose  clustering  stars  gave  hope  to  struggling 
nations.  I  need  not  repeat  the  story  here.  America  be- 
came the  haven  of  humanity.  A  mighty  and  magnificent 
promise  was  before  the  world. 

Sir  William  Jones  sang  of  America  : 

"  Commerce,  with  fleets,  shall  mock  the  waves, 
And  arts  that  flourish  not  with  slaves, 
Dancing  with  every  grace  and  muse, 
Shall  bid  the  valleys  laugh  and  heavenly  beams  diffuse." 

And  Burns  i^ang : 

"  No  Spartan  tube,  no  Attic  shell, 
No  lyre  ^olian  I  awake  ; 
'Tis  Liberty's  bold  note  I  swell ; 
Thy  harp,  Columbia,  let  me  take." 

And  Sheridan,  whose  speeches  and  plays  excited  equal 
applause,  said,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  1794: 

"Oh,  turn  your  eyes  to  America ;  view  her  situation,  her 
happiness,  her  content ;  observe  her  trade  and  her  manu- 
factures adding  daily  to  her  general  credit,  to  her  private 
enjoyments,  and  to  her  public  resources ;  her  name  and 
government  rising  above  the  nations  of  Europe  with  a 
simple  but  commanding  diuintv  that  wins  at  once  the  re- 
spect, the  confiilenee,  and  the  affection  of  the  world." 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  461 

.  Aud  De  Tocqueville  said : 

"  The  Americans  of  the  United  States,  whatever  they 
do,  will  become  one  of  the  greatest  peoples  of  the  earth  ; 
thej'  will  cover  with  their  offshoots  almost  all  North 
America.  The  continent  which  they  inhabit  is  their  do- 
main; it  cannot  escape  them." 

Such  was  the  outlook  of  America  along  the  political 
horizon.  The  far-flashing  beams  of  a  great,  a  wonderful, 
and  a  triumphant  people  illumined  the  shadows  of  the 
past. 

There  was  not  much  Freethought  literature  at  first. 
America  was  mainly  practical  and -political.  She  had  the 
wilderness  to  conquer ;  and  there  was  not  wealth  or  leisure 
to  produce  great  books.  The  Iliad  of  America  cannot  be 
written  for  centuries. 

Ethan  Allen,  the  hero  of  Ticonderoga,  gave  forth  the 
"  Oracles  of  Reason."  He  was  one  of  the  most  active 
of  the  revolutionary  heroes.  "We  all  remember  his  de- 
manding the  surrender  of  the  fortress — "In  the  name  of 
God  and  the  Continental  Congress." 

Allen  was  a  believer  in  God  and  religion,  but  he  would 
have  a  reasonable  belief ;  a  belief  founded  on  nature  and 
man.  His  book  was  a  great  advance  on  anything  hitherto 
published  in  New  England.  It  showed  the  undercurrents 
that  were  sweeping  on  in  spite  of  the  popular  theology. 
Fortunately  for  the  present  fame  of  Ethan  Allen,  his  luster 
as  a  warrior  outshone  his  excellence  as  a  writer.  He  has 
not  been  covered  with  calumny  like  Thomas  Paine  ;  and, 
for  a  time,  his  work  was  almost  suppressed  and  forgotten. 

It  is  a  plain,  common-sense  book,  but  it  deals  with 
general  principles,  and  does  not  make  the  trenchant  criti- 
cisms upon  the  Bible  which  Thomas  Paine  does.  If 
Tljomas  Paine  had  written  a  Deistical  book  merely,  with- 
out making  any  particular  attack  upon  the  Bible,  the  the- 
ologians would  have  forgiven  him  a  long  time  ago  as  they 
have  apparently  forgiven  Ethan  Allen.     The  great  offense 


462  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

of  Thomas  Paine  was  not  his  Deism,  but  his  Bible  criti- 
cism. It  was  his  tremendous  historical  and  practical  attack 
upon  the  Bible  as  a  special,  miraculous,  and  infallible 
book  that  consigned  him  to  the  hell  of  the  theologians  ; 
but  this  is  what  constitutes  the  immense  value  of  his 
"Age  of  Reason" — its  epoch-making  power — that  it  is  a 
special  attack  upon  the  historic  veracity  of  the  Bible, 
rather  than  a  declaration  of  universal  principles.  Thomas 
Paine,  with  Spinoza,  is  the  originator  of  "Bible  criticism,'* 
or  the  "  higher  criticism,"  as  it  is  called.  The  "Age  of 
Keason"  is  not  a  book  of  philosophy  as  such,  but  of 
applied  philosophy.  The  book  is  constantly  illuminated 
by  the  light  of  universal,  rational  ideas,  but  the  vast 
power  of  the  book  is  in  its  direct  critical  and  overwhelm- 
ing attack  upon  the  Bible.  This  was  something  new,  and 
something  far  more  terrible  than  any  mere  declaration  of 
Theistic  belief.  It  is  the  greatest  and  most  successful  at- 
tack upon  the  authority  of  the  Bible  ever  made  in  human 
history.  It  is  unanswerable.  The  Christian  church  in 
the  progress  of  scholarship  has  been  obliged  in  the  main 
to  accept  the  conclusions  of  Paine.  It  has  been  compelled 
to  accept  his  method  in  the  study  of  the  Bible,  and  make- 
the  best  of  its  logical  consequences,  as  it  has  been  com- 
pelled to  accept  Evolution.  It  is  obvious  that  the  chief 
support  of  the  priesthood  is  not  a  general  belief  in  God  or 
in  a  divine  revelation,  but  a  special  belief  in  a  special 
book,  as  the  only  revelation  from  God,  Avhich  revelation  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  priests,  to  be  interpreted,  manipu- 
lated, and  administered  by  them  ;  and  one  can  conceive  the 
horror  of  the  priest,  of  the  theologian,  when  he  sees  tliifi 
"  miraculous  "  Bible  slipping  from  his  grasp.  It  is  worse 
than  losing  his  god,  for  practically  it  is  his  god.  The  very 
heart  of  orthodoxy  to-dav  is  the  Bible,  not  as  literatiire 
but  as  dogma.  TransLite  tlie  Bible  from  dogma  to  litera- 
ture and  the  occupation  of  the  priest  is  gone.  The  scholar 
takes  his  place.     Therefore  when  you  have  taken  away  tha 


C.    B.   WAIiE  (p.    815.J 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  463 

Bible  from  the  priest,  that  is,  the  iufallible,  authoritative 
Bible,  30U  have  practically  taken  away  everything.  Leave 
him  "God"  and  "Revelation,"  as  Paine  did,  and  yet  the 
priest  is  in  limbo.  God  and  Revelation  as  universals  are  not 
to  his  liking  ;  that  which  supports  the  priests  is  not  a  uni- 
versal God  or  Bible,  but  a  special,  particular,  miraculous 
"  one  only  "  God  and  Bible.  On  that  he  founds  his  claims 
and  exercises  his  tyranny.  Paine  saw  this,  that  it  would 
not  do  merely  to  deal  with  general  principles  in  his  "Age 
of  Reason."  That  had  already  been  done,  and  could  not 
be  any  more  effectually  done.  Paine  realized  that  he 
must  attack  the  Bible ;  that  he  must  attack  its  genuine- 
ness, its  authenticity,  its  inspiration,  and  its  infallibility, 
and  this  he  proceeded  to  do;  and  in  the  loneliness  of  a 
dungeon,  with  scarcely  any  books  to  consult,  he  w^'ote  one 
of  the  most  truthful,  learned,  and  destructive  criticisms  of 
the  Bible  the  world  has  yet  seen — valuable  to-day,  with 
all  the  advance  made  in  biblical  scholarship,  valuable  not 
simply  because  it  is  founded  upon  eternal  principles,  but 
because,  with  surpassing  skill,  he  concentrated  those  prin- 
ciples into  an  aggressive  force  against  the  strongest  prac- 
tical position  of  the  enemy,  and  carried  it,  and  the  author- 
ity of  the  Bible  is  now  destroyed;  its  lack  of  historic 
evidence  is  admitted ;  its  mistakes  are  acknowledged  even 
in  "  new  versions  "  of  the  Bible.  It  is  not  as  a  Deist  that 
Thomas  Paine  is  cursed  and  maligned  and  slandered  by 
the  priesthood,  but  as  a  hiblical  critic,  as  an  honest,  pains- 
taking and  unanswerable  revealer  of  the  Bible  as  it  really 
is,  for  in  doing  this  he  put  the  shining  point  of  his  pen 
through  the  heart  of  the  priesthood,  as  it  went  through 
the  heart  of  the  king  in  his  "  Common  Sense  "  and  "  Rights 
of  Man,"  and  it  is  for  this  that  Freethought  must  honor 
Thomas  Paine  as  one  of  its  most  daring  champions,  who, 
without  doubt,  has  struck  the  greatest  blow  of  all  against 
an  unscrupulous  and  despotic  priesthood. 

De  Tocqueville,  in  his  glowing  prophecies  of  America, 


464  FOUR   IIUNDRKD   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

detected  the  one  dark  spot  that  must  eventually  break 
forth  in  war  and  thunder,  the  most  destructive  and  ter- 
rible on  the  planet.     He  said  : 

"  The  most  fearful  of  all  the  evils  which  menace  the 
future  of  the  United  States  springs  from  the  presence  of 
the  blacks  on  their  soil.  When  we  seek  the  cause  of 
present  embarrassments  and  future  dangers  to  the  United 
States,  we  arrive  almost  always  at  this  first  fact,  from 
whatever  point  we  depart." 

It  had  to  come — the  mighty  civil  war.  It  is  useless  to 
put  the  blame  anywhere,  on  North  or  South.  This  was 
an  evolution  of  humanity,  painful,  disastrous,  awful,  ruin- 
ous, but  inevitable. 

Tlie  elements  of  the  great  conflict  went  on  deepening 
and  broadening  for  many  a  year.  The  great  union  grew 
and  prospered,  and  unfurled  its  flag  over  the  distant 
Pacific.  But  slavery  and  civilization  could  not  remain 
side  by  side.  It  was  an  irrepressible  conflict.  As  Lincoln 
prophetically  said  :  "We  must  be  all  slave,  or  all  free." 

What  shining  figures  adorn  these  tumultiious  times. 
What  a  vast  field  unfolds  before  us.  What  pathos ;  what 
heroism ;  what  romance  is  in  it  all.  A  thousand  stories 
throng  the  mind — of  sacrifice,  of  struggle,  of  flight  and 
escape  ;  of  midnight  darkness  ;  of  the  underground  rail- 
road ;  of  the  bowie-knife  and  shot ;  of  the  pursuing  hound  ; 
of  the  broken  chain,  and  floods  leaped  over ;  the  light 
of  the  North  star ;  the  separation  of  families,  and  the 
auction  block ;  the  rice  swamps,  and  the  descending  lash  ; 
the  mob  ;  the  sacking  of  printing-oflices  ;  the  rope  around 
the  neck  of  the  intrepid  abolitionist,  the  chains  around 
the  court-house  of  Boston;  John  Brown  at  Harper's  Ferrj', 
the  little  negro  girl  in  his  arms ;  the  execution.  What  a 
vast  and  ever-changing  panorama  sweeps  the  vision  as  the 
grepjt  dark  spot,  in  the  midst  of  America's  glowing  pros- 
perity, lowers  and  spreads  like  a  pestilence  over  the  land. 
The   heart  of  the  nation  is  aroused,  and  the  flag  of  eman- 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  465 

cipation  is  flung  forth,  and  liberty  for  all  mankind  is  the 
Avatcliword.  These  are  times  that  try  men's  souls.  How 
many  are  lacking — men  of  power  and  genius,  leaders  in 
the  world  of  thought,  who  shrink  before  the  impending 
crisis  and  would  avert  it  if  possible.  What  splendid  men 
appear  wlio  fail  not,  though  the  battle  is  right  upon  them  ? 
Wendell  Phillips,  with  all  the  attractions  of  life  before 
him,  with  the  gift  of  eloquence  to  command  any  station, 
surrendering  everything  to  the  great  cause,  with  voice  that 
never  ceased  to  charm  while  pouring  forth  the  forces  of 
rebellion  ;  Channing,  the  dreamer  in  the  pulpit,  but  the 
friend  of  humanity  the  world  over ;  Parker,  glorious 
heretic,  giving  to  Christianity  its  noblest  radiance,  yet 
transcending  all  religion  in  his  devotion  to  truth ;  Sumner 
representative  of  "  The  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  apostle 
of  peace,  of  liberty,  of  education,  who  never  "gave  up  to 
party  what  was  meant  for  mankind ;"  Gerrit  Smith,  a 
brave  and  handsome  knight  indeed,  and  able  to  strike  vig- 
orous blows  for  his  mistress.  Freedom  ;  Eogers,  mild  as 
the  evening  star,  a  delicate  and  beautiful  spirit,  yet  fear- 
less in  the  tumultuous  crash  of  the  world's  mightest  revo- 
lution ;  Parker  Pillsbury,  in  whom  the  halo  of  age  to-day 
shines  with  the  glory  of  that  early  conflict;  Elizur Wright, 
whose  undaunted  enthusiasm  was  ever  sunny  as  youth 
itself;  Frederick  Douglas,  from  whose  dusky  veins  flashed 
the  jewel  of  sun-like  eloquence  ;  Carl  Heinzen,  who,  from 
the  struggles  of  the  old  worhl,  kept  his  manhooil,  his 
honesty,  his  open  and  brave  spirit  for  the  new  ;  Lovejoy, 
o'er  whose  death  arose  efi"ulgent  the  burning  plea  for 
crime's  punishment;  Wade  and  Giddings,  who  never 
bowed  the  knee  except  to  justice  ;  Whittier,  whose  poetic 
genius  gave  splendor  to  the  darkening  combat;  Horace 
Mann,  who  toiled  for  the  emancipation,  both  of  mind  and 
body  ;  Greeley,  the  most  nondescript  reformer  on  either 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  but  he  could  pen  thunderbolts ; 
Seward,  wise  as  a  serpent,  smooth  as  a  courtier,  elegant  as 


466  FOUR  HUNDRED  TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

Saladin,  and  as  skillful  for  the  fray ;  while  sad  it  is  tliafc 
in  this  glowing  record  we  cannot  include  the  marvelous 
fire  of  a  Choate,  the  majesty  of  a  Webster,  and  the  jeweled 
learniug  of  an  Everett  ;  but  the  almost  universally  gifted 
Beecher  stood  like  a  lion,  both  in  America  and  England, 
for  a  regenerated  and  undivided  country ;  while,  conclud- 
ing the  whole,  as  the  smoke  of  battle  rolls  off,  while  the 
new  day  flashes,  in  the  pathos  and  glory  of  martyrdom, 
through  a  mist  of  tears,  in  the  exultation  of  victory,  we 
behold  the  tender-hearted  liberator  of  four  millions  of 
human  slaves,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

But  amidst  these  vast  and  changing  scenes,  the  central 
power  of  the  onward  movement,  was  the  unflinching  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  who  would  not  be  silent,  who  would  be 
heard,  who  would  make  no  compromise,  who  dared  death 
itself  for  the  liberty  of  all  men.  Through  all  those  storm- 
ful  years  the  voice  of  the  "  Liberator  "  sounded  like  a  peal 
of  martial  music.  There  was  no  hesitation.  There  was  no 
fear.  Garrison  knew  what  the  evil  was,  and  immediate 
emancipation  was  his  cry.  But,  more  than  this,  Garrison 
knew  that  back  of  the  slave  power  was  the  Christian  church. 
It  was  in  alliance  with  this  "sum  of  all  villainies."  It 
supported  it,  defended  it,  gave  it  the  sanction  of  its  own 
Bible,  and  persecuted  and  excommunicated  those  who 
were  in  favor  of  freedom.  The  attitude  of  the  American 
church,  in  regard  to  slavery,  has  branded  it  with  eternal 
shame.  If  freedom  had  been  left  to  the  tender  mercies 
of  the  church  it  would  have  perished  amid  the  clanking 
chains  of  millions.  It  was  the  Infidel  who  kindled  the 
fires  of  opposition  ;  who  stirred  the  people  and  made  them 
see  the  wrong ;  and  it  is  true,  beyond  question,  that  Infi- 
delity has  been  the  salvation  of  American  liberty.  William 
Lloyd  Garrison  himself  demonstrates  this.  At  the  Hart- 
ford Bible  Convention  in  1854,  he  introduced  the  following 
resolutions  : 

1.  Resolved,  That  the  doctrines  of  the  American  church 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  467 

and  priesthood  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God  ;  that 
whatever  it  contains  was  given  by  divine  inspiration  ;  and 
that  it  is  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  is  evidently 
absurd,  exceedingly  injurious,  both  to  the  intellect  and  soul, 
highly  pevjiicious  in  its  application,  and  a  stumbling  block  in 
the  ivay  of  human  redemption. 

2.  Resolved,  That  this  doctrine  has  too  long  been  held 
as  a  potent  weapon  in  the  hands  of  time-serving  com- 
mentators and  designing  priests,  to  beat  down  the  rising 
spirit  of  religious  liberty,  and  to  discourage  scientific  de- 
velopment, to  subserve  the  interests  of  blind  guides  and 
teachers,  and  to  fill  all  Christendom  with  contention  and 
strife  ;  and,  therefore,  the  time  has  come  to  declare  its  untruth- 
fulness, and  to  unmask  those  who  are  guilty  of  this  imposture. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  "  Word  of  God  "  is  not  bound 
within  the  lids  of  any  book,  or  by  any  ecclesiastical  edict ; 
but,  like  its  Divine  Author,  was  before  all  boohs  and  is 
everywhere  present,  and  from  everlasting  to  everlasting, 
ever  enunciating  the  same  law,  and  requiring  the  same 
obedience,  "being  quick  and  powerful  and  sharper  than 
any  two-edged  sword,"  the  Bible  itself  being  witness. 

4.  Resolved,  That  it  is  a  secondary  question  as  to  when, 
where,  or  by  whom  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments were  written^  but  the  primary  aud  all-important 
question  is.  What  do  they  teach  and  command  ?  And  in 
order  to  understand  this  they  are  to  be  as  freely  examined  and 
as  readily  accepted  or  rejected  as  any  other  books  accordingly 
as  they  are  found  7vorthless  or  valuable. 

5.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  climax  of  audacit}^  aud  im- 
piety for  this  nation  to  pretend  to  receive  the  Bible  as  the 
inspired  word  of  God,  and  then  make  it  a  penal  offense  to 
give  it  to  an}'  of  the  millions  who  are  held  as  chattel 
slaves  on  its  soil,  thus  conspiring  to  make  them  miserable 
here  aud  hereafter. 

6.  Resolved,  That  judging  th-em  by  their  course  of  action 
toicards  all  the  reforms  of  the  age,  and  their  position  in  society. 


468  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  clergy  of  this  country  as  a  hotly  would  as  readily  burn 
THE  BIBLE  TO-MORROW,  if  puhlic  Sentiment  overwhehningly  de- 
manded it,  and  'persecution  and  loss  of  character  should  be  the 
result  of  disobedience,  as  to-day  they  are  found  earnest  in  their 
endorsement  of  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Bible  in  ac- 
cordance loitli  public  sentiment. 

In  a  speech  in  support  of  these  resolutions  Mr."  Gar- 
rison made  the  foHowing  statements  : 

"  God  forbid  that  I  shoukl  be  ascertaining  for  myself 
where  the  popidar  side  is  to  be  found.  A  popular  truth 
does  not  need  my  aid.  A  liunted,  proscribed^  outlawed 
truth  commends  itself  to  my  warmest  support,  and  both 
by  choice  and  destiny  I  feel  that  I  am  allied  with  it  now 
and  forever. 

"Already  I  hear  the  outcry  of  'Infidel!  Infidel!  In- 
TIDEl!'  on  the  j^art  of  those  occupants  of  the  pulpit  who, 
while  they  are  strong  in  their  '  coward's  castle,'  never  dare 
to  make  their  appearance  on  a  free  platform  before  the 
public. 

"Now,  the  assertion  that  everything  in  the  Bible  is  in- 
spired is  the  hight  of  absurdity.  To  say,  for  example, 
that  it  required  a  revelation  from  heaven  to  record  the 
fact  that  Samson  went  to  sleep  with  his  head  on  the  lap 
of  Delilah,  or  that  he  caught  three  hundred  foxes  and  tied 
their  tails  together,  and  put  a  firebrand  between  them,  is 
iolly.  And  so  of  other  incidents  recorded  in  the  Bible. 
What  a  man  can  see  with  his  own  eyes,  it  needs  no  super- 
natural aid  to  record.  Hence,  if  only  a  part  of  the  Bible 
is  inspired,  it  is  not  wholly  inspired  ;  and,  therefore,  what 
is  generally  claimed  for  it  is  false,  and  whatever  is  false  is 
injurious  to  the  world. 

'All  Christendom  professes  to  receive  the  Bible  as  the 
word  of  God,  and  what  does  it  avail  ?  What  does  all 
Christendom  say  as  to  the  teachings  of  this  book  ?  Out 
of  this  '  inspired '  volume  comes  Bomanism,  for  Borne 
believes  in   the  Bible.     Out  of   it  comes  Mormonism,  for 


ERNEST  MENDUM  (p.   775). 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  469 

the  Mormons  believe  in  tlie  Bible.  Out  of  ifc  comes  Epis- 
copalianism,  Swedenborgianism,  Piesbyteriauism,  Meth- 
odism, and  all  other  sects,  whose  name  is  legion.  All 
these  claim  a  divine  sanction  from  the  Bible,  and  yet  they 
are  strongly  arrayed  against  one  another,  rejecting  each 
other's  interpretation  of  the  book,  and  each  aiming  to  ex- 
terminate all  the  rest. 

''Who  is  it,  I  ask,  that  believes  in  the  Bible?  What 
is  it  to  believe  in  the  Bible  ?  A  man  tells  me  he  receives 
all  as  the  inspired  word  of  God.  What  does  that  prove  ? 
Nothing,  It  gives  me  no  knowledge  of  his  mind  or  heart. 
He  might  just  as  well  have  remained  dumb.  I  therefore 
proceed  to  ask  him,  What  does  this  inspired  w^ord  teach 
and  require  ?  He  begins  to  tell  me  ;  and  I  find  he  is 
either  a  Papist,  a  Mormon,  a  Presbyterian,  etc.  What, 
then,  have  I  ascertained?  What  divine  inspiration  is? 
What  the  Bible  actually  enjoins?  No,  but  simply  what 
he  thinks  is  inspired,  and  what  he  interprets  the  Bible  to 
mean.  Now,  what  he  believes  on  this  subject  is  one 
thing  ;  what  the  exact  truth  is,  is  quite  another. 

"  The  most  couflicting  answers  are  made  by  those  who 
profess  the  greatest  veneration  for  the  book.  It  is  plastic 
as  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  and  molded  into  any 
conceivable  shape. 

"  I  believe  that  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  who- 
ever they  were,  believed  what  they  put  down  when  the}' 
wrote,  'And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,'  etc.  But  this 
proves  nothing,  excepting  that  those  writers,  though 
honest,  were  woefully  mistaken  as  to  the  mind  of  God,  as 
many  have  been  since. 

"  One  of  these  resolutions  aflSrms,  unequivocally,  that 
if  public  sentiment  should  demand  of  the  American  clergy 
that  they  cast  the  Bible  into  the  flames,  they  would  as 
readily  do  it  to-morrow,  as  to-day  they  are  loud  and  vol- 
uble in  their  indorsement  of  it,  in  accordance  with  public 
sentiment.     Is  this  an  unjust  charge  ?     Do  not  the  facts 


470  *'<^Ull    ilUNDllKD    YEARS    OF    FRKETHOUGHT. 

of  the  case  warrant  it?  Where,  as  a  body,  do  they  stand? 
Are  they  not  always  on  the  popular  side — always  going 
with  the  multitude,  even  if  it  be  to  do  evil?  When,  or 
where,  in  any  instance  have  they  dared  to  grapple  with  a 
corrupt  public  sentiment,  and  to  run  the  risk  of  losing 
their  salary  and  position  in  society  ?  /  tell  you  the  man 
who  can. see  the  image  of  God  desecrated,  and  three  millions  of 
their  own,  countrymen  trampled  into  the  dust,  and  turned  into 
goods  and  chattels,  and  sanction  the  aivful  deed,  because  jmhlic 
sentiment  demands  it  at  their  hands,  are  the  men  who  would, 
just  as  readily,  throio  the  Bible — all  the  hooks  in  the  universe — 
into  thefiames,  if  the  same  pressure  were  brought  to  hear  upon 
them.^'' 

What  a  terrific  indictment  this  great  reformer  brings 
against  the  American  churches  and  the  American  clergy. 

The  proof  is  plain.  The  main  leaders  of  the  Anti- 
Si^avery  movement,  with  Garrison,  were  Freethinkers  and 
Infidels,  and  they  were  the  brave  men  and  women  who 
educated  the  Northern  mind ;  who  prepared  it  for  the 
enormous  conflict.  As  in  the  first  Revolution,  Thomas 
Paine,  the  Freethinker,  was  the  master  influence  ;  so  in 
the  second  great  Revolution,  Garrison,  occupying  exactly 
the  same  platform  as  Thomas  Paine,  having  the  same  ideas 
concerning  tlie  inspiration  of  the  Bible  and  its  authority ; 
Garrison  and  Freethought  were  the  master  influences.  It 
is  true,  also,  that  when  every  Christian  pulpit  in  Boston 
was  closed  against  Garrison,  Abner  Kneeland,  founder  of 
the  Boston  "  Investigator,"  was  the  only  one  to  give  a  wel- 
come and  free  speech  in  his  hall  to  the  intrepid  reformer. 
Without  the  antislavery  movement  the  North  would 
never  have  won  in  the  great  struggle,  for  it  was  that  move- 
ment which,  throughout  the  world,  enlisted  every  lover  of 
liberty  on  the  side  of  the  North,  and  that  sympathy,  in  the 
end, became  an  irresistible  power  for  the  Union,  more  than 
all  the  battalions  that  marched  beneath  our  flag.  It  has 
been  shown,  bevond  doubt,  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  •   ^rji 

a  Christian,  and  he  who  wrote  the  Emancipation  Procla- 
mation received  no  impulse  to  that  great  act  from  the 
Christian  religion  or  the  Christian  churches. 

If  we  take  into  consideration  the  literature  of  this  for- 
mative period  of  the  new  Republic,  we  shall  find  that,  so 
far  as  it  was  native  and  original,  it  was  Freethought.  The 
four  greatest  names,  and  the  most  representative  names, 
are  Bryant,  Poe,  Thoreau,  and  Emerson ;  and  certainly 
orthodox  Christianity  cannot  claim  any  of  these  gifted 
minds. 

Bryant's  "  Thanatopsis "  is  a  purely  pagan  poem. 
There  is  no  "  Christian  hope "  in  it  from  beginning  to 
end.  There  is  not  a  glimmer  of  the  "  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion." It  might  have  been  written  by  some  old  Greek.  It 
is  natural  and  human. 

Bryant  looked  upon  and  expressed  the  vast  physical 
aspects  of  the  new  world.  He  has  caught  and  poured 
forth  the  mighty  music  of  our  forests  and  hills.  "  Thana- 
topsis," though  not  new  in  thought,  could  not  have  been 
thus  languaged  anywhere  but  upon  our  soil,  for  it  seems 
in  its  melody  to  have  the  vastuess  and  grandeur  of  our 
land.  The  mountains  and  the  prairies  and  the  great  oceans 
on  either  side  contribute  to  its  music.  But  while  Bryant 
is  full  of  the  spirit  of  our  physical  surroundings,  he  is  not 
intense  with  the  spirit  of  humanity.  He  has  expressed 
but  little  of  our  passionate  being.  Human  joy  and  grief 
have  found  a  meager  utterance  amidst  his  majestic  pic- 
tures. He  is  contemplative,  but  not  active.  He  broods 
in  the  forest.  He  does  not  hunt  and  fish,  and  he  does  not 
fall  in  love.  He  knows  not  human  weakness,  and  so  he 
knows  not  the  greatest  of  humanity, 

Poe  is  indeed  original.  He  is  the  most  skillful  artist 
in  words  that  America  has  yet  produced.  He  is  an  in- 
ventor. He  makes  something  new.  Yet  what  a  fantastic 
novelty  it  all  is!  His  mnrvelous  creations  seem  floating 
on  the  bosom  of  hell.     His  wondrous  music  becomes  at 


472  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

times  almost  like  the  shriek  of  a  madman.  There  is  little 
of  our  common  humanity  in  his  brilliant  pages.  But,  with 
the  exception  of  Emerson,  he  has  been  more  potent  than 
any  other  American  writer  in  the  world's  universal  and 
permanent  literature. 

I  do  not  say  that  Longfellow  and  other  American 
poets,  Lowell,  Holmes,  Whittier,  are  not  original  because 
their  strains  are  more  like  the  strains  of  the  old-world 
life.  Longfellow  is  original  in  that  he  wrote  out  of  his 
own  heart,  out  of  what  he  himself  saw,  in  nature  as  well 
as  in  books,  but  he  reiterates  mainly,  in  melodious  verse, 
what  has  been  in  the  mighty  experiences  of  the  past.  Yet 
it  has  been  truly  said  that  Longfellow  exhibits  a  noble 
American  trait  in  that  he  is  so  cosmopolitan  ;  in  that  he 
has  made  new  again,  in  his  silvery  verse,  the  choicest 
music  of  all  ages  and  climes.  In  this  respect  Longfellow 
is  no  tame  imitator.  He  swept  on  the  wing  of  genius 
from  one  reahn  of  poesy  to  another,  and.  like  the  bee,  the 
honey  of  his  song  came  from  his  own  exuberant  vitality; 
and  the  future  genius  of  America  must  do  this;  reveling 
in  the  freshness  of  a  new  world,  it  still  must  be  keenly 
cognizant  of  the  old,  and  blend  the  riches  of  the  two  ;  for 
Europe  is  not  dead.  Its  genius  is  mighty  and  brilliant ; 
it  has  a  "beating  heart  of  its  own  as  tensely  strung  as  ours, 
and  the  blood  that  leaps  through  its  veins  is  as  red  and 
swift.  And  the  past,  too,  is  alive,  more  alive  than  ever 
before  when  touched  by  the  magic  wand  of  science,  and  we 
see  that  what  is  dear  to  us  was  glowing  in  all  its  toil,  and 
vibrated  in  all  its  song.  Therefor*^,  like  Longfellow,  we 
will  walk  amidst  all  the  beauties  and  wonders  that  have 
haunted  and  made  lustrous  the  pathway  of  man  in  other 
places  and  times  ;  whde  still  we  will  remember  that  with 
new  conditions  and  ampler  outlook  and  a  freer  course, 
with  more  noble  and  productive  environments,  we  are  to 
makp  I  new  career,  and  thrill  tlie  world  with  music  which 
has  never  yet  dropped  from  the  o'erhanging  firmament. 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  473 

Towards  this  new  career  points  the  truly  original 
genius  of  Thoreau,  though  on  somewhat  narrow  lines. 

Thoreau  believes  in  nature  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
Rousseau  himself,  but  he  is  not  a  Rousseau.  He  looks  at 
nature  differently.  There  is  something  artificial  in  Rous- 
seau's "nature."  He  looks  at  it  througli  the  spectacles 
of  his  fancy,  and  from  afar  off,  and  in  his  case  we  might 
say  : 

"  'Tis  distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view." 

Rousseau's  return  to  nature  was  a  retrogression,  not  an 
advance.  As  Voltaire  wittily  remarked,  it  was  going  back 
to  the  forests  and  walking  on  all-fours  again.  Rousseau's 
nature  was  simply  that  of  a  savage,  poetically  trans- 
formed. Thoreau's  nature  is  real  nature,  looked  at, 
studied,  and  assimilated  by  a  civilized  man.  In  this 
respect  Thoreau  is  a  unique  literary  power.  He  gives  U3 
nature  exactly  as  it  is.  He  goes  to  nature  ;  he  dwells  with 
nature ;  he  paints  nature,  not  from  his  library  windows, 
but  on  stream  and  in  forest,  and  without  a  particle  of 
superstition.  He  is  not  haunted  by  any  ghosts.  He  has 
no  religion  of  nature,  like  a  savage,  but  simply  observation, 
science,  and  at  the  same  time  the  art  and  capaciousness  of 
a  civilized  being. 

In  Emerson  we  have  the  literary  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence of  America,  as  in  Paine  we  have  the  political. 
Before  Emerson  our  literature  was  modeled  almost  alto- 
gether after  England.  In  Emerson  the  new  world  shows 
its  native  and  opulent  life.  Emerson  rises  into  the  su- 
preme realm  of  a  Plato,  a  Bruno,  a  Goethe.  He  rears 
aloft  majestically  from  the  soil,  like  the  White  Hills,  or 
Mount  Shasta;  or  he  pours  himself  like  Niagara,  or 
gleams  away  like  the  prairies.  Emerson  is  American,  a 
genuine  Yankee,  yet  sympathetic  with  every  particle  01 
life  that  ever  flashed  upon  this  planet.  There  is  no  pro- 
vincialism  about  Emerson.     His  independence  does  not 


474  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

mean  narrowness  but  amplitude.  He  represents  America, 
but  not  with  egotistic  manners.  Like  Paine,  he  is  a  citi- 
zen of  the  world. 

He  is  not  essentially  transcendental,  but  essentially 
common  sense  and  scientific.  The  real  transcendentalist 
was  Alcott,  who  lived  in  a  happy  dream  all  his  life-time ; 
but  Emerson  was  no  mere  dreamer.  No  tiller  of  the  soil 
hugged  facts  closer  than  Emerson  did ;  no  farmer  was 
more  matter-of-fact ;  no  mechanic  more  intimate  with  real 
forces.  He  brought  a  wonderful  light  and  color  to  'facts. 
He  saw  relations,  perhaps,  that  were  purely  subjective, 
but  he  never  abandoned  facts,  or  committed  himself  solely 
to  imagination.  If  the  outward  flame  of  his  genius  swept 
into  transcendental  regions,  and  shone  with  Platonical  and 
mystical  splendor,  the  heart  of  his  genius  was  in  the  earth 
and  of  the  earth,  and  he  was  truly  Aristotelian  in  his  fun- 
damental tliought.  What  a  spacious  man  he  was ;  how 
inclusive  ;  gentle  as  a  woman  ;  a  warrior  if  need  be  ;  a  re- 
former the  most  fearless ;  a  poet ;  a  grand  citizen ;  a 
builder  into  the  deeps  of  time ;  an  iconoclast,  wielding 
the  hammer  of  Thor  against  hoary  superstition  ;  yet  de- 
lighting in  the  sweet  fancies  of  ancient  faitb,  the  greatest 
man  of  America,  while  the  new  Republic  was  being  formed 
amidst  the  most  vast  and  tumultuous  elements. 

The  new^Republic,  the  American  nation  after  the  civil 
war,  has  not  been  better  pictured  in  its  various  and  unique 
qualities  and  possibilities  than  by  one  of  the  most  brill- 
iant of  the  Ereethought  Avriters  in  America,  L.  K.  Wash- 
burn : 

''  Our  modern  civilization  is  far  from  political  or  moral 
perfection,  but  the  '  Yankee  notion  '  is  the  best  notion  that 
ever  got  into  man's  head.  A  Yankee  is  the  Avorld's  great- 
est machine.  In  every  department  of  knowledge  his  is 
the  first  face  we  meet.  The  Yankee  runs  where  the  Eng- 
lishman walks  and  the  German  stumbles.     The  German  is 


KATK  EUNICK  WATTS  (ii.  832). 


AMERICA  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  ^75 

a  denial ;  the  Englishman  a  doubt ;  but  the  Yankee,  '  I'll 
try  him.' 

■'  He  is  the  climax  of  all  that  is  human.  In  a  word,  he 
is  the  last  and  best  thing  borne  by  the  ages.  The  genius 
of  America  is  the  Moses  to  lead  the  world  into  the  land  of 
political  promise.  America  is  tlie  nest  of  the  eagle  and  the 
roost  of  the  nightiugale.  She  is  a  solvent  where  every 
people  lose  their  natiouality  in  a  commou  humauity.  The 
giant  freedom  which  sprung  from  her  new  soil  was  armed 
by  the  ages.  The  mighty  Declaration  of  Independence 
that  burst  from  her  heart  was  the  contribution  of  all  time. 
The  world  for  centuries  had  been  storing  its  virtue  in  the 
future,  and  America  is  the  child  of  every  nation's  prayer. 
Every  martyr  to  libert}^  and  truth  hastened  the  hour  of 
her  birth.  Every  blow  struck  at  freedom's  form  quickened 
her  life-blood  and  hurried  on  the  hour  of  victory.  America 
is  tlie  best  triumph  of  the  soul,  and  a  prophecy  for  all 
coming  time.  A  great  trust  has  <1escended  to  this  genera- 
tion. We  are  in  danger  of  forgettins:  the  dutv  it  imposes 
upon  us.  Let  us  corz-ect  our  faults,  bury  our  follies,  and 
keep  bright  the  heritage  we  have  received." 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

Woman's  Emancipation. 

I  TAKE  the  followiug  from  Gladstone  as  the  starting- 
point  of  this  chapter.  It  was  given  in  a  brief  address  at 
the  Burlington  School  for  Girls,  England.  When  Mr, 
Gladstone  distributed  the  prizes  he  said  : 

"Well,  ladies,  you  who  belong  to  the  favored  half  of 
the  human  race,  enormous  changes  have  taken  place  in 
vour  position,  not  only  in  your  actual,  but  also  in  3'our 
prospective,  positions  as  members  of  society.  It  is  almost 
terrible  to  look  back  upon  the  state  of  women  sixty  years 
ago,  upon  the  manner  in  which  they  were  viewed  by  the 
law,  and  the  scanty  provision  made  for  their  welfare,  and 
the  gross  injustice,  the  flagrant  injustice,  the  shameful  in- 
justice to  which,  in  certain  particulars,  they  were  subjected. 
Great  changes  have  taken  place,  and  still  greater,  I  will 
not  sav,  are  impending,  but  are  much  discussed." 

What  an  indictment  against  Christian  England  by  the 
greatest  living  defender  of  the  Christian  church.  Only 
sixty  years  ago  gross,  flagrant,  shameful  injustice,  under 
tlie  law,  against  all  the  women  of  England.  Think  of  it! 
What  a  confession  !  and  how  true  !  Yet,  for  centuries, 
England  had  been  under  the  influence  of  the  Bible,  the 
pulpit,  the  priest,  and  yet  sixty  years  ago  woman  was, 
practically,  a  slave  in  that  great  Christian  laud.  Certainly 
the  claim  that  Christianity  has  elevated  woman  is  prepos- 
terous.    This    one    statement   by  Gladstone    is    sufiicient 


WOMAN'S  EMANCIPATION.  477 

refutation.  It  shows  the  absolute  imbecility  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  to  lift  woman  from  her  bondage. 

But  the  question  is  not  simply  as  to  the  imbecility  of 
the  Christian  religion,  but  as  to  its  actual  guilt  in  the 
matter.  Who  held  these  chains  on  woman ;  who  put  her 
under  the  ban  of  law ;  who  stripped  her  of  personality ; 
who  made  her  a  thing,  the  subject  of  man? 

The  answer  must  be  the  Bible  and  the  church — Chris- 
tianity, the  curse  of  man;  and  a  hundredfold  more  the 
curse  of  woman.  I  will  consider  woman  and  the  Bible ; 
woman  and  the  church  ;  woman  and  the  state  ;  and  woman 
before  Christianitj',  and,  happy  transition,  woman  herself. 
I  am  aided  greatly  in  these  matters  by  the  brilliant  pages 
of  M&,tilda  Joselyn  Gage  and  Helen  H.  Gardener,  who 
sufficiently  prove  that  woman  is  intellectually  equal  to 
man.     Ages  of  oppression  have  not  quenched  her  genius. 

Woman  and  the  Bible. 

The  Bible  opens  with  the  degradation  of  woman.  She 
was  made  out  of  Adam's  rib.  What  a  cursed  rib  that  was, 
the  instrument  of  perpetual  tyranny.  It's  a  pity  that 
Adam  wasn't  killed  in  the  operation. 

Woman  also  was  the  original  sinner.  She  and  the 
devil  entered  into  partnership  and  Adam  was  the  victim. 

She  was  condemned  to  pains  and  torments  in  child- 
birth, and  her  "desire  shall  be  unto  the  man."  Woman 
sought  for  knowledge,  and  bitterly  has  she  paid  the 
-penalty. 

As  Susan  B.  Anthony  says,  the  Bible  is  a  "  He-book  " 
from  beginning  to  end.  It  has  a  He-God,  a  He-Christ, 
He-augels.  Woman  has  no  glory  anywhere  in  the  pages 
of  the  Bible.  Jesus  said  to  his  own  mother :  "  Woman, 
ivhat  have  I  to  do  loith  thee  ?" 

Helen  H.  Gardener  says  : 

"The  Bible  teaches  that  a  father  may  sell  his  daughter 
for  a  slave  (Ex.  xxi,  7),  that  he  may  sacrifice  her  purity  to 


478  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

a  mob  (Geii.  xix,  8),  aud  that  he  may  murder  her,  and  still 
be  a  good  father  and  a  holy  man  (Judges  xix,  24j.  It 
teaches  that  man  may  have  any  number  of  wives  ;  that  he 
may  sell  them,  give  them  away,  or  change  them  around, 
and  still  be  a  rigliteous  man.  It  teaches  almost  ever}^  in- 
famy under  the  heavens  for  woman,  and  it  does  not  recog- 
nize her  as  a  self-directing  free  being.  It  classes  her  as 
proj^erty,  just  as  it  does  a  sheep  ;  and  it  forbids  her  to 
think,  t;dk,  act,  or  exist  except  under  conditions  and  limits 
defined  by  some  priest." 

The  following  is  sufficient  to  prove  all  this,  and  more  : 

"  Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your  husbands  as  unto 
the  Lord. 

'•  For  the  husband  is  head  of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ 
is  the  head  of  the  church. 

"Let  the  woman  learn  in  silence  with  all  subjection. 

"  But  I  would  have  you  know  that  the  head  of  every 
man  is  Christ,  and  the  head  of  the  woman  is  man. 

"  Neither  was  the  man  created  for  the  woman,  but  the 
woman  for  the  man." 

It  is  useless  to  multiply  texts.  The  Bible  all  through 
affirms  the  subjection  of  woman — commands  it,  enforces 
it.  A  more  cruel  and  absolute  slavery  was  never  insti- 
tuted. 

The  Church  and  Woman.    . 

The  church,  founded  upon  the  Bible,  has  obeyed  its 
precepts  to  the  letter.  It  has  ground  woman,  in  all  ages, 
beneath  its  heel.  She  has  been  made  the  instrument  of 
the  most  brutal  passions. 

The  church  has  held  that  woman  was  not  a  person  at 
all.  It  has  deprived  her  of  the  right  of  security,  the  right 
of  liberty,  and  the  right  of  property. 

If  a  woman  was  assaulted  or  beaten,  or  suffered  the 
greatest  indignity  it  is  possible  to  inflict  upon  her,  she 
Lad  no  redress.     The  cliurch  law  gave  her  no  protection. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  WOMAN.  479 

The  church  denied  education  to  woman,  and  made  mar- 
riage dishonorable. 

Leek  J  says  :  "  Fierce  invectives  against  the  sex  form  a 
conspicuous  and  grotesque  portion  of  the  writings  of  the 
fathers.  Woman  was  represented  as  the  door  of  hell. 
Women  were  forbidden,  on  account  of  their  impurity,  to 
receive  the  Eucharist  in  their  naked  hands." 

Says  Buckle  :  "  When  sulphuric  ether  was  first  used  to 
lessen  the  pains  of  child-birth,  it  was  objected  to  as  '  a  pro- 
fane attempt  to  abrogate  the  primeval  curse  pronounced 
against  woman.' " 

The  church  taught  that  woman  was  under  an  especial 
curse,  and  man  a  divinely  appointed  agent  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  that  curse. 

Woman  was  forbidden  to  sing  in  church.  Eunuchs 
were  provided  in  order  to  supply  cathedral  choirs  with 
soprano  tones. 

It  was  forbidden  woman  to  enter  monasteries ;  and 
sometimes  even  churches. 

Her  children  were  not  her  own,  but  those  of  a  master, 
for  whose  interest  or  pleasure  she  had  given  them  birth. 

The  common  law  maintained  that  the  confession  of  a 
guilty  woman  could  not  be  received  as  evidence  against 
her  accomplice,  although  it  held  good  against  herself, 
and  the  punishment  due  to  both  was  made  to  fall  on  the 
woman  alone. 

Charles  VI.  forbade  that  the  testimony  of  women 
should  be  received  in  his  courts. 

The  duty  of  woman  to  obey,  not  alone  her  male  rela- 
tives, but  all  men,  by  virtue  of  their  sex,  was  sedulously 
inculcated. 

The  confessional  was  a  source  of  great  corruption  both 
to  priest  and  woman.  It  was  held  that  the  loss  of  chastity 
in  woman  was  a  light  sin  in  comparison  to  the  degradation 
that  marriage  would  bring  to  a  priest. 

That  Jesus  did  not  enter  the  world  through  the  mar- 


480  FOUR    HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

riage  relation  stamped  Avitli  Christian  honor  a  system  of 
concubinage  in  the  church,  for  whose  warrant  women  were 
pointed  to  the  Virgin  Mary. 

The  canon  law  decreed,  "  No  woman  shall  aj)proach 
the  altar."  "A  woman  may  not  baptize  without  extreme 
necessity."  Women  were  forbidden  to  write  in  their  own 
name,  or  to  receive  letters  of  friendship  from  any  one  ad- 
dressed only  to  themselves.  Sisters  were  not  allowed  to 
inherit  with  brothers.  In  entering  marriage  the  wife  was 
compelled  to  surrender  her  name,  her  property,  and  the 
control  of  her  person.  Conviction  of  the  husband  of  a 
capital  crime  gave  the  wife  no  release  from  the  marriage 
bond ;  3'et,  in  the  case  of  the  husband's  treason,  his  inno- 
cent wife  and  children  were  robbed  of  all  share  in  the 
estate,  and  reduced  to  beggary.  Woman  was  burnt  alive 
for  a  crime  whose  only  punishment  for  man  was  a  few 
months'  imprisonment.  A  woman  could  not  attest  a  will. 
It  required  the  oath  of  seven  women  to  nullify  that  of  one 
layman. 

Canon  law  gave  the  husband  the  power  of  compelling 
his  wife's  return  if,  for  any  cause,  she  left  him.  She  was 
then  in  the  position  of  an  outlaw,  branded  as  a  runaway. 
It  was  a  crime  for  anyone  to  aid  her.  Less  than  fifty  years 
ago  in  New  York  a  husband  recovered  $10,000  damages 
against  parties  who  gave  shelter  to  his  wife  after  she  left 
him.  It  was  in  the  husband's  power,  in  every  part  of 
-Christian  Europe  and  America,  to  repudiate  any  bargain, 
sale,  or  gift,  made  by  the  wife,  as  of  no  binding  legal  force, 
and  this,  even  though  she  had  brought  the  entire  proj)erty 
into  the  marital  firm. 

Luther's  ninety  theses  contained  no  assertion  of  the 
natural  or  religious  equality  of  woman  with  man.  It  was 
his  maxim  that  "  no  gown  or  garment  worse  becomes  a 
tvoman  than  that  she  will  be  wise." 

The  Puritans  brought  no  amelioration  to  woman. 
There  were  still  warnings  against  her  extreme  sinfulness. 


J.    K.    KKMiSBL'RU  (p    7!>U). 


WOMAN  AND  THE  STATE.  481 

Learning  and  accomplishments  for  women  were  under  rep- 
robation. It  was  said,  "  She  that  knoweth  how  to  com- 
pound a  pudding  is  more  desirable  than  she  who  skillfully 
compoundeth  a  poem."  Woman  was  made  for  the  pleasure 
of  gluttons.  She  made  her  first  entrance  into  literature 
through  a  cook-book. 

It  is  needless  to  record  further  the  disgraces  heaped 
upon  woman  by  the  church. 

Woman  and  the  State. 

The  state,  for  the  advantage  of  despotism,  and  influ- 
enced by  the  church,  has  degraded  woman  through  the 
Christian  centuries. 

Helen  H.  Gardener  says  : 

"It  is  a  significant  fact  that,  of  all  the  Christian  coun- 
tries, in  those  where  the  church  stands  highest,  and  has 
most  power,  women  rank  lowest,  and  have  fewest  rights 
accorded  them,  whether  of  personal  liberty  or  proprietary 
interest." 

It  was  not  until  the  tenth  century  in  England  that  a 
daughter  had  a  right  to  reject  a  husband  selected  for  her 
by  her  father. 

It  was  not  until  the  same  century  that  a  wife  acquired 
the  right  of  eating  at  the  same  table  with  her  husband. 

For  many  hundred  years  the  law  bound  out  to  servile 
labor  all  unmarried  women  between  the  ages  of  eleven  and 
forty.  Wives  in  England  were  bought  during  these  cent- 
uries. 

As  late  as  the  seventeenth  century  husbands  beat  their 
wives.  It  was  not  until  1817  that  the  public  whipping  of 
women  was  abolished  in  England. 

Blackstone  says  :  "  By  marriage  the  husband  and  wife 
are  one  person  in  law,  that  is,  the  very  being  or  legal 
existence  of  the  woman  is  suspended  during  the  marriage." 

The  law  known  as  marquette  compelled  newly  married 
women  to  a  most  dishonorable  servitude.     They  were  re- 


482  FOUR   HUNDRED   YKARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

garded.as  the  rightful  prey  of  the  feudal  lord  from  one  to 
three  days  after  their  marriage.  France,  Germany,  Prussia, 
Englanil,  Scotland,  and  all  Christian  countries,  where  feu- 
dalism existed,  held  to  the  enfoi  '-ement  of  marquette. 

"  In  England,  wives  are  still  occasionally  led  to  the 
market  by  a  halter  around   the  neck,"  said  Buckle. 

During  the  reign  of  the  present  sovereign,  a  youug  girl 
was  ordered  l)y  the  Petty  Sessions  Bench  back  to  the  ser- 
vice of  a  landlord,  from  whom  she  had  run  away,  because 
such  service  meant  the  sacrifice  of  her  honor.  She  re- 
fused to  go  and  was  ])ut  in  jail. 

In  Indiana,  in  1879,  it  was  decided  by  the  court — 

First :  That  the  husband  had  a  property  interest  in  his 
wife,  which  the  wife  does  not  possess  in  the  husband. 

Second :  That  the  law  protects  him  in  his  right  of 
property  in  her. 

Tliird  :  Upon  the  ground  that  he  holds  her,  and  dares 
the  world  to  meddle  with  him  in  the  holding. 

Fourth  :  On  the  contrary,  the  wife  looks  alone  to  the 
husband,  the  law  compelling  iier  to  do  so. 

In  1890  the  press  of  New  York  city  reported  the  case 
of  a  woman  who  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  Sur- 
rogate Court  for  a  funeral  debt.  Being  in  confinement, 
she  was  unable  to  appear.  Tliereupon  an  order  for  her 
arrest  for  contempt  of  court  was  issued,  and  while  uine- 
covered  from  her  illness  she  was  arrested  and  incarcerated 
in  Ludlow  street  jail.  Her  newly-born  babe,  deprived  of 
its  mother's  care,  sickened  and  died. 

A  few  vears  since,  in  Massachusetts,  an  action  for 
cruelty  on  the  part  of  a  husband  came  before  a  court,  the 
charge  being  tliat  he  came  home  one  night  in  February, 
when  the  thermometer  was  ten  degrees  below  zero,  and 
turned  his  wife  and  little  child,  with  his  wife's  mother  of 
eighty,  out  of  the  house.  While  the  wife  was  giving  testi- 
mon}^  the  judge  interrupted,  saying  : 

"  The   husband    had   a   right  to  do  so.     There  was  a 


WOMAN   BEFORE  CHRISTIANITY.  483 

quarrel  between  the  husband  and  wife,  and  he  had  a  legal 
right  to  turn  her  out  and  take  possession  of  the  house,  and 
that  was  not  cruelty." 

The  following  notice  appeared  in  a  Kansas  paper  in 
1866 : 

"A  Fifty-Dollar  Capture. — A.  woman  who  ran  away 
from  her  husband  at  Lawrence  some  time  ago,  was  found 
at  Fort  Leavenworth  yesterday  by  a  Lawrence  detective 
and  taken  back  to  her  home.  The  ofl&cer  received  a 
reward   of  fifty  dollars  for  her  capture." 

During  the  famous  Beecher  trial  William  M.  Evarts 
defined  woman's  legal  position  as  one  of  subordination  to 
man,  declaring  "  that,  notwithstanding  changing  customs 
and  the  amenities  of  modern  life,  women  were  not  free, 
but  were  held  in  the  hollow  of  man's  hand,  to  be  crushed 
at  his  win." 

S.uch  is  the  servile  condition  of  woman  in  a  Christian 
country,  under  the  influence  of  Christian  teachings,  the 
church  and  the  Bible. 

Woman  Before  Christianity. 

The  ancient  Hindoo  books  say  : 

"  He  who  despises  a  woman  despises  his  mother. 

"  Evil  to  him  who  laughs  at  a  woman's  sufferings. 

"  There  is  no  crime  more  odious  than  to  persecute  a 
woman. 

"  When  women  are  honored  the  divinities  are  content. 

'"All  the  wisdom  of  the  Vedas  and  all  that  has  been 
written  in  books  is  to  be  found  concealed  in  the  heart  of  a 
woman." 

Says  Maine  :  "The  ancient  Hindoo  law  secured  to  mar- 
ried women  an  even  greater  degree  of  proprietary  inde- 
pendence than  that  given  to  them  by  modern  English 
law." 

All  orders  of  priesthood  were  open  to  women  in  Egypt. 


484  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Sacred  colleges  existed  for  them,  and  they  performed  the 
most  hol}^  offices  of  religion. 

Upon  the  monuments  of  Egj-pt  queens  alone  are  found 
wearing  the  triple  crown,  significant  of  ecclesiastical,  ju- 
dicial, and  civil  power. 

Of  woman's  position  under  Roman  law,  Maine  says: 

"  The  jurisconsults  had  evidently  at  this  time  assumed 
the  equality  of  the  sexes  as  a  principle  of  the  law  of 
equity.  The  situation  of  the  Roman  woman,  whether 
married  or  single,  became  one  of  great  personal  and  pro- 
prietary independence  ;  but  Christianity  tended  from  the 
commencement  to  narrow  this  remarkable  liberty.  No 
society  which  preserves  any  tincture  of  Christian  institu- 
tions is  likely  to  restore  to  married  women  the  personal 
liberty  conferred  on  them  by  middle  Roman  law.  Canou 
law  has  deeply  injured  civilization." 

Chinese  women  can  read  and  write,  and  when  a  husband 
wishes  to  do  anything  he  consults  his  wife,  and  when  the 
son  comes  home,  although  he  may  be  prime  minister,  he 
shows  his  respect  to  his  mother  by  bending  the  knee. 
Woman  is  endowed  with  the  same  political  powers  as 
man. 

xVraong  the  Finns,  before  their  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity, the  mother  of  a  family  took  precedence  of  the 
father  in  the  rites  of  domestic  worship. 

In  ancient  Germany  and  Scandinavia  women  were 
treated  with  intinite  respect.  Gods  and  goddesses  sat 
together  without  distinction  of  sex. 

Christianity  has  thus  been  a  double  curse  to  woman, 
depriving  her  of  rights  and  liberties  already  possessed, 
while  perpetuating  her  degradation  and  servitude,  and 
giving  new  reasons  why  she  should  be  looked  upon  and 
treated  with  contempt.  Christianity  has  not  only  been  a 
tyrant  to  woman,  but  has  corrupted  and  debased  her  nature 
itself.  Christianity  has  not  only  made  woman  a  slave,  but 
has  branded  her  very  sex  with  infamy. 


woman  herself  485 

Woman  Herself. 

But  notwithstanding  all  that  woman  has  endured  she 
lias  given  the  world  an  illustrious  record.  In  every  domain 
-of  human  activity  she  has  shown  herself  fully  equal  to 
man  ;  and  there  will  be  no  true  civilization  until  this 
equality  is  thoroughly  recognized  in  law,  custom,  business, 
and  morals.  Woman  is  not  in  any  sense  inferior  to  man. 
"She  is  in  all  respects  a  human  being.  The  rights  of  man 
are  her  rights.  Man  is  not  superior  in  anything,  not  even 
in  physical  strength,  if  we  use  physical  strength  in  its 
most  comprehensive  signification,  as  including  health  and 
■endurance,  and  capacity  to  resist  disease  and  suffering. 
There  is  not  a  single  thing  that  man  has  done  but  what 
woman  has  done,  in  spite  of  her  crushing  environments. 
In  poetry,  art,  government,  war,  discovery,  invention,  in- 
dustry, woman  has  shown  exactly  the  same  capacity  as 
man. 

Woman  and  man  are  essentially  one  being.  They  have 
the  same  origin,  the  same  qualities.  In  mental  and  uni- 
-versal  life  there  is  no  distinction  of  sex.  The  liberty  of 
man  sliould  be  the  liberty  of  woman.  Woman  should  be 
^nd  do  whatever  she  wishes  to  be  and  do,  with  no  other 
limitation  than  the  same  equal  rights  of  all  others. 
Woman  hereafter  will  not  be  treated  as  a  woman  simply, 
T3ut  as  a  human  being,  with  the  capacities,  rights,  priv- 
ileges, honors,  opportunities,  and  resjDect  due  to  every 
other  human  being. 

.  However,  it  is  only  necessary  to  show  what  woman  has 
:actually  done  to  demonstrate  that  in  her  is  the  full  stature 
of  humanity;  that  she  is  not  lacking  in  any  talent  or 
genius.  Woman  has  wonderfully  contributed  to  the  his- 
tory of  Freethought. 

Amidst  the  tumults  of  the  French  Revolution,  equal 
to  the  most  courageous,  the  most  eloquent,  the  most 
.-statesmanlike,  the  most  far-seeing,  shines  the  pure  and 


486  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  O?  FREETHOUGHT. 

lofty  genius  of  Madame  Roland.  She  is  one  of  the  greatest 
names  in  the  history  of  that  glorious  and  terrible  period. 
She  was  a  martyr  to  tha^t  liberty  she  loved  so  well  and 
which  was  the  illumination  of  her  brief,  pathetic  life.  She 
is  now  an  inspiration  to  all  ages,  with  her 

"That  taught  the  Sabino  how  to  rule,  and  she 
The  foundress  of  the  Babylonian  wall. 
The  Carian  Artemesia,  strom^  in  war, 
The  Rhodope  that  built  the  pyramid, 
Clelia,  Cornelia  ;  and  with  the  Palmyrene 
That  fought  Aurelian." 

Mary  Wollstonecraft !  What  a  name  that  is  to  conjure 
with,  if  one  wishes  to  behold  the  brightest  and  noblest 
pages  of  human  history ;  a  name  immortal  with  the  '•  Vin- 
dication of  the  Rights  of  Woman."  She  stands  like  a 
radiant  prophetess  at  the  opening  of  woman's  new  career. 
The  darkness  of  the  past  falls  upon  her,  its  oppression 
and  sorrow,  but  m  her  beautiful  face  shines  the  dawning 
of  that  day  which,  both  for  man  and  woman,  shall  be  the 
most  splendid  of  all  the  ages. 

Madame  de  Stael  shook  the  throne  of  Napc^leon.  The 
tyrant  feared  her  more  than  a  thousand  cannon,  and  he  had 
reason  to,  for  she  had  more  brains  than  this  imperial 
humbug.  She  was  the  "  better  man "  of  the  two.  Slie 
had  a  deeper  insight  into  universal  humanity,  into  truth, 
into  science,  and  into  progress.  She  understood  Napo- 
leon. She  penetrated  through  his  mask  of  glittering  and 
martial  mendacity.  She  knew  him  to  be  a  braggart,  and 
that  he  dazzled  France  with  fictitious  virtues  and  victories. 
He  was  a  colossal  liar.  His  war  bulletins  are  grotesque 
to-day  with  their  declamatory  fictions.  He  might  deceive 
men,  but  this  woman  was  too  wise  and  great  for  him.  He 
feared  her  tongue,  her  pen,  her  unsurpassed  intellectual 
keenness  and  vivacity. 

Mary   Somerville,   who  read  the   stars,  who   measured 


WOMAN  HERSELF.  487 

the  universe,  adorns  with  grace  and  splendor  the  pathway 
of  human  knowledge.  She  wanted  no  priest  to  guide  her 
into  the  truth. 

Frances  Wright,  one  of  the  world's  great  teachers  and 
reformers,  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  Freethinkers 
of  her  day.  She  was  gracious  and  attractive  in  mind  and 
person.  Checked,  on  one  occasion,  in  her  eager  inquiries, 
she  answered,  "Can  truth  be  dangerous?"  And  man  re- 
plied, "It  is  thought  so."  She  found  that  men  were  afraid 
of  the  truth  ;  but  she  was  not.  At  the  age  of  nineteen 
she  wrote  her  first  work,  "A  Few  Days  in  Athens,"  a  noble 
and  spirited  contribution  to  Freethought  literature,  one 
of  the  wisest  and  best  books  ever  written,  sparkling  with 
genius  and  learning. 

America  was  the  cherished  country  of  her  enthusiasm, 
and  she  adopted  it  as  her  own.  She  was  a  devoted  adhe- 
rent of  the  antislavery  cause,  and  met  the  attacks  of  the 
church  with  extraordinary  courage.  Like  Thomas  Paine, 
in  both  world's  she  was  the  apostle  of  Freedom,  and  she 
rivals  his  illustrious  fame. 

Harriet  Martineau,  who  was  thorough-going  Atheist, 
who  was  not  afraid  to  say  so ;  and  who  declared  that  every 
conception  of  God  was  degrading  and  offensive  to  her 
mind ;  and  whose  delight,  as  she  herself  expressed  it,  was 
to  roam  over  "  the  unfenced  universe  ;"  this  woman  was 
one  of  the  most  prolific  writers  of  the  century.  Her  works 
are  manifold,  and  touch  upon  almost  every  question  of 
human  interest.  No  one  has  exerted  a  more  extensive  in- 
fluence. Her  literary  style  is  charming,  painting  nature 
in  vivid  and  faithful  colors,  with  the  vision  of  a  poet  and 
the  mind  of  a  philosopher.  She  was  the  equal  of  any  man 
of  her  time  in  variety  of  accomplishments,  vast  learning, 
felicity  of  expression,  and  range  of  thought.  She  could 
write  leading  editorials  with  the  vigor  of  a  Greeley  and 
the  elegance  of  a  Raymond ;  brilliant  novels,  political 
essays,  and  philosophical  disquisitions.     She  was  a  noble 


488  rOUK   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

-defender  of  our  Union  in  the  great  civil  war.  She  kept 
the  heart  of  England  warm  for  liberty  and  justice.  She 
was  the  friend  of  the  down-trodden,  and  she  dared  to  ex- 
press the  most  unpopular  convictions.  She  was  always  at 
the  front  in  reform,  and  in  age  and  sickness  there  was  no 
•diminution  of  her  splendid  powers. 

When  we  come  into  the  presence  of  George  Sand,  the 
glory  of  a  great  woman  is  apparent,  the  splendor  of  a  uni- 
versal genius.  Simply  as  genius,  we  might  say  with  truth 
"that  George  Sand  is  the  greatest  of  her  sex.  What  exqui- 
site sympathy  with  life  pervades  her  pages  !  What  tran- 
scripts of  nature  are  there,  fresh  as  morning's  dew  !  What 
a  gift  of  story-telling,  like  that  of  Homer  himself!  What 
subtle  delineations  of  character,  as  if  she  wrote  with  the 
living  pen  of  Shakspere !  Man  and  woman,  too,  are  real 
and  true  in  her  vivid  pictures.  Strength,  passion,  melody, 
action,  contemplation,  hights,  depths,  wide  surveys,  gloom, 
magnificence,  tenderness,  learning,  wisdom,  and  nobility 
are  in  the  fruitage  of  her  extraordinary  mind.  She  need 
not  say  :  "  I  am  a  woman,"  to  win  admiration  and  applause. 
She  need  simply  say :  "  I  am  a  human  being,"  and  on  her 
■shines  the  crown  to  which  the  greatest  might  still  aspire, 
T3e  it  man  or  woman.  Genius  has  no  sex,  and  in  George 
Sand  shines  this  supremacy  of  intellectual  power. 

If  with  lesser  hight,  George  Eliot  shines  in  the  em- 
pyrean of  pure  genius,  she  seems  to  have  a  broader  basis 
of  intellectual  attainment.  She  seems  the  most  learned 
woman  of  her  times ;  and  her  vast  learning  sometimes 
•overweighs  her  genius,  as  in  the  case  of  Milton,  and  she  is 
•stiff  and  pedantic  occasionally.  There  is  a  "  carpentry  of 
words,"  and  not  spontaneous  flow.  And  she  lacks  through- 
■out  her  writings  the  perfect  rhythmic  quality  of  the 
highest  poetry ;  but  this  scarcely  detracts  from  the  prod- 
igality  of  her  shining  pages,   in  which  every  word  is  a 


WOMAN'S  EMANCIPATION.  4.39 

pure  diamond,  flashing  thought.  Surely  no  one  has  more 
subtly  analyzed  the  breast  of  man,  its  moving  passions, 
its  secret  ambitions,  its  unsuspected  motives,  its  sly  de- 
sires, almost  eluding  the  light  of  consciousness ;  its  pious 
depravity  and  secular  nobleness.  Her  great  characters 
are  of  this  world.  The  gods  and  angels  play  no  part. 
There  is  no  fairy  land,  no  heaven  or  hell,  but  varied  and 
abounding  humanity,  and  the  real  aspects  of  this  earth. 
George  Eliot  has  the  '"folk-lore"  in  her  stories.  She 
draws  her  material  from  the  very  home-life  of  man.  She 
sees  the  grandeur  and  the  pathos  of  the  common  lot. 
She  makes  majestic  the  sorrows  of  the  weak,  crushed  by 
fate.  Like  Shakspere,  she  is  not  partial.  She  judges 
not.  She  simply  reports  the  case  exactly  as  it  happened 
according  to  Nature's  forces.  She  unrolls  the  inevitable 
drama.  No  prose  writer  in  the  English  language  sur- 
passes George  Eliot  in  breadth  of  vision,  in  that  wit  which 
is  reasoning  indeed  ;  in  humor  that  is  like  the  fireside 
glow;  in  iulelityto  every-day  fact ;  in  portrayal  of  human- 
ity, fixed  and  swerved,  tossed  and  chained,  dissipated  and 
ennobled  by  those  facts  ;  in  unfolding  nature's  sublime 
and  awful  retribution  ;  in  tracing  the  history  of  character, 
its  tragedy,  its  victory  ;  in  following  the  march  of  destiny 
evolved  from  human  action  ;  and  in  the  warp  and  woof  of 
man's  eternal  struggle,  weaving  the  colors  and  glories  tliat 
make  hope  for  the  boundless  future.  Woman  needs  no 
other  representative  than  George  Eliot  to  attest  her  ample 
equality  with  the  most  sovereign  powers  of  man. 

The  name  of  Elizabeth  Bai*rett  Browning  brings  to  our 
mind  a  throng  of  gifted  poets ;  and  she  the  greatest  of 
them  all,  the  peer  of  Milton  himself,  and  towering  even  to 
the  dazzling  hights  of  Shakspere  and  Goethe.  Johanna 
Baillie,  one  of  the  most  vigorous  of  dramatic  poets,  begins 
the  splendid  dawn  of  woman's  genius  in  England,  with 
Mrs.  Hemans,  whose  songs  of  pure  emotion  are  among 
the  sweetest  in  the  language ;  Miss  Landon,  who  passed 


490  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

away  like  a  meteor  ;  Frances  Brown,  who  poured  forth 
mehxly  from  her  blinded  world  ;  Mrs.  Howett,  Mrs.  Nor- 
ton, Eliza  Cook,  sparkle  with  brightness  and  delicacy, 
although  we  behold  not  the  vastness  and  grandeur  of 
man's  highest  genius. 

Elizabetli  Barrett  Browning,  however,  is  a  genius  of 
the  highest  order,  like  Sappho,  like  Hypatia,  in  whom 
burns  the  spirit  of  poesy  until  it  seems  as  if  the  frail  form 
could  scarce  entlure  the  radiance  ;  until  love  came,  and 
poetry  and  life  Avere  one.  And  who  lias  sung  so  sweetly 
of  love  as  this  impassioned  being  whose  sonnets  are,  like 
Shakspere's  own,  natural  blossoms  of  the  heart?  And  who 
is  more  deeply  sympathetic  with  libertv,  and  who  has  sung 
grander  strains  for  a  free  Italy?  In  her  translation  of 
"Prometheus,"  she  caught  the  very  spirit  of  Greek  poetry 
like  Shelley  himself.  In  the  "Drama  of  Exile"  she 
rivaled  Milton  and  Byron  in  splendor  of  language  and 
loftiness  of  thought,  while  the  deep  heart  of  woman  finds 
richer  play.  In  ''  Aurora  Leigh  "  she  displays  an  origi- 
nality of  ideas,  a  knowledge  of  the  world,  brilliancy  of 
learning,  and  descriptive  and  dramatic  energy,  which  attest 
the  manifoldness  of  her  intellectual  nature.  Mrs.  Brown- 
ing is  a  philosopher,  a  critic,  a  thinker,  as  well  as  a  singer. 
She  gathers  together  an  immense  amount  of  material,  and 
shapes  and  vivifies  it  with  the  creative  ardor  of  her  imag- 
ination, and  simply  as  a  poet  she  ranks  as  the  greatest  of 
women. 

In  the  world  of  action  and  reform  Annie  Besant  ap- 
pears pre-eminent,  as  Mrs.  Browning  in  the  world  of 
poetrv,  and  George  Sand  and  George  Eliot  in  the  world 
of  romance.  Whatever  one  may  think  of  her  philosophical 
opinions,  it  can  detract  nothing  from  that  which  she  act- 
ually does,  for  the  glory  of  Annie  Besant  is  not  in  Avhat 
she  believes,  but  in  wdiat  she  achieves.  Philosoph- 
ically, she  seems  to  be  the  child  of  emotion,  and  floats 
away  into  the  realms  of  transcendental  faith ;  but  some  of 


WOMAN'S  EMANCIPATION.  491 

the  greatest  men  have  done  this,  and  it  does  not  seem  to 
be  a  strictly  woman's  characteristic.  It  seems  that  man  is 
as  much  the  victim  of  a  passional  aberration  as  woman,  and 
man,  for  thousands  of  years,  has  busied  himself  with 
building  up  intellectual  edifices  on  nothing  at  all.  Woman 
does  not  show  any  more  weakness  in  this  direction  than 
the  stronger  sex. 

Annie  Besant  is  not  to  be  judged  simply  by  what  she 
thinks,  but  by  what  she  is,  by  her  character  and  her  accom- 
plishments, and  viewed  in  this  way,  both  for  Ijer  own  sex 
and  for  man,  she  has  achieved  brilliant  results.  She  is  a 
woman  of  great  mental  capacity,  of  untiring  perseverance, 
of  magnificent  courage.  She  is,  in  her  way,  like  Bradlaugh, 
an  intellectual  athlete-  No  woman  has  attained  more 
shining  stores  of  knowledge,  or  used  them  more  for  the 
benefit  of  liumanity.  She  is  a  worker,  even  if  she  is  a 
dreamer.  She  wrestles  with  the  gigantic  problems  of  toil 
and  suffering.  She  would  ameliorate  the  conditions  of 
struggling  humanity — here  and  now.  She  is  utterly  op- 
posed to  the  heaven  of  orthodoxy,  its  golden  crown,  and 
golden  harp.  She  plunges  into  the  battle  of  human  life — 
a  soldier  true  and  brave.  Quick,  keen,  sympathetic,  heroic, 
gifted  witli  eloquence,  a  radiant  personality,  a  leader  more 
than  any  queen  clothed  in  purple,  she  certainly  is  to  be 
honored  and  admired  for  her  indomitable  spirit  antl  devo- 
tion to  practical  liberty  and  justice.  Let  lier  enjoy  her 
dreamland,  so  long  as  she  presses  forward  with  the  pio- 
neers of  human  progress,  and  does  her  duty  like  a  man. 
She  has  the  equipment  and  daring  of  the  best  knights  of 
them  all. 

And  we  must  not  omit  in  our  annals  that  gentle  re- 
former, Emma  Martin,  in  whom  on  English  soil  we  almost 
beheld  again  the  beautiful  genius  of  Madame  Roland,  a 
strong,  brave  woman,  of  remarkable  gifts,  of  noble  elo- 
quence, who  from  tlie  darkness  of  the  old  theology,  having 
found  the  difficult  way,  would  give  to  others  tlie  benefit  of 


492  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

her  earnest  endeavor,  willing  to  sacrifice  all,  if  truth  and 
freedom  might  prevail.  With  scarcely  any  outward  ad- 
vantages, her  life  a  struggle,  she  won  by  simple  sincerity, 
quiet  courage,  and  illustrious  character,  a  fame  which,  if 
not  the  greatest,  is  a  mild  and  beaming  influence  that  the 
world  will  "  not  willingly  let  die."  And  of  how  many 
women  the  same  record  can  be  made ! 

What  a  brilliant  figure,  what  a  great  heart,  and  brain, 
what  a  tremendous  force,  like  lightning  in  a  dew-drop, 
appears  in  the  tragic  glory  of  Sophia  Petrofsky  !  Here 
is  one  born  to  command.  No  frame  of  iron  ever  held 
such  a  will.  No  warrior  ever  led  an  army  with  more  skill, 
more  energy,  more  personal  eclat  than  she  swayed  her 
revolutionary  bands.  What  a  blow  she  struck  for  free- 
dom, whose  terrific  notes  will  never  cease  until  oppression 
is  overthrown  !  She  matched  herself  with  a  czar,  and  the 
czar  fell.  She  triumphs,  and  stars  death  with  her  im- 
mortal beauty.  She  was  not  a  creature  of  impulse,  but 
calm  as  Jove  himself.  With  imperial  intellect  she  changed 
the  destinies  of  a  mighty  nation.  She  let  loose  the  thun- 
ders of  justice  on  the  colossal  criminal  of  the  age.  She 
was  the  executioner,  stainless  as  truth  itself.  Amid  the 
world's  resplendent  martyrs  none  will  make  history  more 
sweet  and  inspiring.  To  the  world's  future  she  has  be- 
queathed a  wealth  of  hope  and  dauntless  resolution. 

'■  Her  spirit  walks  abroad 
And  doth  augment  those  deep  and  sweeping  thoughts 
Which  overpower  all  others  and  conduct 
The  world  at  last  to  freedom." 

The  roll  of  European  women  is  not  complete  without 
the  Bronte  sisters,  whose  genius  is  one  of  the  marvels  of 
modern  times,  for  out  of  that  desolate  country  in  which 
they  lived  how  could  such  luxuriant  foliage  bloom ;  how 
could  such  golden  streams  be  poured  forth  ?  In  woman, 
as  in  man,  is  that  unexplained  faculty  of  transcending  cir- 


J.   D.  SHAW  (p.   804). 


WOMAN'S  EMANCIPATION.  493 

cumstance  wliich  is  one  of  the  prodigies  of  literary  life,  as 
in  the  case  of  Chatterton,  Keats,  Burns,  and  these  wonderful 
sisters  who  have  so  enriched  the  world. 

And  shining  with  almost  a  century's  brightness,  and 
dying  like  a  swan  in  song,  is  Caroline  Herschel,  who  could 
discover  comets  as  easily  as  most  men  can  discover  their 
superiority  to  the  weaker  sex,  only  the  comets  were  real, 
while  the  "  superiority  "  is  a  vanishing  point. 

Certainly  America  has  contributed  her  share  to  the 
glory  of  woman's  emancipation.  Slie  may  well  be  proud 
of  Margaret  Fuller,  whose  luster  is  not  diminished  even 
amidst  the  constellations  of  New  England's  literary  hea- 
ven. She  shines  by  no  reflected  light.  She  was  not  a 
"frail  vine"  clinging  to  some  manly  "oak."  She  was  an 
independent  woman.  She  needed  not  to  learn  wisdom  at 
home.  She  learned  it  from  the  whole  universe  ;  and  she 
could  have  wrestled  with  St.  Paul  on  theological  questions, 
and  won  the  laurels  on  many  points.  Like  Madame  de 
Stael,  she  could.  t;dk;  and  I  wish  some  of  tlie  old  theo- 
logians could  have  had  the  benefit  of  her  flow  of  speech, 
radiant  with  ideas,  which  would  have  converted  some  of 
them  even  more  suddenly  than  St.  Paul  was  converted  by 
a  burst  of  sunshine  on  his  journey.  Margaret  Fuller  is 
something  of  an  elemental  force.  She  shoots  up  from 
New  England  soil  like  a  precipice,  with  gloom  and  beauty 
both.  She  astonishes  with  her  strength  and  loftiness. 
And  when  the  dark  hour  came,  and  the  hungry  waves 
sought  her  fair  head,  with  what  beautiful  heroism  the 
dread  and  mighty  doom  was  confronted ;  with  a  tender- 
ness and  sublimity  born  of  genius  and  love. 

Lucretia  Mott  blooms  like  a  lily  with  its  "  heart  of 
fire.''  What  a  force  was  concentrated  in  that  gentle 
womanhood  !  Man  might  think  he  could  crush  that  frail 
body,  but  it  was  stronger  than  his  cannon.  Simple,  plain, 
unobtrusive,  soft-voiced,  from  her  silvery  speech  what 
lightnings  flamed  against  the  old  obstructions  ! 


494  FOUR  HUNDRED  TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

Ljdia  Maria  Child  does  not  take  an  inferior  place  be- 
side the  great  historians.  In  her  "  Progress  of  Religious 
Ideas,"  she  displays  a  candor,  a  research,  a  courage,  a  lit- 
erary capacity,  which  ranks  her  with  the  best  authors. 
She  occupied  a  foremost  position  in  the  antislaverj 
struggle,  and  though  a  favorite  of  the  wealth  and  culture 
of  New  England,  she  dared  to  peril  her  popularity  iu  a 
plea  for  the  millions  in  chains,  whose  oppression  was  sanc- 
tioned by  fashiou,  church,  the  political  powers,  and  the 
so-called  cultivated  literature  of  the  day.  She  was  willing^ 
to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  battle  with  the  ostracized  mi- 
nority. 

Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  and  Susan  B.  Anthony  shin© 
like  two  twin  stars  in  the  galaxy  of  progress.  Through 
what  varied  fortunes  they  have  passed,  with  equanimity 
and  success.  They  have  both  shown  the  great  qualities 
of  leadership.  They  sought  not  the  sanction  of  the 
church.  They  dared  to  combat  its  hoary  authorities. 
Tliey  have  performed  an  incalculable  service  both  to  man 
and  woman.  They  have  labored  for  universal  liberty. 
Their  victory  against  the  greatest  obstacles  is  one  of  the 
noblest  records  of  the  time.  Their  wanderings  have  been 
as  wide  as  those  of  Ulysses,  and  the  old  Greek  did  not 
attain  to  greater  wisdom  or  deserve  a  greater  renown 
than  these  indefatigable  pioneers.  They  compel  the  ad- 
miration even  of  their  opponents. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  in  addition  to  her  wonderful 
literary  capacity  which  places  her  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
world's  novelists,  has  shown  a  remarkable  breadth  of 
judgment.  It  is  said  that  woman  cannot  look  upon  both 
sides  of  a  question.  But  Mrs.  Stowe  has  shown  the 
falsity  of  this  assumption.  No  one  has  given  the  South  a- 
fairer  treatment  than  this  earnest  and  delightful  writer^ 
whose  humor  is  equal  to  her  sense  of  justice.  She  recog- 
nized that  both  North  and  South  wei'e  blended  iu  this  great 
crime,   and    the    guilt  was   national.     Massachusetts   sold. 


WOMAN'S  EMANCIPATION.  495 

white  children  into  slavery.  I  do  not  remember  that  any 
southern  state  ever  did  anything  of  this  sort.  Mrs.  Stowe, 
like  her  brother,  the  eccentric  Henry,  has  given  the  Puri- 
tans some  pretty  hard  hits  ;  and  been  ready  to  acknowl- 
edge the  virtues  of  the  cavalier. 

Those  who  have  listened  to  Ernestine  L.  Rose  remem- 
ber the  vivacity  and  power  of  her  imaginative  eloquence. 
She  reminds  one  of  Shakspere's  Rosalind  in  the  charming 
sallies  of  her  wit.  Certainly  no  orthodox  man  could  meet 
her  successfully  in  the  arena  of  debate.  One  must  be  well 
equipped,  and  have  his  quarrel  just,  to  win  against  so 
brilliant  an  antagonist.  Her  eventful  life  closed  in  the 
radiance  of  a  golden  evening  which  will  broaden  on  the 
skies  of  fame  to  a  lasting  glow. 

And  let  us  not  forget  in  the  New  World  roll  of  honor 
Sally  Bush,  the  good  step-mother  of  xlbraham  Lincoln, 
the  first  inspiration  in  his  toilsome  and  lonely  youth. 
Who  can  tell  the  influence  of  this  brave  and  cultivated 
woman  on  the  awkward  lad  who,  in  her  example,  first  saw 
the  real  worth  of  life,  and  the  graces  of  that  civilization 
far  beyond  his  humble  home  in  the  wilderness? 

x4,bby  Keiley,  with  impassioned,  war-like  spirit,  though 
of  Quaker  blood  ;  i\.my  Post,  a  limpid  stream  onflowing, 
"unresting,  unhasting;"  Lucy  N.  Colmau,  in  whom  the 
ardor  of  youth  finds  no  ashes  in  snowy  age,  and  the  silver 
morn  is  radiant  ever  ;  the  Grimke  sisters,  like  the  north 
star,  glittering  on  the  dusky  pathway  of  freedom  ;  Matilda 
Joslyn  Gage,  who  flings  the  gauntlet  down  to  church 
and  state,  and  rings  the  clarion  note  for  justice ;  and 
Helen  H.  Gardener,  diamond-like  in  intellectual  grace,  who 
seems  to  carry  Aladdin's  lamp  and  flashes  into  hidden 
corners  the  stream  of  knowledge,  and  darkness  discloses 
its  secret  of  wealth  or  curses  ;  these  shining  names  declare 
not  simply  the  greatness  of  woman's  heart,  her  enthusiasm, 
her  devotion,  her  courage,  but  also  the  amplitude  of  her 


496  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

intellect,  the  abundance  of  her  thought,  the  variety  of  her 

faculties,  and  the  loftiness  of  her  achievements. 

Susan  H.  Wixon,  who  both  in  education  and  literature 
has  nobh'  advanced  Freethought,  thus  speaks  for  her 
advancing  sex  : 

"  In  the  beginning  of  the  century  there  were  but  seven 
occupations  open  to  women.  Now  there  are  nearly  four 
hundred,  in  any  one  of  wliich  she  can  earn  a  living. 

"  Woman  is  practicing  law  in  sixteen  states  and  three 
territories  in  this  union.  Nearly  two  hundred  pulpits  are 
occupied  by  women.  There  are  six  medical  colleges  ex- 
clusively for  women,  and  thirty-six  in  which  they  share 
instruction  with  her  brothers.  This  has  placed  three 
thousand  women  in  active  medical  practice.  Two  hundred 
and  four  educational  institutions  out  of  three  hundred 
and  forty-five  are  co-educational,  and  ninety-six  per  cent, 
of  our  teachers  are  women.  There  are  women  bankers, 
brokers,  dentists,  directors  of  corporations,  heads  of  busi- 
ness establishments,  artists,  authors,  writers,  printers  ;  and 
no  large  newspaper  office  is  complete  without  one  or  more 
women  on  its  editorial  staff. 

'•  She  votes  on  school  matters  in  twenty-five  states, 
holds  the  office  of  school  committee,  school  superinten- 
dent, trustee  of  universities,  dean  of  colleges,  and  many 
other  offices. 

"Eighty  thousand  women  are  earning  wages  in  New 
York  city  outside  of  domestic  service.  Six  thousand 
women  are  acting  as  post-mistresses.  Fourteen  hundred 
are  in  various  government  departments.  Three  million 
throughout  the  United  States  earn  independent  wages." 

Woman   has  won  her   emancipation,  and,  as   the  poet 
sings,  "  This  old  world  is  growing  brighter."     Woman  will 
not  be  less  womanly,  nor  man  less  manly  in  this  new  era, 
"Full  summed  in  all  their  powers. 
Distinct  in  individualities. 
Then  comes  the  statelier  Eden." 


CHAPTEE  XXI. 

America  To-day. 

The  triumph  of  the  armies  of  the  Union  was  the  vic- 
tory of  two  great  and  commanding  ideas  in  modern  polit- 
ical life — individual  liberty  for  all,  and  a  federative 
republic.  It  was  the  combination  of  these  two  which  con- 
stituted the  mighty  strength  of  the  North.  It  might  not 
have  been  victorious  simply  through  the  antislavery  senti- 
ment, or  simply  through  the  Union  sentiment,  but  the 
consolidation  of  these  in  one  sweeping  power  made  its 
battalions  irresistible.  Garrison  was  the  leader  of  the 
antislavery  movement,  and  Lincoln  represented  the  deter- 
mination to  maintain  the  Union  at  all  hazards,  whether 
with  or  without  slavery.  The  Union  was  the  supreme 
thing  with  Lincoln.  He  was  not  antislavery  in  the  sense 
that  Garrison  was.  In  Lincoln's  negotiations  with  the 
peace  commissioners  of  the  South,  he  simply  wrote  the 
word  *' Union,"  and  would  let  tlie  South  make  its  own 
terms  otherwise.  The  South  rejected  the  offer.  Lincoln, 
of  course,  was  convinced  in  his  own  mind  tliat  the  preser- 
vation of  the  Union  meant,  eventually,  the  death  of  slavery  ; 
but  he  felt  that  the  continuance  of  slavery  was  not  so 
great  a  curse  as  the  disintegration  of  the  Union.  What- 
ever may  be  our  convictions  about  slavery,  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  would 
have  been  an  immense  injury  to  the  social  progress  of 
mankind,  for  the  union  of  the  United  States  meant,  event- 
ually, the  union  of  the  whole  world  ;   and  if  the  Union  in 


498  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUUHT. 

America  was  destroyed,  where  were  the  hopes  of  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  glorious  prophecy  of  the  poet : 

"  The  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world  ?" 

Fortunately  individual  liberty,  and  the  social  and  pro- 
gressive unity  of  the  race,  demanded  the  same  policy,  and 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  written.  Slavery  was 
destroyed  and  the  Union  preserved. 

The  problem  of  human  progress  is  the  harmony  of  in- 
dividual liberty  with  united  action. 

Individual  liberty  must  be  the  condition  of  growth ; 
but  what  is  the  individual  without  the  cooperation  of  the 
race  ? 

In  the  American  Eepublic  the  problem  is  not  yet  solved, 
and  the  tendencies,  at  present,  are  to  consolidated  power 
and  the  anihilation  of  personal  freedom. 

On  the  side  of  personal  liberty  no  one  has  contributed 
more  to  the  enlightenment  of  the  world  than  Josiah  War- 
ren, who  has  pointed  out  the  path  of  "True  Civilization," 
namely,  free  personal  action  and  the  cost-principle.  Man 
can  act  as  he  wishes,  provided  he  pays  the  natural  cost  of 
his  action,  and  does  not  invade  the  equal  rights  of  others. 
Libert}',  according  to  Warren,  is  not  license ;  it  is  respon- 
sibility, it  is  law.  One  of  the  greatest  books  of  the  day, 
in  the  line  of  Warren's  political  philosophy,  is  "  The 
Science  of  Society,"  in  which  the  great  question  of  the 
harmony  of  personal  liberty  with  universal  cooperation, 
is  elucidated  in  a  masterly  manner,  and  by  a  luminous  in- 
tellect. Warren  represents  individual  liberty  with  the 
cost-prinoiple ;  and  Stephen  Pearl  Andrews  represents 
the  same,  together  with  the  "  federation  of  the  world." 

The  "  federation  of  tlie  world,"  if  a  despotism,  would 
be  an  infinite  curse.  Better  freedom  in  the  forest.  But 
neither  one  nor  the  other  is  the  goal  of  humanity,  but 
freedom  for  all  and  the  combination  of  all  for  the  greatest 
benr-fit  of  all. 


E.  B    FOOTE,  SR.  (p.   726.) 


AMERICA  TO-DAY.  499 

In  united  action,  however,  especially  through  the  state, 
it  will  be  found  that  "  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of 
liberty." 

Ours  is  a  federative  republic,  and  not  a  centralized  re- 
public like  that  of  France ;  and  this  centralization  of 
power  is  what  constitutes  the  weakness  of  the  latter  gov- 
ernment, and  its  eventual  safety  is  the  adoption  of  the 
American  principle  ;  but  in  America  we  are  drifting  to  the 
centralization  of  France.  There  are  dangers  ahead  which 
only  a  few  seem  to  comprehend. 

Our  Republic  is  a  growth — an  evolution  from  all  the 
past — and  it  is  the  most  complex  government  in  the  world, 
and  unless  this  complexity,  this  manifoldness,  is  maintained, 
our  liberties  are  destroyed.  The  government  should  be 
kept  as  closely  to  the  people  ;is  possible,  and  hence  the 
■  necessity  of  several  forms  of  government,  each,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  independent  and  sovereign  in  its  domain. 
There  is  the  town  government  for  town  purposes ;  the 
county  government  for  county  purposes  ;  the  state  govern- 
ment for  state  purposes ;  and  the  national  government 
for  national  purposes  ;  and  to  merge  one  of  these  govern- 
ments into  the  domain  of  the  other,  is  to  endanger  liberty. 
A  simple  supreme  government  would  certainly  be  despotic. 
Our  Republic,  thus  organized  in  town,  county,  state,  and 
national  governments,  is  the  best  result,  so  far,  of  human 
wisdom  and  experience.  The  drift  is  to  consolidation,  and 
hence  tyranny,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  history  of  Free- 
thought  organization,  where  it  opposes  the  national  gov- 
ernment usurping  the  functions  of  the  state  governments. 

Local  self-government  must  be  preserved  in  this  Union; 
and.  fundamentally,  Ijiis  is  the  political  work  of  Free- 
tli ought  in  America.  This  is  the  root  idea  of  Jeffersonian 
democracy  ;  as  little  compulsory  government  as  possible, 
and  keep  that  government  closely  in  the  hands  of  the 
people.     Distribute  its  powers,  not  concentrate  them. 

Individualism  and  Socialism  are   the  two  grand  ideas 


500  FOUR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

of  liumau  progress.  Apparently  in  conflict  at  times,  they 
must  be  united.  Individualism  must  not  be  isolation. 
Socialism  must  not  be  a  tyranny,  but  the  free  cooperation 
of  the  human  race,  whereby  the  happiness  of  each  is  su- 
premely advanced  by  the  welfare  of  all. 

America  fronts  the  future,  and  must  endeavor  to  settle 
these  great  political  and  industrial  problems. 

I  can  only  give  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  Freethought 
tendencies  in  America  to-day  in  the  church  and  outside 
of  it. 

Within  the  church  itself  great  Freethought  tendencies 
have  been  manifest  during  the  last  century.  Christianity 
has  greatly  changed  for  the  better.  Jonathan  Edwards 
would  not  recognize  it  to-day  ;  and  Calvin  is  at  a  discount. 

The  Universalist  movement  was  the  result  of  a  revolt 
against  the  awful  dogma  of  an  eternal  hell-fire,  and  it  has 
exercised  beyond  its  organization  a  mighty  influence  in 
all  the  churches.  It  was  originally  quite  orthodox  on 
everj^  point  except  hell-fire.  It  affirmed  the  infallibility 
of  the  Bible,  the  miraculous  origin  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, the  doctrines  of  the  trinity,  the  atonement,  and 
total  depravity.  However,  to-day  it  practically  rejects  all 
these  doctrines  ;  affirms  that  religion  is  natural  in  all  its 
expressions ;  that  God  is  immanent  and  inspires  the 
sacred  books  of  every  nation ;  that  Jesus  is  not  a  deity 
but  a  man  and  saves  simply  by  his  example.  In  fact, 
Universalism  to-day  occupies  about  the  position  of  Thomas 
Paine. 

Old-fashioned  Unitarianism  was  not  very  anti-ortho- 
dox. It  originated,  lirst  of  all,  as  Arminianism  ;  that  is,  in 
a  modified  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity. 
Man  did  possess  a  natural  ability.  He  might  not  do  right, 
but  he  had  the  power  so  to  do.  Arminianism  logically 
results  in  Unitarianism ;  that  is,  in  a  rejection  of  the 
trinity;  for  if  man  has  a  natural  ability  to  do  right,  he 
needs   no   substitute  ;  that  is,  he  needs   no  Savior  to  do 


AMERICA  TO-DAY.  501 

right  for  him.  If  he  can  in  his  own  nature  do  right,  then 
he  doe.s  not  need  atonement  but  infiuence  /  that  is,  he  needs 
an  example  to  induce  him  to  do  right,  and  so  Jesus  be- 
comes a  moral  power,  and  not  a  sacrifice,  and  hence  dis- 
appears his  godhead,  and  his  humanity  is  the  supreme 
quality.  Thus  ensues  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  God, 
the  distinguishing  doctrine  of  Unitariauism.  Unitarian- 
ism  drifted  through  Channing,  who  was  in  many  of  his 
opinions  orthodox,  into  the  broad  Unitariauism  of  Theo- 
dore Parker,  which  rejected  all  miracle  and  was  practically 
pure  Theism.  This  was  abhorrent  to  Channing  and  his 
followers.  They  clung  with  passionate  tenacity  to  the 
miraculous  origin  of  Christianity.  "  If  there  are  no  miracles 
there  is  no  Christ,"  said  Channing.  Channing  was  too 
sweet-tempered  to  persecute  the  Parkerites,  but  his  fol- 
lowers did  it,  and  refused  fellowship  to  Parker.  Dr. 
Lothrop,  a  leading  Unitarian  divine  of  Boston,  justified 
the  imprisonment  of  Abner  Kneeland  for  expressing  irre- 
ligious opinions.  However,  Parkerism  prevailed  and  is 
to-day  the  gospel  of  Unitariauism.  His  main  doctrine  was 
the  immanence  of  God ;  that  is,  God  is  in  the  universe,  and 
not  outside  of  it.  This  doctrine  verges  to  Pantheism, 
though  it  is  not  exactly  that,  but  in  the  main  Theodore 
Parker  proclaims  the  philosophy  of  Bruno  and  Goethe. 
Unitariauism  to-day  rejects  ever3-thiug  that  is  super- 
natural. It  almost  identifies  religion  with  morality.  It 
is  as  broad  as  Theism  can  possibly  be.  The  motto  of  the 
"Western  Unitarian  Conference  is  :  "  Freedom,  Fellowship, 
and  Character,"  and  the  whole  Unitarian  denomination  is 
coming  to  this  platform.  It  sinks  Christianity  into  a 
universal  religion  and  makes  this  religion  fundamen- 
tally moral  and  rational.  Unitariauism  represents  what 
Matthew  Arnold  calls  "  sweetness  and  light,"  and  it  is  a 
very  beautiful  affair,  and  if  it  were  true  I  would  certainly 
be  a  Unitarian.  It  is  no  wonder  tbat  under  its  banners 
are    so   manv   noble  men  and   women,  who  are    certainlv 


502  FOUR    HITNDRKD    YKARS    OF    FREETH0U(4HT. 

fiUiug  the  world  with  "  sweetness  and  li^ht,"  and  who  a?e 
really  abolishint);  Cliristianitv  in  the  interest  of  huniiinity. 

The  new  orthodoxy  claims  our  attention,  which  is  a 
vast  improvement  npon  the  old  orthodoxy  in  two  direc- 
tions— future  probation,  and  the  interpretation  of  the 
Bible. 

The  future  probation,  especially  of  the  heathen,  has 
been  a  bone  of  contention  in  the  orthodox  churches  ;  and 
it  has  been  practically  decided  that  ministers,  professors, 
and  missionaries  can  hold  that  doctrine  and  not  be  ex- 
communicated. This  certainly  is  a  softening  of  the  ancient 
harsh  dogma. 

In  regard  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  great 
changes  have  taken  place. 

The  old  doctrine  was  that,  so  far  as  the  Bilde  was  con- 
cerned, the  human  reason  must  be  absolutely  surrendered. 
No  matter  what  the  book  declared,  it  must  be  believed. 

The  new  orthodoxy  affirmed,  first,  that  we  must  use  our 
reason  freely  to  discover  that  the  Bible  is  a  divine  revela- 
tion ;  secondly,  having  by  reason  decided  that  the  Bible  is 
a  divine  revelation,  we  must  still  when  we  read  the  Bible 
constantly  exercise  our  reason  in  judging  of  its  contents, 
This  was  a  great  advance.  But  a  still  further  advance 
has  been  made. 

It  was  at  first  afiirmed  even  by  the  new  orthodoxy  that 
the  real  meaning  of  the  Bible  was  infallibly  true.  It 
allowed  for  errors  of  copying,  etc.,  but  not  that  the  orig- 
inal writer  of  any  part  of  the  Bible  was  mistaken.  But  it 
is  now  conceded  that  even  the  original  writers  were  mis- 
taken in  history,  science,  etc.  It  is  even  admitted  that 
Jesus  was  ignorant  of  the  authorship  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  Bible,  therefore  is  no  longer  infallible  ;  and  a 
statement  is  not  necessarily  true  because  it  is  in  the  Bible. 
Not  only  the  Bible  as  a  book  must  be  judged  by  i-ational 
standards,  but  even  the  original  writers  ami  Jesus  himself 
must  be  so  judged. 


AMERICA  TO-DAY.  503 

This  is  a  far-reaching  change  in  the  interpretation  of 
the  Bible,  and  is  certainly  the  death  of  the  old  dogma. 

The  World's  Parliament  of  Religions  has  been  a  ter- 
rible blow  to  orthodox  Christianit}'.  Christianity  has 
surrendered  its  special  claims.  It  stands  by  its  own  act 
upon  a  footing  with  all  other  religions ;  and  in  its  con- 
flict with  other  religions  it  must  appeal  to  reason  and  not 
to  faith.  The  Parliament  of  Religions  has  also  resulted 
in  the  establishment  of  a  broad  church  iu  America  which 
will  include  all  varieties  of  religion,  and  even  no-religion, 
in  its  liberal  fold. 

These  are  indications  of  amazing  progress  within  the 
church  and  Christianity  itself. 

Outside  of  Christianity  the  tide  sweeps  on,  more  or 
less  broad. 

The  Free  Religious  Association  confines  itself  to  the 
word  religion  without  any  creedal  definition.  It  admits 
anyone  wlio  believes  that  religion  is  a  natural  and  universal 
element  of  human  nature,  and  therefore  should  be  culti- 
vated. 

The  Ethical  movement  is  broader,  since  it  does  not  cling 
to  the  word  religion,  but  to  the  word  ethics,  but  it  nffirms, 
as  I  understand  it,  that  "  ethics"  is  not  simply  in  m.-m,  but 
in  nature  also  ;  that  there  is  a  power  "  outside  of  us  which 
makes  for  righteousness ;"  that  nature  is  essentially 
moral ;  that  the  universe  is  really  at  heart  our  friend, 
and  we  can  trust  it,  and  should  trust  it.  The  ethical 
movement  eliminates  every  idea  of  God  from  the  universe, 
except  the  idea  of  a  moral  order. 

Spiritualism  has  been  a  vast  and  wonderful  movement, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  follow  it  iu  all  its  innumerable 
currents.  If  we  look  upon  it  simply  as  a  mass  of  phenom- 
ena, it  has  no  meaning  for  human  progress.  It  is  simply 
a  puzzle ;  and  if  the  solution  is  simply  a  belief  in  immor- 
tality, what  gain  is  made,  since  that  belief  has  existed  for 
at^es  ?     Modern  Spiritualism  must  be  something  more  than 


5(>4  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

phenomena,  or  a  belief  in  immortality,  to  be  in  the  line  of 
Freethought.  Unless  Spiritualism  has  a  philosophy  of 
life,  it  is  only  a  marvel.     It  is  not  an  onward  power. 

If,  however,  we  study  Modern  Spiritualism  scientifically, 
we  shall  find  that,  at  the  heart  of  it,  are  three  grand 
truths ;  and  it  has  vastly  aided  in  the  expression  and 
power  of  these  truths ;  and  these  truths  are  Freethought 
truths. 

First,  the  unity  of  life,  especially  the  unity  of  this  life 
with  the  life  to  come ;  so  that  the  hereafter,  whatever  it 
is,  is  rooted  in  this  life  of  to-day,  and  is  the  bloom  and 
blossom  of  it. 

Secondly,  personal  responsibility.  It  is  character  and 
not  faith  that  saves  through  all  the  endless  ages.  Spirit- 
ualism is  radically  opposed  to  the  orthodox  doctrine  of 
vicarious  atonement. 

Thirdly,  eternal  hope  and  progress.  If  we  do  live  be- 
yond the  grave,  it  is  a  life  of  hope  and  progress,  and  not 
despair.  It  is  not  lurid  with  the  fires  of  an  unending  hell. 
Spiritualism  has  done  a  mighty  work  in  thus  stripping 
death  of  its  terror,  and  the  priesthood  of  its  power.  The 
fear  of  death  has  been  the  instrument  of  oppression  in 
every  land  and  age.  The  belief  in  immortality  has  been 
made  a  curse.  The  church  held  the  keys  of  lieaven,  and 
unless  one  submitted  to  the  church  he  would  be  damned 
forever  ;  the  golden  gates  would  be  barred  eternally.  Spir- 
itualism flings  wide  open  these  gates,  and  says  to  every 
mortal  being  :  Do  your  IpvpI  liest  and  enter  in.  In  your 
hands,  in  your  heart  and  brain,  lies  your   eternal  destiny. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  outline  of  the  Spiritualist  phi- 
losophy, which  philosophy  is  scientific  and  Freethought, 
and  anti-orthodox. 

Tlieosophy  is  a  movement  outside  the  churches,  which 
is  essentially  anti-orthodox.  Throwing  aside  its  transcen- 
dental assumptions,  we  shall  discover  in  Tlieosophy  the 
empli;i.sis  of  throp  important  truths. 


J.  H.  COOK  (p.  711). 


AMERICA  TO-DAY.  505 

First,  Evolution.  Orthodoxy  is  founded  upon  the 
creation  theory.  Evolution  destroys  the  creation  theorv. 
Theosophy  affirms  that  evolution  is  the  constant  process 
of  this  universe.  If  there  is  a  God,  he  is  an  evolving  one, 
and  not  a  creating  one.  He  is  the  universe  itself,  ever 
changing.  Evolution  sweeps  away  every  cardinal  doctrine 
of  the  Christian  religion,  total  depravity,  vicarious  atone- 
ment, eternal  hell. 

Again,  Theosophy  declares  the  supremacy  of  reason 
in  the  search  for  truth.  It  has  no  authoritative  books  or 
authoritative  priests.  It  affirms  the  influence  of  great 
teachers,  but  not  their  authority.  The  reason  in  every  in- 
dividual being  must  be  the  supreme  tribunal  for  that 
being.     This  is  certainly  Freethought. 

Again,  thirdly,  Theosophy  affirms  human  brotherhood 
as  a  fact  of  nature,  and  not  merely  a  sentiment  of  faith. 
Science  affirms  this.  Evolution  teaches  co-operation — all 
for  each,  each  for  all — as  the  best  way  to  survive  amidst 
the  tremendous  cosmic  forces.  All  these  tendencies,  in- 
side and   outside   the  church,  are  to   radical  Freethought. 

Radical  Freethouglit,  from  the  standpoint  of  this  book, 
is  as  follows  : 

First.  That  there  is  but  one  method  of  discovering 
truth,  namely  the  scientific  method,  which  is  the  observa- 
tion of  facts,  correlation  of  facts,  and  hypotheses,  theories, 
and  demonstrations  from  facts.  Freethought  is  Agnostic 
ill  that  it  will  accept  nothing  beyond  facts;  but  it  is  not 
Agnostic  in  the  affirmation  of  an  "  unknowable."  It 
affirms  the  intelligibility  of  the  universe  ;  that  given  the 
experience  the  universe  can  be  known  throughout.  Free- 
thought  affirms  the  reality  of  human  knowledge  ;  that  we 
know  things  as  they  are,  and  not  as  they  are  not;  that  all 
knowledge  comes  through  sense-experience. 

Secondly.  Radical  Freethought  affirms  that  this  uni- 
verse is  not  moral,  either  as  a  person,  a  nature,  a  principle, 
or  a  force.     It  is  simply  unmoral.     It  does  not  teach  love, 


506  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

or  justice,  or  mercy.  It  is,  fundamentally,  matter,  force, 
and  relation  without  a  particle  of  moral  meaning.  Ethics 
originate  with  man,  and  end  with  man.  There  are  no 
ethics  of  evolution ;  only  the  evolution  of  ethics  as  man 
comes  upon  the  stage  of  action.  Nature  does  not  care  for 
man.  She  swerves  not  a  hair's  breadth  from  her  course 
to  save  millions  of  the  human  race.  She  tortures  and  kills- 
man  without  pity.  Man,  therefore,  must  rely  upon  him- 
self. He  must  combat  nature,  and  not  trust  her.  Ethics 
are  entirely  relative ;  they  are  of  man,  by  man,  for  man. 
They  are  the  enlightened  method  of  self-preservation. 
Man  must  work  and  win  through  his  fellowman.  There- 
fore, if  man  improves,  it  must  be  by  his  own  will,  his  own 
wisdom,  his  own  energy.  Evolution  in  itself,  as  a  process 
of  nature,  does  not  make  for  righteousness  or  civilization. 
It  is  man  himself. 

And  therefore,  thirdly.  Radical  Freethought  is  Secu- 
larism, As  Mr.  Washburn  happily  terms  it.  Secularism  is 
applied  Freethought.  It  is  Freathought  translated  into 
moral  action,  into  social  energy  and  progress,  into  the 
ethics  of  human  happiness. 

Secularism  separates  into  two  grand  divisions — Secular 
politics,  and  Secular  philosophy. 

Secular  politics  declares  a  total  separation  of  clmrch 
and  state.  It  means  a  Secular  government  without  God 
or  Bible  or  Christ  or  religion  in  it.  It  means  that  govern- 
ment is  for  the  affairs  of  this  world  and  not  for  any  other ; 
and  that  the  state  is  established  solely  for  the  defense  of 
human  rights. 

Secular  philosophy  means  that  all  motives  to  moral 
action  should  arise  from  this  life,  which  we  know,  and  not 
from  some  future  life  of  which  we  know  nothing.  It 
maintains  that  not  the  quantity,  but  the  quality,  of  life  is 
the  main  thing ;  that  we  should  do  the  right  for  the 
right's  sake  ;  that  to  be  happy  here  and  now  and  to  make 
others  happy  here  and  now  is  the  noblest  aim  of  human 


AMERICA  TO-DAY.  5O7 

existence.  All  the  tendencies  noted  within  the  church 
and  without  the  church  tend  to  Secularism,  to  radical  and 
constructive  Freethought. 

A  glance  at  the  literary  life  of  America  will  close  this 
survey  of  four  hundred  years  of  Freethought.  The  litera- 
ture of  America  is  becoming  more  manifold  and  indepen- 
dent, more  native  and  original  in  hundreds  of  writers  in 
every  department  of  human  thought  ;  but  especially  in 
poetry,  in  which  we  find  the  real  expression  and  history 
of  a  people. 

Poetry  is  life.  Life  in  itself  is  rhythmical.  It  beats 
and  throbs  with  music  in  crystal  and  in  star,  Tlie  law  of 
life  is  harmony.  The  flow  of  the  river,  the  sweep  of  the 
branch,  the  flight  of  the  feather  in  the  air,  as  well  as  the 
eternal  motion  of  the  sun  and  planets,  are  as  measured 
and  musical  as  the  daintiest  line  of  the  poet. 

In  humanity  itself,  as  the  highest  nature  of  nature,  do 
we  find  the  grandest  poetry,  because  therein  is  the  grandest 
and  most  varied  life.  The  little  child,  in  the  hope  and 
passion  that  beats  within  its  breast,  is  more  poetic  than 
the  most  majestic  constellation.  All  the  grandeur  of 
physical  nature  is  unequal  to  the  grandeur  of  man.  "We 
call  the  mountain  our  brother,  and  in  that  do  we  express 
its  sublimest  import.  All  outward  forms  receive  their 
transcendent  luster  from  the  spirit  within ;  and  the  forest 
and  the  sea,  and  the  wide  winds  of  heaven,  reverberate 
with  noblest  music  when  touched  by  the  o'ermastering 
mind  of  man. 

Man  is  the  supreme  being,  and  the  gods  that  flash 
within  his  brain,  clothed  with  such  potency  and  glorious 
attributes,  are  but  the  transformed  excellences  of  himself. 
Man  has  been  the  focus,  and  through  him  the  universe 
has  taken  on  its  most  superb  and  magnificent  forms. 

The  poet  of  America  and  of  the  future  must  realize  the 
majesty  of  man  in  himself;  that  what  he  thinks  and  feels 
and  does  in    any  circumstances  is  of  more   import   than 


508  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   EREETHOUGHT. 

what  any  other  conceivable  being  can  think  or  feel  or  do 
in  any  circumstances  however  august. 

Whatever  concerns  man,  whatever  is  useful  to  him,  is 
to  be  considered  worthy.  All  the  accompaniments  of  his 
civilization,  however  nide  exteriorly,  are  to  be  rendered  in 
the  light  of  poetic  service.  The  ship,  the  steamboat,  the 
railroad,  tlie  pick,  the  axe,  the  plow,  all  sorts  of  work, 
however  lowly,  mining,  farming,  loading  and  unloading 
vessels,  digging  the  ditch,  laying  the  pipe,  building  the 
house,  smiting  the  stone,  driving  the  iron  horse,  or  four- 
in-hand  over  the  Sierras,  all  these  varied  instruments  and 
occupations  are  in  themselves  noble,  because  l)li-iii]ed  with 
the  progress  of  the  race. 

The  poet  of  America  must  be  the  poet  of  Science. 
Science  must  be  his  potent  guide,  not  to  make  poetry,  but 
to  furnish  its  most  brilliant  forms.  What  a  field  is  now 
open  for  the  play  of  the  imagination  !  Nothing  that  poetry 
has  hitherto  imagined  can  equal  the  truth  now  found. 
The  infinite  constellations  have  become  our  laurel,  and 
the  flowers  at  our  feet  are  more  glorious  when  we  trace 
their  living  beauty  with  the  multiplied  eyes  of  science. 
Not,  however,  from  the  intellect,  but  from  the  heart,  the 
myriad  passions  of  man,  proceed  the  greatest  splendors  of 
art  and  poetry,  and  these  splendors  can  find  in  the  vast 
results  of  science  their  most  ravishing  and  benignant 
forms.  Science  can  furnisli  a  thousand  cups  of  wondrous 
fashion  into  which  the  sweeping  fountains  of  man's  life 
can  run,  and  ca,tcli  and  reflect  and  fling  forth  with  blend- 
ing and  contrasting  colors  the  radiance  of  tliis  visible 
world,  and  of  the  mind  itself. 

The  poet  of  America  must  be  the  poet  of  Labor  ;  for 
labor  in  the  hereafter  will  become  musical,  and  the  poet 
must  voice  its  music.  He  must  deeply  see  that  labor  is 
the  true  creative  force  of  this  planet,  and  he  must  sing  of 
it  with  more  eloquence  than  Homer  sang  of  the  gods  upon 
Olympus.     I  believe   that  labor  hereafter  will  go   to  its 


AMERICA  TO-DAY.  509 

tasks  under  the  divine  impulse  of  song.  I  look  forward 
to  the  consummation  of  the  glorious  dream  of  Fourier. 
Labor  shall  have  its  armies  as  glittering,  as  beautiful,  as 
gay  as  the  old-time  chivalric  hosts.  The  trumpet  has  called 
men  to  battle,  to  dreadful  slaughter.  The  air  has  been 
full  of  melody  when  battalions  have  dashed  against  bat- 
talions in  dire  attack.  Why  should  not  labor  have  the 
same  accompaniment  ?  "Why  should  not  love,  service,  the 
bringing  forth  of  the  endless  riches  of  earth,  the  building 
of  splendid  cities,  and  the  regeneration  of  the  world  in 
fruit  and  flower,  be  made  as  rhythmical  as  hate  and  the 
roar  of  war?  Why  should  work  be  a  drudgery?  Why 
should  it  not  become  a  sublime  joy,  wherein  every  faculty 
is  alive  as  in  the  heat  of  some  great  battle  ?  Should  not 
the  seed-time  and  the  harvest  come  and  go  with  banners  in 
the  air,  and  troops  of  happy  men  march  forth  to  win  from 
nature's  field  her  brightest  spoil  ? 

The  genius  of  the  future  of  America  will  be  the  inter- 
pretation and  the  unfolding  of  that  which  is  common  to 
us  alL  The  poet  does  not  put  something  into  us ;  he  is 
not  a  miracle  worker ;  he  draws  us  forth ;  he  educes,  that 
is,  he  sublimely  educates.  We  furnish  the  raw  material 
for  all  his  bright  creations.  The  poet  is  bathed  in  human- 
ity ;  and  from  humanity  he  derives  his  greatest  luster,  as 
the  wave  that  uplifts  itself  from  the  sea  flames  forth  the 
hidden  light  of  its  bosom.  The  greatest  poet  is  he  who 
can  understand,  not  the  soul  of  an  archangel,  but  the 
thoughts  of  him  who  digs  and  delves  in  the  street.  The 
greatest  imagination  is  not  that  which  soars  from  star  to 
star,  but  reveals  the  riches  of  the  path  we  daily  tread.  It 
is  the  highest  gift  of  the  highest  to  see  the  glory  of  the 
lowest.  The  greatest  painter  is  he  who  paints  us  as  we 
are.  The  noblest  bard  is  he  who,  with  deft  fingers, 
touches  the  strings  of  our  homeliest  joys ;  awakens  the 
music  of  the  humblest  tasks  of  life  ;  who  roams  not  amidst 
palaces  to  gather  the  jewels  of  his  deathless  crown ;  but 


510  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

among  the  cottages,  the  dews  and  the  primroses,  and  the 
sweet  fields  where  grow  and  glisten  the  harvests  of  our 
common  work. 

Of  the  many  gifted  representatives  of  America's  advanc- 
ing and  Freethought  literature  as  thus  described,  we  can 
only  select  for  consideration  the  two  greatest,  Walt  Whit- 
man and  Ingersoll. 

Walt  Whitman  is  altogether  of  this  new  world.  He  is 
original,  both  in  matter  and  form.  He  not  only  sees  more 
and  deeper,  but  his  vision  becomes  expressed  in  utterly 
novel  measures.  He  is  rooted  and  planted  in  the  virility 
of  our  soil.  He  sees  the  majesty  of  man  even  in  his  rough- 
hewn  lineaments.  Every  aspect  of  life  is,  to  him,  vivid 
with  poetic  dignity.  He  sees  the  jewel  in  the  dust,  and 
sees,  furthermore,  what  few  do  see,  that  the  jewel  is  akin 
with  the  dust  and  flashes  forth  the  heart  of  it. 

Whitman  has  much  indeed  of  the  music  of  the  future. 
He  is  a  master-poet  in  that  he  makes  a  new  instrument,  and 
our  ears  are  smitten  Avith  unacustomed  melody ;  and  reading 
his  genuine  verses  we  can  say  that  there  is  something  new 
under  the  sun.  Yet  I  cannot  regard  him  as  a  supreme 
artist.  I  cannot  consent  to  his  form,  however  rich  his 
matter.  His  method  is  not  the  highest  method.  The  old 
forms  of  poetic  expression  cannot  be  replaced.  Capable 
of  infinite  transformations,  they  must  ever  remain  the 
same.  The  Greek  models  cannot  be  superseded.  In  them 
are  the  undying  forms  in  which  a  myriad  new  thoughts 
might  flash  like  wine  in  a  beauteous  cup,  but  the  essential 
shape  cannot  vanish  in  iiny  multitudinous  novelty  of  de- 
sign. We  cannot  change  the  human  form.  We  can  only 
clothe  it  witli  numberless  fresh  graces.  So  with  the  eter- 
nal form  of  poetry.  It  allows  no  substitution,  and  the 
Greeks  are  our  teachers  so  long  as  art  exists. 

But  Whitman,  by  his  stanch  fidelity,  has  compelled  us 
{o  respect  our  native  land,  to  recognize  that  here,  in  these 
streets,  there  is  something  as  grand  as  Athens,  as  beautiful 


J.   H.  BLTHNHAM  (p.   703). 


INGERSOLL.  511 

as  Olympus.  As  Bryant  looked  directly  at  the  physical 
aspects  of  our  land  and  reported  them  faithfully  clothed 
with  unborrowed  splendor, so  Whitman  has  looked  directly 
at  our  humanity  in  market-place  and  on  wharf ;  workin<^ 
at  the  plow  or  with  the  spade  ;  driving  the  oxen  over  the 
prairies,  or  speeding  with  the  horse  along  the  plains,  ni.ik- 
ing  the  whip  to  sing;  and  everj- manifold  aspect  of  our 
raw,  fresh  life  he  has  reported  like  a  very  son  of  the 
soil,  who  speaks  out  of  his  own  passionate  love,  and  be- 
lieves that  what  he  sees  here  and  now  is  the  grandest  to 
be  seen. 

Like  the  Mississippi  river,  broad  and  deep,  the  current 
of  Whitman's  poetry  comes  from  the  fastnesses  of  America, 
and  as  it  rolls  on  and  spans  a  myriad  leagues  it  still  bears 
upon  its  bosom  the  riches  itself  has  made,  and  the  life 
that  sings  along  its  shores  is  the  vigor  of  its  native  ele- 
ment. 

Ingersoll. 

Ingersoll  is  so  manifold  a  nature ;  he  is  so  ready  for 
ever}'  occasion  of  life,  and  is  so  successful  in  many  direc- 
tions— a  lawyer,  a  politician,  a  reformer,  an  orator,  a  de- 
bater, a  story-teller,  a  critic,  a  philosopher — that  it  might 
seem  difficult  at  first  to  place  him  in  his  true  position, 
whether  with  Yoltaire  and  Paine,  or  Comte  and  Kant,  or 
Bacon  and  Spencer  ;  but  Ingersoll,  to  be  really  understood, 
must  be  ranked  with  Shakspere,  Goethe,  and  Shelley. 
He  is  essentially  literature,  and  not  politics,  or  philoso- 
phy, or  education  ;  although,  if  he  had  not  been  so  essen- 
tially poetic,  he  miglit  liave  surpassed  in  any  of  these 
domains  if  to  either  he  had  given  his  choicest  efforts. 
But  Ingersoll  himself  says  we  do  as  we  must,  and  he 
could  be  no  other  than  he  now  is,  the  greatest  living  lit- 
erary power  in  America,  a  master  of  language,  with  spirit 
touched  and  charmed  by  all  the  beauties  of  the  living 
■world  about  him ;  melodious  without  effort,  like  a  stream 


512  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT, 

or  bird-song  ;  with  wit,  humor,  imagination,  and  sympathy 
with  universal  nature  and  man,  which  is  the  highest  quality 
of  genius. 

It  is  seldom  that  one  who  is  so  wonderfully  gifted  as 
an  orator,  Avho  can  sway  audiences  as  if  with  some  magic 
wand,  can  contribute  so  much  to  the  world's  permanent 
literature.  The  very  splendor  of  the  orator's  power  seems 
to  destroy  his  literary  faculty.  How  very  few  speeches 
are  read  as  literature.  They  are  generally  cherished  as 
<;old  relics  of  a  by-gone,  glowing  hour.  The  light  is  faded 
out  of  them.  Cicero  and  Burke,  and  Lincoln  in  one  or 
two  speeches,  are  almost  the  only  orators  who  have  given 
anything  to  the  living  literature  of  all  ages.  Like  these, 
Ingersoll  is  an  exception.  He  will  be  read  long  after  his 
lips  have  ceased  to  speak.  He  wins  the  applause  of  to-day, 
and  over  his  glowing  pages  will  be  the  smiles  and  tears 
of  generations  to  come. 

Ingersoll  is  thoroughly  American.  The  life  of  this 
continent  is  in  every  fiber  of  his  being.  He  has  witnessed 
almost  every  aspect  of  American  scenery,  and  come  in 
contact  with  almost  every  phase  of  the  American  people. 
He  knows  many  things  by  reading,  but  much  more  by 
action.  Probably  no  living  man  knows  so  many  people 
personally  as  Ingersoll ;  and  no  one  is  so  well  known  to 
millions  of  people  as  Ingersoll.  He  has  become  a  house- 
liold  word.  Almost  everyone  feels  acquainted  Avith  him 
if  they  read  the  papers.  This  is  not  notoriet}',  but  good 
fellowship,  the  natural  result  of  a  genius  in  constant  con- 
tact with  the  world  and  always  saying  something  to  the 
point,  Ingersoll  is  like  a  surcharged  battery.  If  any- 
T^ody  touches  him  the  sparks  fly.  Some  geniuses  are  dull 
"with  the  dull.  It  takes  genius  to  arouse  them,  but  Inger- 
soll responds  even  to  the  dull,  and  exchanges  his  gold  for 
their  dross.  His  intellectual  treasures  are  always  at  hand, 
and  as  he  spends  a  dollar  like  a  prince,  so  he  likewise 
gives  his  thoughts.     He  does  not  save  his  "  bright  ideas  '* 


INGERSOLL.  513 

for  the  platform.  Thej'  are  ever  flowing,  just  as  abound- 
iug  in  a  hotel  or  car,  or  on  the  street,  or  at  lunch,  as  before 
a  crowded  assembly.  Ingersoll  is  what  we  might  call  an 
extemporaneous  man,  like  Shakspere.  He  does  not  have 
to  think  twice.  There  is  nothing  elaborate  about  him. 
He  has  the  careless  vitality  of  nature  herself.  He  dwells 
in  the  atmosphere  of  democracy.  He  is  at  home  with  all. 
There  are  no  hedges  about  him,  nor  artificial  restraints. 
He  is  no  pope,  as  some  would  call  him.  He  claims  noth- 
ing and  imposes  nothing.  It  is  reason  first,  last,  and  all 
the  time. 

The  chief  characteristics  of  Ingersoll  are  sincerity  and 
courage.  He  might  have  held  any  political  office  had  he 
been  willing  to  pay  the  price — reticence.  But  Ingersoll 
would  not  do  this ;  in  fact,  he  could  not  do  this.  He  was 
not  built  to  be  a  drawing-room  Freethinker,  to  exploit  his 
delightful  skepticisms  to  a  choice  circle,  while  the  world 
knew  him  not,  and  the  church  might  bow  at  his  feet.  It 
is  not  parlor-Infidelity  that  the  church  dreads  and  perse- 
cutes, for  even  the  church  itself  likes  that  sort  of  spice  to 
its  gloomy  theology  ;  but  open  and  avowed  Infidelity, 
honest  Infidelity  that  shakes  the  Avorld,  and  inspires  the 
multitude  to  new  paths  of  thought.  Infidelity  is  a  fine 
thing  for  the  pulpit,  but  it  won't  do  for  the  pews.  Let 
professors  discuss  the  mistakes  of  the  Bible  before  a  class 
of  theological  students,  but  dou't  let  tlie  world  into  the 
secret.     Preach  the  same  old  doctrines  to  the  masses. 

Ingersoll  was  too  sincere  for  the  esoteric  Infidelity  of 
the  churches.  His  thoughts  were  too  burning  to  be  used 
as  pretty  fire-works  in  the  wake  of  the  cliurch.  They 
must  become  the  stars  of  humanity  and  shine  upon  all  its 
onward  progress.  Freethought  is  of  the  very  essence  of 
Ingersoll's  being  ;  and  it  comes  from  him  as  music  and 
light  must  come  from  the  sea.  The  sea  cannot  be  motion- 
less. No  more  can  Ingersoll  keep  in  luxurious  privacy 
his  flame  of  intellectual  conviction.     It  is  for  all  the  world. 


514  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

Ingersoll  has  the  courage  constantly  to  speak  out  on  any 
question  of  any  human  interest  whatsoever.  We  know 
exactly  where  he  stands,  exactly  what  he  means.  There 
is  no  shuffling,  no  mere  rhetoric,  but  honest  thoughts  and 
honest  words. 

Ingersoll  believes  in  individuality,  in  seeing  for  your- 
self, judging  for  yourself,  and  speaking  for  yourself.  In- 
gersoll does  not  believe  in  vicarious  thought,  any  more 
than  in  vicarious  action.  As  another  cannot  act  for  vou, 
so  another  cannot  think  for  you.  Think  for  yourself. 
Think  wrongly  if  you  will,  or  must;  but  think.  Don't  be 
a  coward  about  it.  Know  thyself  and  be  thyself,  is 
the  gospel  of  all  progress.  The  world  does  not  need 
new  truth  to-day  so  much  as  it  needs  courage  and 
sincerity  to  make  the  most  openly  and  squarely  of 
the  truth  it  already  possesses.  There  is  too  much  sub- 
terfuge, too  much  cowardice,  too  much  intellectual  double 
dealing  and  mental  reservation,  which  is  simply  lying. 
It  is  not  that  people  believe  the  false,  but  that  they 
believe  the  true  and  conform  to  the  false.  Ingersoll 
has  torn  the  mask  from  hypocrisy.  He  has  flung  broad- 
cast the  truth  which  enlightened  theologians  even  already 
accept.  He  has  trusted  in  human  nature.  He  has 
believed  in  the  good  sense  and  virtue  of  the  masses. 
He  realizes  that  truth,  like  human  love  itself,  should  be 
universal ;  that  it  is  not  a  luxury  but  a  grand  and  beauti- 
ful gospel  for  every  human  being  in  every  station  of  life, 
in  every  field  of  toil. 

The  theologians  who  are  afraid  of  any  change,  an}' 
progress  whatsoever,  delight  to  call  Ingersoll  Atheist, 
Agnostic,  Infidel,  Iconoclast ;  and  these  are  noble  names, 
but  not  fully  do  the}'  express  the  mighty  work  of  Inger- 
soll and  Freethought.  Ingersoll  stands  for  liberty,  the 
sweetest  word  that  human  voice  can  speak  ;  and  what  is 
life  without  liberty?  Ingersoll  stands  for  science,  and  all 
that  it  can  unfold  in  heaven  and  earth  of  magnificence  and 


INGERSOLL.  515 

delight,  making  reality  surpass  the  brightest  dreams.  But 
the  one  word  that  expresses  lugersoU's  greatness,  and  his 
true  relation  to  Freethought  and  the  world's  broadening 
progress,  is  humanity.  That  is  the  positive  side  of  all 
Ingersoll's  manifold  nature — humanit}'.  His  answer  to 
every  question  at  the  last  is — humanity  ;  be  it  music,  art, 
oratory,  poetry,  politics,  education,  liberty,  science,  in- 
dustry; it  is  all  these  for  humanity's  sake.  He  pleads  for 
humanity ;  he  ennobles  humanity  ;  he  inspires  humanity  ; 
and  if  he.  has  any  gods  they  must  serve  humanity.  He 
opposes  orthodoxy  because  orthodoxy  destroys  humanity. 
He  opposes  creeds,  churches,  bibles,  priests,  because  they 
do  not  help,  but  retard  humanity.  But  wherever  hu- 
manity is  found,  Ingersoll  speaks  for  it  the  eloquent  word. 
Be  it  in  the  old  Vedas,  or  from  the  lips  of  Buddha,  or  if  it 
gleams  in  tender  and  pathetic  light  from  the  cross  of 
Jesus,  he  accepts  it,  he  glorifies  it.  In  all  the  ages,  in 
every  human  struggle,  wherever  there  has  been  any  human 
virtue,  human  love,  justice,  mercy,  heroism,  sacrifice,  be  it 
beneath  cathedral,  or  mosque,  or  temple,  or  beneath  the 
bright-blue  sky  itself,  in  forest  gloom  or  open  field,  the 
generous  mind  of  Ingersoll  greets  and  graces  it  for  the 
hope  and  toil  of  to-day.  If  Jesus  takes  little  children  in 
his  arms,  if  he  says  :  "  Blessed  be  the  merciful ;  "  "  Do 
unto  others  as  you  would  have  others  do  unto  you,"  Inger-  ' 
soil  accepts  these  acts,  these  words  in  their  fullest  and 
grandest  signification.  They  are  just  as  noble,  beautiful, 
and  inspiring  to  him  as  to  the  most  believing  Christian. 
It  is  only  where  humanity  ends,  and  ignorance  begins  with 
theology,  superstition,  cruelty,  and  barbarism,  that  he 
strikes  his  luminous  blows  that,  even  as  they  destroy, 
fill  the  world  with  light  and  beauty. 

Humanity,  be  it  in  rags,  and  suffering  in  poverty  and 
want,  in  miserable  tenement  houses,  in  forlorn  shops ;  be 
it  in  woman  stitching  for  a  bare  pittance,  the  little  girl 
whose  young  life  is  crushed  with  toil,  the  half-clad  news- 


516  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

boy  shivering  ou  the  streets,  the  bootblack  who  earns  a 
crust  by  making  the  feet  of  so  many  men  brighter  than 
their  brains ;  be  it  in  the  great  fields  of  labor,  where  men 
sweat,  and  golden  harvests  await  the  busy  hand ;  be  it 
amidst  vast  machineries,  the  fires  of  huge  forges,  or  on 
the  burnished  locomotive,  flinging  its  black  flag  of  peace 
and  splendor  over  a  continent ;  be  it  in  the  vineclad  cot- 
tage, with  the  children  about  the  door,  the  wife  at  work, 
the  husband  battling  with  the  forest ;  be  it  on  ship  as  it 
sweeps  a  thousand  leagues  of  sea,  or  touches  a  hundred 
shores  in  sunshine  and  in  storm ;  be  it  in  the  dark  shadow 
of  the  mine  ;  be  it  on  the  battle-field,  where  the  star- 
spangled  banner  streams  amidst  smoke  and  thunder ;  be 
it  in  the  hospital,  where  man's  heroism  and  woman's  ten- 
derness make  the  shining  pathway  of  martyrdom  ;  be  it 
in  laughing  child  or  babe  upon  its  mother's  breast ;  be  it 
in  the  greatest  or  the  least ;  in  the  head  of  the  marching 
column,  or  the  dusty  foot-soldier  in  the  rear ;  in  great 
ideas,  in  great  pictures,  in  great  symphonies,  in  sweet 
melodies  that  charm  the  people  ;  in  smiles  and  tears,  in 
hopes  and  joys,  in  sorrow  and  in  pain  ;  in  sympathy  and 
love  ;  in  all  that  concerns  humanity,  whatever  it  is,  wher- 
ever it  is,  whoever  it  is,  in  whatsoever  condition  the  world 
over  ;  the  genius  of  Ingersoll  appreciates  it,  honors  it, 
uplifts  it,  helps  it,  reveals  its  glory,  and  encourages  to 
greater  and  better  days  to  come. 

Bruno  and  Ingersoll !  What  a  wide  sweep  of  human 
thought  has  been  passed  over.  What  a  panorama  unrolls 
as  we  speak  these  magic  names.  What  a  history  this  has 
been — greater  than  that  of  any  armies,  of  any  thrones. 
We  have  seen  the  greatest  advances  of  the  human  mind ; 
its  greatest  victories.  We  have  seen  gain  after  gain  in  the 
cause  of  truth  and  freedom.  There  have  been  sufferings 
immeasurable  ;  horrors  beyond  words  to  express.  Tyranny 
and  falsehood  have  used  their  bitterest  and  bloodiest 
weapons.     Darkness,  without  one  ray  of  hope,  has  closed 


R.   (;.    IX(iEHSOLL  (p.   517). 


INGERSOLL.  •  517 

upon  the  eyes  of  many  a  martyr.  It  has  been,  indeed, 
through  all  the  past,  "  The  Martyrdom  of  Man,"  as  one  of 
our  noblest  and  most  brilliant  writers  expresses  it.  Man 
has  shed  his  blood,  been  tortured,  burnt,  crucified,  torn  to 
pieces,  his  ashes  scattered  to  the  winds,  that  we  might 
have  the  light,  the  beauty,  the  knowledge,  the  excellence, 
the  hights  and  glories  of  to-day. 

Bruno  shines  and  perishes  in  flame  at  the  beginning 
of  a  new  era.  That  new  era  spans  the  world  with  many 
illustrious  names.  The  torch  of  reason  has  passed  on  until 
it  shines  with  wonderful  power  and  effulgence.  Not  one, 
but  many  now  send  its  sparkling  rays  onward  into  the 
future.  IngersoU  is  not  alone.  Fortune  and  genius  ai'e 
his,  but  to  a  thousand  toilers  belongs  the  praise  of  making 
his  work  so  fruitful  and  so  glorious. 

Bruno  died  in  darkness.  IngersoU  is  the  most  beloved 
and  honored  name  in  the  American  republic,  and  is  so 
beloved  and  honored  because  tlje  spirit  of  the  dauntless 
Bruno,  of  Yoltaire  and  Paine,  shines  in  his  glittering  elo- 
quence ;  and  because  he  himself  loves  and  honors  man 
for  his  essential  worth.  He  represents  a  great  people  ; 
the  greatest  and  best  government  in  the  world  to-day  ; 
antl  a  flag  whose  stars  beam  with  hope  to  every  race. 
With  IngersoU  we  see  a  great  army  of  men  and  women  in 
every  field  of  human  effort,  gifted  with  genius ;  scholars, 
orators,  poets,  editors,  workers ;  with  warm  hearts,  with 
unshackled  brains,  with  bright  enthusiasm,  laboring  for 
the  triumph  of  Freethought.  The  vast  and  splendid 
record  of  four  hundred  years  will  not  cease  in  defeat  and 
barbarism,  but  in  civilization,  in  liberty,  in  victorious 
science  ;  in  the  dream  and  hope  of  the  unnumbered  mar- 
tyrs of  an  unconquerable  race  ! 


SAMUEL  PORTER  PUTNAM  (p.  788), 


PART    II. 

CHAPTER  XXIL 

Freethought  Organization  in  America. 

Freethought  organization  is  difficult.  The  very  nature 
of  Freethought  is  to  be  free,  to  be  absolutely  untrammeled 
in  any  direction  whatsoever.  It  is  the  nature  of  religion 
to  organize ;  and  herein  lies  its  tremendous  practical 
power  and  tyranny ;  and  it  thus  forces  Freethought  to 
organization  as  a  matter  of  self-defense.  But  Freethought 
organization  cannot  represent  the  vast  universal  sweep  of 
Freethought,  any  more  than  the  waves  which  break  upon 
the  shore  can  represent  the  measureless  sea. 

But  as  the  waves  do  give  the  splendor  and  the  music 
of  the  sea,  so  Freethought  organizations  fling  forth  the 
forward  radiance  of  its  immense  movement.  There  must 
be  these  pioneer  corps  for  the  advance  of  the  great  army 
of  progress. 

In  America,  especially,  organization  is  difficult  on  ac- 
count of  the  vastness  of  its  territory.  Local  organizations 
fl^ourish  in  some  favorable  places  ;  but  national  organiza- 
tion is  the  result  of  many  years'  struggle.  Only  the  far- 
seeing,  the  determined,  and  the  courageous  are  willing  to 
join  in  these  radical  enterprises.  Whatever  their  fortune, 
however,  even  in  failure,  they  exercise  an  incalculable  in- 
fluence. 


520  four  hundred  years  of  freethought. 

The  Hautford  Bible  Convention. 

The  Hartford  Bible  Couveutiou  in  1854  was,  iu  many 
respects, an  extraordinary  Freethought  demonstration.  It 
created  a  great  sensation  throughout  orthodox  New  Eng- 
land. 

The  call  was  as  follows  : 
"To  the  Friends  of  Free  Discussion : 

"  The  undersigned,  solicitous  for  the  advancement  of  the 
cause  of  Truth  and  Humanity,  hereby  invite  all  who  are 
friendly  to  free  discussion  to  attend  a  convention  to  be 
held  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  on  Thursday,  Friday,  Saturday, 
and  Sunday,  2d,  3d,  4th,  and  5th  of  June  next,  for  the 
purpose  of  freely  and  fully  canvassing  the  origin,  author- 
ity, and  influence  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures. 

"  This  invitation  is  not  given  to  any  particular  class  of 
Philosophers,  Theologians,  or  Thinkers,  but  is  in  good 
faith  extended  to  all  who  feel  an  interest  in  the  examina- 
tion of  the  questions  above  stated.  There  are  many  who 
believe  that  a  supernatural  Revelation  has  been  given  to 
man ;  many  others  who  deny  this,  and  a  large  number 
who  are  afflicted  with  perplexing  doubts,  trembling  be- 
neath the  silent  skepticism  of  their  reason  and  the  fear 
of  absolute  denial.  In  issuing  a  call  for  a  Convention,  we 
have  iu  view  the  correction  of  error,  by  which  party  soever 
entertained,  and  the  relief  of  those  who  stand  between 
doubt  and  fear,  from  their  embarrassing  position. 

"Some  may  have  no  doubt  that  the  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian Scriptures  have  subserved  an  important  end,  anel  yet 
believe  that  their  mission  is  nearly  completed,  and  must 
be  superseded  hy  a  new  dispensation  ;  some  may  believe 
that  their  influence  has  been  prejudicial  in  every  respect, 
and  that  they  have  been  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing  to 
mankind  ;  others  may  believe  them  a  perfect  record  of  the 
Divine  will  to  man — good  in  the  past  and  for  all  time  to 
come  ;  iunl   others  still   may  deny  the   plenary  inspiration 


THE  HARTFORD  BIBLE  CONVENTION.  521 

of  the  Bible,  discarding  most  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
receiving  most  or  all  of  the  New.  Still,  such  diversity  of 
opinion,  instead  of  prejudicing  the  interest  and  good  re- 
sults which  ought  to  attend  such  a  convention  will  rather 
tend  to  increase  its  interest  and  enhance  its  value  in  the 
<;ause  of  truth. 

"  Doubtless  a  free  interchange  of  thought  is  the  best 
mode  of  exciting  inquiry,  and  of  arriving  at  the  truth. 

"   He  who  has  a  truth  and  keeps  it. 
Keeps  what  not  to  him  belongs, 
But  performs  a  selfish  action. 
And  his  fellow  mortal  wrongs.' 

"  We  invite,  therefore,  all  who  feel  an  interest  in  this 
question,  without  distinction  of  sex,  color,  sect,  or  party, 
to  come  together  that  we  may  sit  down,  like  brethren,  in  a 
communion  before  the  altar  of  intellectual  and  spiritual 
freedom." 

This  call  was  signed  by  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  Joseph  Barker,  Henry  C.  Wright,  S.  B. 
Brittain,  Stephen  S.  Foster,  Abby  Kelly  Foster,  Joseph  S. 
Longshore,  Amy  Post,  N.  H.  Dillingham,  and  one  hundred 
and  seventy-six  others. 

The  Convention  was  called  to  order  by  Andrew  Jackson 
Davis.  William  Green,  of  Hartford,  was  appointed  presi- 
dent pro  tem. 

The  following  were  elected  permanent  officers :  Presi- 
dent, Joseph  Barker ;  vice-president,  J.  K.  lugalls ;  secre- 
tary, A.  O.  Moore,  Andrew  Jackson  Davis  made  the  open- 
ing address  to  the  following  resolutions : 

''Resolved,  That  each  mind,  by  virtue  of  its  endowments, 
rights,  and  liberties,  should  'prove  all  things  and  hold 
fast  to  that  which  is  good.' " 

He  said  : 

"  The  course  of  nature  is  marked  by  vast  and  mighty 
changes.     In  the  lower  departments  of  the  physical  world 


522  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

one  set  of  circumstances  continue  till  their  mission  is 
completed,  when  thej  gradually  expire,  and  from  tlieir 
ashes  a  neiv  order  of  things  is  born  into  existence.  Every 
great  general  impi'ovement  in  the  physical  aspect  of  the 
globe,  every  maguificeut  alteration  in  the  relation  of 
things,  is  preceded,  accompanied,  and  succeeded  by  some 
grand  announcement  and  startling  demonstration.  The 
formation  of  mountains — those  glorious  symbols  of  ever- 
lasting truth — was  accomplished  by  the  most  terrible 
convulsions.  From  center  to  circumference  the  terrestrial 
ball  is  shaken,  portions  fall  while  others  rise,  the  earth 
trembles  and  quakes,  and  so  are  made  the  lofty  mound, 
the  beautiful  valley,  the  undulating  landscape,  and  the 
ocean's  bed.  But,  observe,  terrible  changes  are  never  ter- 
rible in  fact.  Every  alteration  in  nature's  domain  is  in- 
variably succeeded  by  better  circumstances." 

Henry  C.  Wright  followed  in  his  vigorous  and  fearless 
manner.     He  said  : 

"  My  tongue  shall  utter  my  thoughts,  or  nothing.  I 
am  not  here  to  represent  any  human  being  but  myself,  and 
I  shall  speak  my  own  thoughts  in  my  own  way.  I  hope 
every  otlier  human  being  will  do  the  same  ;  and  I  do  hope 
that  we  shall  not  only  learn  freedom  of  speech  and  thought, 
but  freedom  to  hear.'" 

He  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Bible  in  some  parts  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  sanctions  injustice,  polygamy,  concu- 
binage, prostitution,  oppression,  war,  wholesale  plunder, 
and  murder  ;  and,  therefore,  tlie  doctrine  that  the  Bible 
as  a  whole  emanated  from  a  God  of  love  and  justice  is 
false  and  injurious  to  the  social  and  spiritual  growth  of 
man." 

Joseph  Barker  spoke  to  this  resolution  and  poured 
forth  some  magnificent  arguments,  deep  and  scholarly, 
which  neither  he  in  after  days,  nor  all  the  pulpits  in  Cliris- 
tendom,  have  ever  answered.     He  said  ; 


THE  HARTFORD  BIBLE  CONVENTION.  525 

"  I  defy  any  clergyman  acquainted  with  this  matter  to 
stand  up  here  and  say — we  will  make  no  mention  of  proof 
— I  say  I  defy  any  clergyman  to  say  that  any  particular 
translation,  or  version,  or  text,  or  manuscript  is  any  other 
than  the  work  of  fallible  men.  This  then  of  itself  settles- 
the  question  as  to  the  authority  of  the  book.  It  is  not  a 
book  of  divine  authority." 

Parker  Pillsbury  was  present  with  his  incisive  speech^ 
and  he  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

'^Resolved,  That  if  men  are  to  prove  all  things  and  only 
hold  fast  to  that  which  is  good,  then  any  Bible  or  religion, 
church  or  ministry,  that  defends  or  apologizes  for  slavery, 
war,  oppressive  government,  or  any  form  of  despotism  or 
tyranny,  secular  or  spiritual,  governmental  or  individual, 
is  to  be  specially  examined  and  discussed,  and  approved 
or  condemned  according  as  those  sins  or  systems  which 
they  defend  shall  be  found  at  variance  with  the  nature  of 
man  and  destructive  of  the  happiness  of  the  universe." 

Mr.  Pillsbury,  in  his  fervid  and  splendid  arguments 
describing  his  orthodox  training,  and  the  horrors  of  eternal 
hell-fire,  amidst  immense  sensation  gave  those  extracts 
from  Wigglesworth's  poem,  "  The  Day  of  Doom,"  already 
quoted  in  these  pages. 

Garrison's  tremendous  resolutions  have  already  been 
given,  and  no  word,  I  think,  could  describe  his  terrible 
denunciations  of  the  church  and  clergy  of  America. 

Prof.  S.  B.  Brittain  delivered  an  impressive  discourse, 
in  which  he  declared  that,  because  he  could  not  sign  a 
declaration  to  the  effect  that  he  believed  the  Bible  to  con- 
tain "  a  sufficient"  and  indeed  "  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
action"  for  all  men  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  he  was  ex- 
cluded from  a  professedly  liberal  Christian  denomination, 
namely,  the  Universalists.  It  seems  that  in  1854  the  Uni- 
versalists  had  not  yet  advanced  out  of  the  shadow  of 
orthodoxy. 

The  following  bit  of  history  was  given   by  Henry  C> 


524  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Wright:  "Garrison  advertised  in  a  Boston  paper  for  a 
house  in  which  he  might  plead  the  cause  of  millions  of  our 
■down-trodden  countrymen.  No  Christian  house  in  the  city 
could  be  opened  for  him.  He  had  nothing  to  pay  for  it, 
and  he  said,  '  I  will  not  pay  for  it,  for  I  am  bleeding  for 
humanity.  If  I  do  not  have  the  offer  of  a  house  in  which 
to  plead  their  cause,  I  will  plead  it  on  the  common  ; '  hut 
the  Atheist's  hall  icas  offered  him  gratis.  He  had  to  go  to 
Atheists  to  get  a  place  to  plead  the  cause  of  humanity." 

The  following  delicious  exhibition  of  orthodox  donkey- 
ism  is  also  put  on  record  by  Wright : 

"  When  I  was  in  Edinburgh  there  was  offered  at  a 
convention  of  ministers  by  one  of  their  number  a  resolu- 
tion to  this  effect :  'Resolved,  That  a  committee  he  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  tendency  of  total  ahstinence  societies  to 
Infidelity.' 

"  The  reverend  donkeys !  I  thought  I  could  see  their 
ears  elongating.  It  was  solemnly  argued  for  a  long  time, 
until  a  friend  offered  an  amendment  to  this  effect :  'Re- 
solved, That  the  committee  he  instructed  to  inquire  into  the 
tendency  of  drunkenness  to  Christianity.'  " 

Here  is  another  of  Joseph  Barker's  thundering  indict- 
ments against  Christianity  : 

"  I  am  prepared  to  prove  that  the  history  of  the  church 
is  a  history  of  fraud  from  the  earliest  ages  to  the  present 
hour  [including  Barker's  recantation?].  That  the  priests 
of  every  nation  on  earth  have  been  liars,  wholesale,  uncon- 
scionahle,  eterncd  liars,  makers  of  lies.  The  world  is  full  of 
proofs.  No  confidence  can  be  put  in  the  testimony  of  any 
priest." 

Ernestine  L.  Rose,  amidst  hissing  and  stamping  of  feet 
and  whistling  in  the  gallery  and  cries  of  "  Go  on,  go  on," 
undismayed,  gave  one  of  her  radical  lectures.  During  its 
delivery  the  lights  were  put  out,  accompanied  with  re- 
newed hissing  and  stamping  and  whistling  and  drumming 
with  canes.     In  the  utter  confusion  hardly  anv  voice  could 


THE  FREE  INQUIRER'S  ASSOCIATION.  525 

be  heard,  but  the  plucky  little  woman  finished  her  address 
notwithstanding  the  opposition  and  tumult.  In  closing 
amidst  deafening  applause,  she  said  : 

"  My  sisters,  the  Bible  has  enslaved  you  ;  the  churches 
have  been  built  on  your  subjugated  necks.  Do  you  wish 
to  be  free  ?  Then  you  must  trample  the  Bible,  the  church, 
and  the  priests  under  your  feet." 

While  the  audience  was  dispersing  the  disturbers  took 
their  places  in  the  gallery  and  groaned  out  music  that 
would  have  disgraced  Bedlam.  And  these  disturbances 
were  made  by  theological  students,  youths  training  for  the 
Christiau  ministry.     Shame  upon  them  forever! 

The  following  was  put  on  record,  quoted  from  Dr. 
Orestes  A.  Brownson,  the  celebrated  champion  of  the 
Homish  church  : 

''  Our  enemies  rely  upon  Godless  schools,  state  educa- 
tion, as  a  means  of  checking  the  progress  of  Catholicity. 
We  must  admit  they  have  laid  their  plans  with  infernal 
skill.  The  result  will  not  meet  their  anticipations,  how- 
ever. The  attention  of  the  Catholic  world  has  been  di- 
rected to  this  subject  by  those  whom  God  has  sent  to  rule 
over  us,  and  a  struggle  lohich  will  end  in  victory  for  the 
church  has  begun  between  Catholicity  and  the  State,  to  see 
who  shall  have  the  child.'" 

I  can  give  only  glimpses  of  this  extraordinary  conven- 
tion, which  certainly  was  one  of  the  greatest  awakeners 
that  New  England  conservatism  has  ever  known. 

The  Free  Inquirer's  Association. 

Peter  Eckler,  of  New  York,  who  has  grown  gray  in 
the  cause  of  Freethought,  and  who  has  done  inestimable 
service,  can  remember  back  to  the  old  times  with  delight- 
ful reminiscences  of  those  struggles  whose  fruit  we  enjoy 
to-day. 

It  is  a  record  of  intolerance  and  perseciition,  but  how 


526  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

brave  and  true  were  the  choice  spirits  that  endured  it  I 
Jefferson  wrote  in  1822  : 

"  The  atmosphere  of  our  country  is  unquestionably 
charged  with  a  threatening  cloud  of  fanaticism,  lighter  in 
some  parts,  denser  in  others,  but  too  heavy  in  all." 

In  1845  the  Liberals  of  New  York  met  in  the  rooms  of 
the  Free  Inquirer's  Association,  Military  Hall,  in  the 
Bowery.  Mr.  Thompson  was  president;  Oliver  White, 
secretary.  Among  the  prominent  members  were  Messrs. 
Webb,  Vail,  Hull,  Rose,  Offen,  Morrison,  and  Ditchett. 

Before  this  time  Frances  Wright  and  Robert  Dale  Owen 
were  publishing  the  "  Free  Inquirer."  Frances  Wright 
was  delivering  eloquent  orations  in  the  "  Hall  of  Science," 
Broome  street.  These  labors  were  suspended  amid  much 
discouragement,  but  bore  great  fruit  in  after  years. 

Mr.  Ransom  Cook  was  one  of  a  company  who  accom- 
panied Miss  Wright  from  the  rostrum  to  her  residence ; 
and  this  guard,  in  addition  to  the  regular  police,  was  nes- 
sary  in  order  to  protect  this  noble  woman  from  the  vio- 
lence of  misguided  religious  enthusiasts. 

The  birthday  of  Thomas  Paine  was  annually  celebrated 
with  great  eclat.  The  "  Paine  Ball  "  was  very  popular,  and 
large  crowds  attended  it.  After  the  dancing  a  bountiful 
repast  was  provided,  at  wdiich  toasts  were  proposed,  songs 
were  sung,  and  addresses  delivered. 

Gilbert  Vale,  author  of  the  "Life  of  Paine,"  published 
a  monthly  paper  called  the  "Beacon,"  at  No.  3  Franklin 
Square.  Mr.  Vale  was  a  teacher  of  navigation,  "  and  I 
remember  him,"  says  Eckler,  '*  distinctly  as  he  appeared, 
seated  at  a  table,  which  was  covered  with  books,  globes, 
nautical  instruments,  etc.,  and  surrounded  with  maps  and 
masters  of  vessels.  Mr.  Vale,  quick  and  impatient  in  man- 
ner, and  perhaps  a  trifle  irritable,  was  teaching  these 
placid  and  honest  mariners,  ami  seemed  nervously  intent 
on  making  them  comprehend  the  mysteries  of  their  pro- 
fession." 


the  american  secular  union.  527 

Hospitaller  Hall. 

Hospitaller  Hall,  Boston,  is  one  of  the  landmarks  of 
free  discussion.  I  guess  every  reformer  knows  something 
about  it  from  Seaver's  youth  to  the  present  time.  Every 
subject  in  the  universe  has  been  debated  here,  and  every 
radical  tliought  been  uttered.  If  its  walls  could  speak, 
what  volumes  might  be  written — a  history,  curious  and 
entertaining,  of  a  thousand  minds. 

Paine  Memorial. 

Paine  Memorial  sliines  along  the  difficult  path  of  Free- 
thought,  a  monument  to  Paine,  Lick,  and  Mendum,  and  a 
promise  for  the  future.  It  is  a  large  brick  building,  with 
stone  trimmings,  five  stories  high,  and  contains  three  large, 
convenient,  and  well-lighted  halls — Investigator  hall,  Paine 
hall,  and  Kneeland  hall,  with  waiting  and  retiring  rooms, 
and  large  pleasant  parlors.  On  the  lower  ground  floor 
are  two  stores,  one  of  which  is  occupied  as  the  Liberal 
book  store,  connected  with  the  Boston  "  Investigator." 
The  editorial  and  composing  rooms  occupy  a  part  of  the 
upper  story  of  the  edifice,  from  the  top  of  which  the  visitor 
may  have  a  fine  view  of  the  city  of  Boston  and  its  suburbs. 

The  land  on  which  the  Memorial  stands  was  purchased 
in  the  spring  of  1874,  and  on  the  4th  of  July  following  the 
corner-stone  was  laid  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  The 
work  was  pushed  forward  from  that  time  with  rapidity, 
and  on  the  29th  of  January,  1875,  it  was  dedicated  with 
interesting  exercises  adapted  to  the  occasion,  a  large  con- 
gregation of  Liberals  being  present. 

The  American  Secular  Union. 

In  1870  Francis  EUingwood  Abbot  began  to  agitate  for 
organization  through  his  paper,  then  published  at  Toledo, 
Ohio.  The  "Niue  Demands  of  Liberalism"  appeared  in 
"  The  Index,"  April  6,  1872. 


528  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

The  appeals  of  Mr.  Abbot  resulted  in  the  preliminary 
organization  of  a  few  local  Liberal  societies.  October  17, 
1875,  a  few  delegates  from  these  societies  met  in  conven- 
tion m  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Abbot  was  chosen  president. 
The  result  of  their  deliberation  is  summed  up  in  the  follow- 
ing resolutions  : 

"  That  great  and  growing  evils  render  it  a  paramount 
patriotic  duty  on  the  part  of  American  citizens,  who  com- 
prehend the  priceless  value  of  pure  Secular  government, 
to  take  active  measures  for  the  immediate  and  absolute 
secularization  of  the  state,  and  we  earnestly  urge  them  to 
organize  without  delay  for  this  purpose. 

"  That  we  hereby  issue  a  call  for  a  General  Congress 
of  all  those  who  sympathize  with  this  object,  to  be  con- 
vened at  Philadelphia  on,  or  before,  the  4th  of  July,  1876, 
for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  National  League,  and  of 
promoting  the  organization  of  local  auxiliar}'  Liberal 
Leagues  throughout  the  country." 

On  July  1,  1876,  at  Philadelphia,  the  Centennial  city, 
in  the  Centennial  year,  the  great  Liberal  Congress  assem- 
bled. Mr.  Abbot  was  chosen  chairman.  One  hundred 
and  seventy  were  reported  present.  Forty  Liberal  asso- 
ciations were  on  the  roll.  Eighteen  of  these  received 
charters  from  the  national  organization  during  the  follow- 
ing year. 

The  first  annual  congress  was  held  at  Kochester,  N.  Y., 
in  October,  1877. 

The  second  annual  congress  was  held  at  Syracuse  in 
October,  1878.  This  was  an  eventful  year  in  Liberal 
circles.  The  congress  at  Rochester  had  scarcely  ad- 
journed when  D.  M.  Bennett  was  arrested  by  Anthony 
Comstock.  This  created  great  commotion  throughoiit  the 
United  States.  The  Liberals  of  New  York  started  a  peti- 
tion for  a  repeal  of  the  "  Comstock  law  "  and  the  "  Truth 
Seeker  "  urged  Liberals  throughout  the  country  to  sign. 
Mr.  Abbot  ;nid  his  paper  took  tlie  opi5osite  course.     The 


juuN  pi<x;k  'iJ-  ''^^)- 


THE  AMERICAN  SECULAR  UNION.  529 

subject  was  warmly  debated,  aud  on  the  assembling  of 
the  second  annual  congress  at  Syracuse  the  controversy 
inevitably  came  up  there. 

The  issue  was  whether  the  Comstock  law  should  be 
amended,  or  whether  it  should  be  wholly  repealed.  The 
majority  demanded  that  a  law  so  dangerous  to  liberty 
should  be  wholly  repealed.  On  this  platform  Elizur 
Wright  was  elected  president.  Mr.  Abbot  withdrew,  with 
eight  auxiliaries.  There  were  sixty-two  auxiliaries  now 
on  the  roll. 

In  consequence  of  this  controversy  during  the  follow- 
ing year  there  was  unexampled  activity  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  Leagues.  The  repeated  arrests  of  Mr.  Bennett,  first 
by  Comstock  ;  then  his  release  ;  then  his  arrest  at  Watkius  ; 
then  liis  arrest  again  by  Comstock ;  the  circulation  of  the 
petition  for  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  laws,  resulting  in 
seventy  thousand  Liberal  signatures  presented  to  the 
congress  at  Washington — these  events  caused  the  League 
to  grow  with  astonishing  rapidity. 

The  third  Mnnual  congress  assembled  at  Cincinnati  in 
September,  1879.  The  auxiliaries  by  this  time  had  in- 
creased to  one  hundred  and  sixty-two.  Some  of  the  most 
notable  Liberals  of  the  country  were  present.  Parker 
Pillsbury,  Thomas  Curtis,  H.  L.  Green,  T.  B.  Wakeman, 
J.  H.  Burnhara,  and  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  were  there.  The 
convention  was  presided  over  by  Elizur  Wright.  The  ses- 
sion was  animated,  interesting,  and  harmonious.  At  this 
congress  a  project  for  the  formation  of  a  Liberal  political 
party  was  proposed,  aud  a  committee  was  chosen  to  formu- 
late and  carry  out  the  design.  This  was  afterwards  put  in 
execution  by  the  Freethought  Federation  of  America.  Mr. 
Bennett  in  the  meantime  had  been  sent  to  prison.  A  reso- 
lution of  sympathy,  proposed  by  Col.  Ingersoll,  was  passed 
as  follows  : 

"'Resolved,  That  we  express  the  deepest  sympathy  with 
D.  M.  Bennett  and  his  family,  for  the  reason  that  he  has 


530  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

been  convicted  by  religious  bigotry  and  ignorant  zeal,  and 
has  been  imprisoned  and  is  now  languishing  in  the  cell  of 
a  felon,  when  in  truth  and  fact  he  committed  no  offense 
whatever  against  any  law  of  the  land." 

This  resolution  was  adopted  unanimously. 

The  following  resolutions,  submitted  by  the  committee, 
through  Colonel  Ingersoll,  its  chairman,  were  adopted  at 
this  congress  : 

''Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  such  postal  laws  as^ 
will  allow  the  free  transportation  through  the  mails  of  the 
United  States  of  all  books,  pamphlets,  and  papers,  irre- 
spective of  the  religious,  irreligious,  political,  and  scien- 
tific views  they  may  contain,  so  that  the  literature  of 
science  may  be  placed  upon  an  equality  with  that  of  super- 
stition. 

''Resolved,  That  we  are  utterly  opposed  to  the  dissem- 
ination, through  the  mails  or  by  any  other  means,  of  ob- 
scene literature,  whether  '  inspired '  or  uninspired,  and 
hold  in  measureless  contempt  its  authors  and  dissemi- 
nators. 

"Resolved,  That  we  call  upon  the  Christian  world  to  ex- 
punge from  the  so-called  '  sacred '  Bible  every  passage- 
that  cannot  be  read  without  covering  the  cheek  of  modesty 
with  the  blush  of  shame  ;  and  until  such  passages  are 
expunged,  we  demand  that  the  laws  against  the  dissemina- 
tion of  obscene  literature  be  impartial^  enforced." 

"Second,  As  to  the  propriety  of  taking  political  action, 
your  committee  further  report  that  we  deem  it  expedient 
for  the  Liberals  of  this  country  to  act  as  a  political  organ- 
ization for  the  accomplishment  of  the  following  objects  : 

"  1.  Total  separation  of  church  and  state,  to  be  secured 
under  present  laws  and  proper  legislation,  and  finally  to 
be  guaranteed  by  amendment  of  the  United  States  Con- 
stitution, including  the  equitable  taxation  of  church  prop- 
erty, secularization  of  the  public  schools,  abrogation  of 
Sabbatarian  laws,  abolition  of  chaplaincies,  prohibition  of 


THE  AMERICAN  SECULAR  UNION.  53I 

public  appropriations  for  religious  purposes,  and  all  other 
measures  necessary  to  the  same  general  end. 

"  2.  National  protection  for  national  citizens,  in  their 
equal  civil  and  religious  rights,  irrespective  of  race  or  sex, 
to  be  secured  under  present  laws  and  proper  legislation, 
and  finally  to  be  guaranteed  by  amendment  to  the  United 
States  Constitution,  and  afforded  through  the  United 
States  courts. 

"  3.  Universal  education  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage 
in  this  secular  republic,  to  be  secured  under  present  laws 
and  proper  legislation,  and  finally  to  be  guaranteed  by 
amendment  of  the  United  States  Constitution,  requiring 
every  state  to  maintain  a  thoroughly  secularized  public 
school  system,  and  to  permit  no  child  within  its  limits  to 
grow  up  without  a  good  elementary  education. 

"And  that  the  following  resolutions  be  adopted  by  the 
League : 

"■Resolved,  That  we  mutually  pledge  each  other  that  we 
will,  in  our  several  localities,  use  our  influence  and  cast 
our  votes  for  such  candidates  for  office  as  publicly  declare 
their  belief  in  the  absolute  secularization  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  and  we  recommend  that  the  state  and  auxiliary 
Leagues  in  their  respective  localities  act  together  upon  all 
political  questions. 

"Resolved,  That  we  claim  it  the  duty  of  every  true  Lib- 
eral to  extend  to  all  others  every  right  that  he  claims  for 
himself ;  that  he  cannot  politically  discriminate  against 
any  person  on  account  of  religious  belief,  provided  only 
that  such  person  is  in  favor  of  perfect  civil  and  intellectual 
liberty." 

The  impulse  given  to  the  League  and  the  Liberal  move- 
ment by  this  Congress,  by  the  imprisonment  of  Mr. 
Bennett,  by  the  great  demonstration  at  his  reception  in 
Chickering  Hall  when  he  was  liberated,  by  the  circulation 
of  the  petition  for  his  pardon,  kept  growing  and  swelling 
during  1880.     At  the  assembling  of   the  Fourth  Annual 


532  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Congress  at  Chicago,  1880,  there  were  two  hundred  and 
twelve  auxiliaries.  At  this  Congress  Hon.  Elizur  Wright 
was  re-elected  president ;  T.  C.  Leland,  secretary,  and  T. 
B.  Wake  man,  treasurer. 

The  Fifth  Annual  Congress  met  again  at  Chicago,  1881. 
Mr.  Elizur  Wright  declined  re-election  on  account  of  in- 
creasing age  and  infirmities.  Mr.  T.  B.  Wakeman  was 
elected  to  the  presidency.  Mr.  Leland  was  re-elected  sec- 
retary, and  Courtland  Ptdmer,  of  New  York,  was  elected 
treasurer.  The  auxiliary  Liberal  leagues  had  increased 
to  two  hundred  and   twenty-five. 

The  Sixth  Annual  Congress  at  St.  Louis,  October, 
1882.  The  old  officers  were  re-elected,  with  the  exception 
that  E.  A.  Stevens  was  elected  Chairman  of  the  Executive 
Committee.  The  new  calendar  was  adopted  in  the  follow- 
ing resolutions  : 

"  Whereas,  The  uncertain  and  mythical  origin  of  the 
Christian  calendar  now  in  general  use  commits  those  who 
use  it,  to  some  extent  at  least,  to  the  Christian  theology ; 
and, 

"  Whereas,  It  would  be  a  relief  to  many  and  a  great 
convenience  to  have  a  more  certain,  modern,  and  purely 
secular  date  for  recording  time, 

"Besolved,  That  we  earnestly  recommend  all  those  who 
do  not  wish  to  express  their  adherence  to  the  Christian 
theology  to  unite  in  all  parts  of  the  world  upon  a  common, 
secular,  universal  date  as  the  year  oiie  of  a  modern  era, 
and, 

"  Whereas,  Three  great  events  common  to  the  whole 
human  race,  and  which  gave  mankind  a  new  heaven  and 
new  earth,  point  to  the  year  known  as  'a.d.  1600,'  making 
our  present  jear  282,  as  the  proper  beginning  of  the  new 
era,  we  call  special  attention  to  these  facts,  viz.: 

"  1.  The  general  publication  and  acceptance  of  the  new 
or  Copernican  system  of  astronomy. 

"2.  The  discovery  of  the  unity  of  the  human  race  (i.  e.. 


THE  AMERICAN  SECULAR  UNION.  533 

humanity  in  its  solidarity  and  coutiuuity)  by  the  extension 
of  commerce  and  European  civilization  to  Asia,  Africa,  and 
Australia,  and  the  recognition  and  progress  in  the  succes- 
sion of  the  ages  and  generations  of  the  human  race. 

"  3.  The  foundation  of  International  Law  by  Hugo  Gro- 
tius  (begun  in  1600  and  published  in  1625)  ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  These  events,  which  changed  the  face  of  the 
world,  are  fitly  consecrated  by  the  martyrdom  of  the  great 
Liberal  of  his  age,  Giordano  Bruno,  who  was  burnt  to 
death  by  the  Christian  church  at  Rome,  on  the  10th  day 
of  February,  1600,  for  proclaiming  the  new  astronomy, 
the  true  solar  system,  the  infinity  of  the  heavens  and  of 
worlds ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  This  modern  date  may  be  most  conveniently 
used  to  succeed  the  old  era,  having  its  two  figures  tlie 
same,  and  being  capable  of  a  familiar  contraction  to  '82 
for  282,  just  as  the  old  date  1882  is  contracted  to  '82 ; 
therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  National  Liberal  League  adopt  this 
date,  and  earnestly  recommend  its  general  use." 

The  Seventh  Annual  Congress  was  held  at  Milwaukee, 
September,  1883.  This  Congress  broadened  out  the  plat- 
form, so  as  to  include  many  other  questions  than  those  of 
the  "  Nine  Demands  of  Liberalism."  The  old  oflficers  were 
re-elected  in  a  body. 

The  Eighth  Annual  Congress  of  the  League  was  held 
at  Cassadaga,  New  York.  In  compliance  with  suggestions 
made  by  President  Wakeman  and  Secretary  Leland,  and 
by  agitation  throughout  the  country,  it  was  deemed  best 
to  make  a  "  new  departure  ;"  to  avoid  all  entangling  alli- 
ances ;  to  come  back  to  the  original  platform  of  the  "Nine 
Demands  of  Liberalism  ;"  to  change  the  name  of  the  organi- 
zation to  "  American  Secular  Union  "  and  thus  present  a 
united  front  to  the  encroachments  of  the  church,  which 
were  becoming  so  dangerous  throughout  the  country. 

This   new  departure  was   accomplished    with    perfect 


53-4  FOUR   HUSDREP  YKAR>^  OF  FRKKTTIOnrxHT. 

liarinony.  The  Liberals  supported  it  with  scarcely  an  ex- 
ception. Robert  G.  lugersoU  was  elected  president ; 
Charles  Watts,  first  vice-president  ;  Samuel  P.  Putnam, 
secretary  ;  Courtland  Palmer,  treasurer,  and  C.  B.  Pi*^y- 
nolds,  chairman  of  executive  committee.  A  vigorous  cam- 
paign was  inaugurated,  and  Watts,  Putnam,  and  Reynolds 
delivered  hundreds  of  lectures  from  Massachusetts  to 
Kansas,  and  a  new  interest  was  excited  in  the  Liberal 
cause,  and  additions  made  to  its  working  forces.  It  was 
an  effort  much  needed,  for  it  created  a  fellowship  among 
the  Liberal  people  which  had  not  existed  before. 

The  Ninth  Annual  Congress  was  held  at    Cleveland, 

1885.  amidst  much  enthusiasm.  Ingersoll  was  present  and 
gave  the  closing  address  to  an  immense  audience.  The 
old  officers  were  re-elected. 

The  Tenth  Annual  Congress  was  held  in   New  York, 

1886.  Colonel  Ingersoll  declined  re-election.  Courtland 
Palmer  was  elected  president ;  Samuel  P.  Putnam,  secre- 
tary ;  Charles  Eckhart,  treasurer,  and  E.  A.  Stevens,  chair- 
man of  executive  committee.  During  this  year  the  secre- 
tary lectured  throughout  the  Pacific  and  Western  States 
and  organized  many  new  societies  to  co-operate  with  the 
National  association. 

The  Eleventh  Annual  Congress  was  held  at  Chicago  in 

1887.  Samuel  P.  Putnam  was  elected  president,  and  E.  A. 
Stevens  secretary.  During  that  year  Secretary  Stevens 
pushed  the  work  forward  with  great  vigor  in  courts  and 
legislatures,  and  the  ecclesiastical  party  was  successfully 
met  in  many  of  its  audacious  moves. 

The  Twelfth  Annual  Congress  was  held  at  Pittsburgh 
in  1888.  Dr.  R.  B.  Westbrook  was  chosen  president  and 
E.  A.  Stevens  secretary.  The  secretary's  active  measures 
were  not  supported  heartily  by  the  president,  who  de- 
voted himself  mainly  to  the  preparation  of  a  manual  of 
morality  for  the  public  schools. 

The  Thirteenth  Annual   Congress  was  held  at  Phila- 


W.  F.  JAMIESON  (p.  754.) 


THE  AMERICAN  SECULAR  UNION.  535 

delpbia  in  1889.  Mr.  Westbrook  was  elected  president, 
and  Miss  Ida  Craddock  secretary.  No  new  measures  were 
inaugurated. 

The  Fourteenth  Annual  Congress  was  held  at  Ports- 
mouth, O.,  in  1890.  Vast  crowds  were  present,  and  tliere 
was  a  big  time,  and  the  old  officers  were  re-elected. 

The  Fifteenth  Annual  Congress  was  held  at  Philadel- 
phia in  1891.  A  new  board  of  officers  were  chosen — 
Judge  C.  B.  Waite,  president;  Mrs.  M.  A.  Freeman,  secre- 
tary. Under  the  administration  of  these  officers  the  Ujiion 
returned  to  its  radical  .and  aggressive  policy,  and  much 
good  work  has  been  done,  especially  in  regard  to  Sabbath 
laws  and  the  opening  of  the  World's  Fair  on  Sunday. 

The  Sixteenth  Annual  Congress  was  held  at  Chicago  in 
1892 ;  the  Seventeenth  being  held  in  connection  with 
the  great  International  Congress  of  Freethinkers,  1893. 

And  so  through  many  fortunes  and  varied  efforts,  suc- 
cesses and  defeats,  the  American  Secular  Union  has  finally 
come  upon  good  ground,  with  good  officers  and  a  good 
constituency.  Judge  Waite,  the  president,  is  a  stanch 
and  radical  Liberal,  well  informed  in  the  principles  of 
Freethought  and  devoted  to  their  triumph.  Mrs.  M.  A. 
Freeman,  secretary,  is  known  as  one  of  our  most  earnest 
and  talented  speakers  and  writers,  and  who  always  bravely 
stands  by  the  flag  of  reform.  Otto  Wettstein,  treasurer, 
is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  contributors  to  our  literature, 
opposing  both  delusion  and  tyranny.  Juliet  H.  Sever- 
ance never  fails  to  speak  for  freedom.  Dr.  G.  A.  F.  de 
Lespinasse  is  known  throughout  our  ranks  for  his  liber- 
ality and  courage.  Dr.  Jos.  H.  Greer,  victorious  over 
Mormon  fanaticism,  does  not  propose  to  quit  the  battle 
when  more  ancient  and  popular  foes  attack  ;  and  T.  B. 
Wakeman,  in  all  circumstances,  brings  the  wealth  of  his 
learning  and  the  vigor  of  his  speech  to  the  service  of 
Freethought.  With  these  capable  leaders,  the  Union  is 
assured  of  progress. 


536  four  hundred  tears  of  freethought. 

The  National  Defense  Association. 

From  the  first  enactment  of  the  Comstock  postal  law, 
in  1873,  watchful,  patriotic  Americans  foresaw  that  the 
ulterior  purpose  was  to  create  a  censorship  of  mails  and 
press  in  this  country,  and  sounded  a  cry  of  warning. 

This  law  was  unnecessary  as  well  as  unconstitutional. 
It  was  vague  and  confused,  combining  a  great  number  of 
various  ofi'enses,  some  serious,  some  frivolous,  and  fixing 
one  punishment  for  all  indiscriminately.  Its  effect  was  to 
enable  an  irresponsible  sectarian  society  to  seize  upon 
governmental  powers  and  to  use  the  machinery  of  justice 
for  its  own  ends.  No  law  ever  enacted  has  contributed 
more  to  bring  the  whole  body  of  the  law  into  disrepute. 
This  law  was  smuggled  through  in  the  confusion  and 
uproar  of  the  closing  hours  of  Congress.  It  was  passed 
Avithout  debate,  after  the  hour  fixed  for  adjournment, 
l)etween  one  and  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Sunday, 
March  2,  1873,  and  signed  by  the  president  on  Monday 
night  with  a  vast  number  of  bills  of  all  sorts. 

Principally  instrumental  in  pushing  this  law  through 
ihis  congress  were  Anthony  Comstock  and  his  associates, 
who  enforce  this  law  to  silence  arguments  which  they 
<;annot  otherwise  answer,  to  pry  into  the  confidences  of 
the  mails,  and  to  limit  liberty. 

In  the  summer  of  1877  Comstock,  in  his  capacity  of 
■spy,  visited  the  publishing  office  of  D.  M.  Bennett,  intent 
upon  finding  some  grounds  upon  which  to  found  a  prose- 
cution whereby  Mr.  Bennett's  business  of  publishing 
scientific  and  Freethought  literature  might  be  broken  up. 
He  selected  "An  Open  Letter  to  Jesus  Christ,"  a  theo- 
logical treatise  by  D.  M.  Bennett,  and  "  How  Do  Marsu- 
pials Propagate  ?  "  a  scientific  work  by  A.  B.  Bradford.  In 
•order  to  bring  his  charge  before  a  facile  judge  he  must 
needs  induce  Mr.  Bennett  to  mail  these  pamphlets.  Ac- 
cordingly he  wrote  a  decoy  letter  from  Squan  Village,  N.  J., 


THE  NATIONAL  DEFENSE  ASSOCIATION.  537 

signing  the  fictitious  name  of  S.  Bender,  ordering  these 
and  other  publications  and  inclosing  their  price.  The 
books  were  mailed  as  ordered.  On  November  12  Mr. 
Bennett  was  arrested  on  the  false  charge  of  "  mailing 
obscene  matter,"  and  held  to  bail  b}-  United  States  Com- 
missioner Shields  in  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  Col.  Robert 
G.  Ingersoll  at  once  brought  these  inculpated  pamphlets 
to  the  attention  of  the  postmaster-general,  the  attorney- 
general,  and  other  ofiicials  at  Washington,  and  squarely- 
put  to  them  the  question  whether  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  government  to  prosecute  the  publishers  and  mailers 
of  scientific  literature  ?  It  clearly  appearing  that  the 
charge  was  groundless,  and  originating  in  the  malice  of  a 
sectarian  society,  orders  were  sent  from  Washington  that 
the  case  against  Mr.  Bennett  be  dismissed. 

About  the  same  time,  November  2,  1877,  Mr.  Ezra  H. 
Heywood  was  arrested,  by  a  similar  trick,  on  a  charge  of 
mailing  a  book  which  he  had  published  nearly  two  years 
previously.  This  book  was  the  celebrated  "  Cupid's 
Yokes,"  of  which  two  hundred  thousand  copies  were  sold. 
A  farcical  trial  was  had  before  Judge  Clifford,  and  Mr. 
Heywood  was  convicted,  and  on  June  25,  1878,  was  sen- 
tenced to  two  years'  imprisonment. 

But  before  Mr.  Heywood's  imprisonment  the  infamous 
purposes  of  the  Vice  Society,  which  had  been  inferable 
only  from  their  outrageous  conduct,  were  avowedly  con- 
fessed at  a  public  meeting  held  January  28,  1878,  when  a 
report  was  presented  containing  this  threat :  "Another 
class  of  publications  issued  by  Freelovers  and  Freethink- 
ers is  in  a  fair  way  of  being  stamped  out.  The  public 
generally  can  scarcely  be  aware  of  the  extent  that  blas- 
phemy and  filth  commingled  have  found  vent  through 
these  varied  channels.  Under  a  plausible  pretense,  men 
who  raise  a  howl  about  'free  press,'  'free  speech,'  etc., 
ruthlessly  trample  under  feet  the  most  sacred  things, 
breaking  down   the   altars   of    religion,   bursting   asunder 


538  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

the  ties  of  home,  and  seeking  to  overthrow  every  social 
restraint." 

In  view  of  the  menace  to  liberty  of  thought,  speech, 
press,  and  mails  thus  boldly  offered,  a  number  of  gentle- 
men met  at  Science  Hall,  No.  141  Eighth  street,  New  York, 
June  12,  1878,  and  organized  the  National  Defense  Asso- 
ciation, electing  the  following  officers:  Albert  L.  Rawson, 
president ;  John  P.  Jewett,  vice-president  ;  G.  L.  Hen- 
<lerson,  treasurer ;  E.  B.  Foote,  Jr.,  M.  D.,  secretary  ; 
Hugh  Byron  Brown,  Wilson  McDonald,  Charles  Winter- 
burn,  M.  D.,  Charles  Codman,  Theron  C.  Leland,  executive 
committee.  Each  person  present  contributed  ten  dollars 
towards  preliminary  expenses.  The  association  adopted, 
September  12,  1878,  a  constitution,  whei'ein  its  objects 
are  set  forth  as  follows  : 

"Art.  II.  The  objects  of  this  association  are  to  investi- 
gate all  questionable  cases  of  prosecution  under  what  are 
known  as  the  Comstock  laws,  state  and  national,  and  to 
extend  sympath}^  moral  support,  and  material  aid  to  tliose 
who  may  be  unjustly  assailed  by  the  enemies  of  free 
speech  and  free  press.  To  rescue  those  wlio  may  be  con- 
victed and  imprisoned  for  no  other  crime  than  exercising 
the  natural  right  of  an  American  citizen  to  think  his 
thought  and  express  it  orally  or  in  print.  To  defend 
honest  investigators  in  all  departments  of  science  and  to 
uphold  the  right  of  the  people  to  acquire  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  human  physiology.  Finally  to  employ  all 
peaceful  and  honorable  means  to  roll  back  the  wave  of 
intolerance,  bigotry,  and  ignorance  which  threatens  to 
submerge  our  cherished  liberties." 

The  new  association  started  with  a  large  membership, 
and  with  ample  work  on  its  hands.  It  procured  a  petition 
for  the  repeal  of  the  law,  with  seventy  thousand  signa- 
tures, to  be  presented  to  Congress  by  General  Butler.  It 
circulated  and  presented  a  petition  for  the  release  of  Mr. 
Heywood.     It  held  a  large  indignation  meeting  in  Faneuil 


THE  NATIONAL  DKFKNSE  ASSOCIATION.  539 

Hall,  Boston,  Aug.  1,  1878,  to  protest  against  the  Hey- 
wood  outrage.  It  discovered  and  published  an  account 
of  the  memorable  "  Greene  Street  Case."  It  discovered 
and  traced  to  its  source,  the  famous  advertisment  in  the 
"Waverly  Magazine,"  of  an  article,  "Rich,  Rare,  and 
Racy,"  and  it  also  discovered  that  one  of  those  who  had 
been  prominently  instrumental  in  procuring  the  passage 
of  this  law  was  himself  guilty  of  violating  it. 

In  addition  to  all  this  it  carried  on  a  campaign  for  the 
defense  of  Mr.  Bennett,  who,  in  pursuance  of  the  an- 
nounced threat,  was  arrested  in  August,  1878,  under  the 
state  law,  at  Watkins  Glen,  for  selling  a  copy  of  "  Cupid's 
Yokes."  Indignant  at  this  attack,  Mr.  Bennett  announced 
in  his  paper,  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  that  he  would  maintain 
his  right  to  sell  the  book.  Here  was  Comstock's  oppor- 
tunity. Resorting  to  his  usual  system  of  falsehood,  he 
wrote,  in  a  fictitious  name,  professing  great  friendship 
and  ordering  books,  among  which  was  "  Cupid's  Yokes." 
This  order  was  duly  filled  by  mail,  whereupon  Mr.  Ben- 
nett was  indicted.  A  mock  trial  was  had  in  March,  1879, 
before  Judge  Benedict.  This  trial  was  an  example  of  in- 
justice not  surpassed.  Charles  Bradlaugh  said  of  it :  "I 
trust  that  Mr.  Bennett's  imprisonment  may  be  the  last  of 
its  kind  in  America."  Mr.  T.  B.  Wakeman  said  of  it:  "I 
believe  that  it  was  a  predetermined  fact  that  conviction 
had  to  be  had,  and  that  everything  was  conducted  to  that 
end  with  such  unsparing  disregard  of  the  ordinary  rules 
of  justice,  law,  and  fair  dealing,  that  no  other  result  than 
that  arrived  at  could  have  been  expected."  The  Defense 
Association  made  a  proper  statement  of  the  real  merits  of 
this  case,  and  procured  two  hundred  thousand  signatures 
to  a  petition  for  Mr.  Bennett's  release.  This  petition  was 
refused  by  President  Hayes,  although,  in  December,  1878, 
by  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Laura  Kendrick,  sent  to  Washing- 
ton by  the  Defense  Association.  Mr.  Heywood  had  been 
released  after  serving  gix  months  of  his  imprisonment. 


540  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

On  the  completion  of  Mr.  Bennett's  term  of  imprison- 
ment, the  Defense  Association  arranged  a  grand  and  en- 
thusiastic reception  for  him  at  Chickering  Hall,  New- 
York.  This  large  hall  was  crowded  to  overflowing,  and 
hundreds  went  away  unable  to  gain  admittance.  As  a 
great  moral  victory,  this  meeting  was  of  more  value  to  the 
cause  of  liberty  than  the  success  of  the  efforts  for  Mr. 
Bennett's  pardon  would  have  been. 

Under  the  spur  of  these  outrages,  the  work  of  the  De- 
fense Association  was  vigorous  and  efl&cacious.  Thousands 
of  pamphlets  and  circulars  were  issued  exposing  the  true 
inwardness  of  the  Vice  Society  and  its  agent.  Whenever 
this  incorporated  bigotry  was  announced  to  hold  a  meet- 
ing at  any  point,  there  simultaneously  began  a  free  and 
liberal  distribution  of  counteracting  documents.  So  dili- 
gently was  this  work  carried  on  that,  for  a  long  time,  the 
wily  agent  secretly  advertised  his  meetings  by  circulars 
entrusted  only  to  those  of  whose  sympathy  he  was  assured. 
Many  a  worthy  man,  whom  this  society  has  set  out  to  vic- 
timize, has  owed  his  freedom  to  the  influence  of  the  De- 
fense Association. 

In  August,  1881,  Mr.  Bennett  made  an  interesting  tour 
around  the  world.  This  was  undertaken  at  the  suggestion 
of  Mr.  William  Emmette  Coleman,  a  stanch  defender, 
who,  on  Mr.  Bennett's  arrival  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  was 
foremost  to  welcome  him.  The  members  of  the  Defense 
Association,  in  all  the  large  cities  on  his  way  across  the 
continent,  turned  out  to  extend  him  cordial  greeting.  In 
many  places  large,  enthusiastic  receptions  were  tendered 
him.  In  one  Western  city  he  was  royally  entertained  by 
one  of  Comstock's  early  victims,  a  young  man  who  liad 
been  nearly  ruined  by  the  Vice  Society,  but  who,  at  the 
time  of  Mr.  Bennett's  arrival,  was  enjoying,  not  only  the 
confidence,  of  liis  fellow-townsmen,  but  the  income  from  a 
large  and  responsible  law  practice.  On  reaching  liome  lie 
was  entertained   at  a  fine   banquet,  at  which    two    iimidred 


C.  B.  REYNOLDS  (p.  792). 


THE  NATIONAL  DEFENSE  ASSOCIATION.      ,  541 

defenders  sat  at  table.  No  martyr  was  ever  so  beloved  or 
honored  as  D.  M.  Beuuett.  In  the  full  tide  of  his  useful- 
ness he  was  removed  by  death,  December  6, 1882.  The  De- 
fense Association  joined  with  "  The  Truth  Seeker  "  sub- 
scribers and  personal  friends  in  the  erection  of  a  massive 
monument  to  his  memory.  This  monument  is  one  of  the 
attractions  of  Greenwood  Cemetery. 

In  August,  1882,  an  attack  was  made  upon  Walt  Whit- 
man's ■'  Leaves  of  Grass."  This  attack  was  so  unreason- 
able that  it  furnished  a  fine  opportunity  to  the  Defense 
Association.  No  better  work  was  ever  done  by  the  Asso- 
ciation than  its  determined  vindication  of  the  integrity  of 
the  "good  gray  poet"  and  his  noble  production. 

About  the  time  of  Mr.  Bennett's  death,  the  Defense 
Association  was  once  more  called  upon  to  put  forth  its  ex- 
ertions in  behalf  of  Mr.  Hey  wood,  who  was  again  arrested 
on  the  same  charge  as  was  made  against  him  previously, 
but  having  the  good  fortune  to  come  before  an  impartial 
judge  he  was  acquitted  April  12,  1883.  Mr.  Heywood's 
experience  emphasizes  the  fact  that,  in  this  class  of  cases, 
it  is  always  the  judge  who  is  on  trial  rather  than  the  ac- 
cused. 

Shortly  after  this  triumph  Mr.  Hey  wood  was  again 
arrested,  but  after  a  year  of  legal  combat,  during  which 
the  Defense  Association  aided  him,  he  was  discharged,  the 
indictment  against  him  being  quashed  by  Judge  Pitman. 

In  January,  1885,  an  entirely  groundless  attack  was 
made  upon  Charles  Conroy.  Conroy  was  a  cripple  who, 
years  before,  in  resisting  an  assault,  branded  Comstock 
with  the  brand  of  Cain.  Comstock,  in  an  effort  to  revenge 
himself  upon  his  old  enemy,  had  him  arrested  on  a  false 
charge  of  selling  an  indecent  picture.  The  picture  was  a 
photograph  of  Annie  Sutherland,  an  actress,  in  stage 
costume,  being  similar  in  many  respects  to  the  pictures  of 
actresses  with  which  the  daily  press  has  since  familiarized 
the   public.     The  Defense  Association  set  up  a  vigorous 


542  i'OUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

defense  in  this  case  and  made  a  complete  showing  of 
Comstock's  malignity,  and  although  the  defendant  was 
held  by  an  ignorant  police  justice  to  await  the  action  of 
the  grand  jury,  the  Defense  Association  found  means  to 
prevent  an  indictment  and  Mr.  Conroy  was  discharged. 
Once  afterwards  Mr.  Conroy  was  subjected  to  annoyance, 
but  prompt  action  prevented  any  serious  consequences. 

The  cases  of  Conroy,  Marechal,  Simpson,  and  Dr. 
Powers  are  among  the  Defense  Association's  triumphs  in 
the  spring  of  1885. 

In  June,  1885,  Theron  C.  Leland,  whose  bright  and 
facile  pen  was  always  at  the  service  of  the  Defense  Asso- 
ciation, ceased  from  his  labors  and  was  at  rest.  His  soul 
goes  marching  on  in  the  many  witty  and  cogent  arguments 
he  formulated  against  the  inquisitorial  censorship.  To 
the  end  of  time  these  will  be  valuable  to  the  lovers  of 
liberty. 

On  September  11,  1885,  Mr.  Seward  Mitchell,  while  in 
attendance  on  the  New  York  Freethinkers'  Convention  at 
Albany,  was  arrested  by  local  agents  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  under  pretense  that  he  was  circu- 
lating "  obscene  "  literature.  In  support  of  this  pretense 
a  poem,  not  destitute  of  literary  merit,  was  pointed  out  in 
Mr.  Mitchell's  reform  newspaper  for  which  he  was  can- 
vassing. Representatives  of  the  Defense  Association  being 
present  secured  Mr.  Mitchell's  release.  The  poem  was- 
published  several  years  afterwards  by  Moses  Harman  in 
"  Lucifer,"  but  no  prosecution  was  undertaken  thereon. 

At  the  close  of  this  year,  1885,  Hon.  Elizur  Wright  was 
elected  president,  and  Hon.  M.  M.  Pomeroy  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  association.  Mr.  Wright  died  shortly  after 
accepting  this  office  and  the  association  continued  his 
name  as  president  by  the  following  resolutions : 

^'Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Hon.  Elizur  Wright^ 
the  president  of  our  association,  the  cause  of  liberty  has 
suffered  an  irreparable  loss,  being  thereby  deprived  of  the 


THE  NATIONAL  DEFENSE  ASSOCIATION.  54.3 

service  of  one  of  the  stanchest  advocates  of  freedom,  who 
for  more  than  half  a  century  had  devoted  himself  with  un- 
flagging courage  to  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  and  to  the 
vindication  of  personal  rights. 

''Resolved,  That  the  name  of  Elizur  Wright  be  still 
retained  as  president  of  the  National  Defense  Association, 
for  the  virtue  of  his  life  cannot  perish.  He  is  still  a  living 
presence  in  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  his  work.  By 
honoring  his  name  we  give  strength  to  our  cause,  whose 
watchword  is  Liberty." 

In  the  spring  of  1886  the  vigilance  of  the  Defense 
Association  defeated  one  of  the  most  dangerous  attempts 
of  the  Vice  Society  to  obtain  special  legislation  for  its  own 
purposes  by  fraud  and  trickery.  A  bill  of  the  most  drastic 
character  had  been  stealthily  introduced  in  the  New  York 
legislature  and  had  actually  passed  both  houses  when  the 
Defense  Association  explained  the  true  purposes  to  the 
governor  and  procured  his  veto. 

On  May  21  death  put  an  end  to  the  active  and  ener- 
getic cooperation  of  Mr.  Stephen  Pearl  Andrews,  who  from 
the  outset  was  one  of  the  most  vigorous  members  of  the 
association. 

In  the  spring  of  1887  a  renewed  attempt  to  secure  un- 
just legislation  in  New  York  was  partially  successful. 
Drs.  Foote  and  Mr.  T.  B.  Wakeman,  appearing  before  the 
legislature,  procured  the  striking  out  of  the  most  objec- 
tionable parts  of  the  proposed  law.  At  this  time  also  oc- 
curred the  remarkable  Parisen  case,  the  details  of  which  may 
furnish  a  good  deal  of  ammunition  in  the  future  for  the 
Defense  Association. 

The  arrest  of  Mrs.  Elmina  D.  Slenker  took  place  also 
at  this  time.  No  more  flagrant  atrocity  could  be  imagined 
or  devised  than  the  persecution  of  this  noble  woman  who 
had  for  many  years  pursued  an  investigation  into  sexual 
facts,  philosophy,  and  morals,  with  an  earnest  view  to  the 
betterment  of  her  race.     Her  private  correspondence  was 


544  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

])ublic'ly  exposed  in  violation  of  her  sacred  rights  as  a 
citizen  and  made  tlie  basis  of  a  baseless  charge  on  the 
part  of  officials  whose  solemn  dut_y  it  was  to  maintain  tlie 
fi-eedom  of  private  correspondence  and  the  inviolability 
of  the  mails. 

In  this  emergency  Aunt  Elraina  proved  the  truth  of 
the  proverb  that  "a  good  name  is  better  than  riches."  A 
circular  which  the  Defense  Association  promptly  sent  out 
brought  her  between  the  time  of  her  arrest  and  her  trial 
over  two  thousand  sympathetic  letters  from  Liberals, 
Scientists,  and*  Freethinkers  in  all  parts  of  the  world  and 
over  one  thousand  dollars  for  her  defense.  The  defense 
was  ably  conducted  by  Mr.  E.  W.  Chamberlain,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  the  release  of  his  client  notwithstand- 
ing her  conviction.  The  publicity  given  to  this  case 
excited  a  widespread  indignation  against  the  methods  of 
Comstock,  and  inspired  great  interest  in  the  special  line 
of  investigation  to  which  Mr.  Slenker  was  devoted. 

In  February,  1887,  Moses  Harman,  E.  C.  Walker,  and 
George  Harman,  editors  and  publishers  of  "Lucifer," 
were  arrested  under  pretense  that  the  Markland  letter 
published  in  their  paper  the  preceding  June  was  obscene. 
These  indomitable  men  at  once  commenced  a  campaign  of 
active  resistance.  Voluminous  indictments  of  two  hun- 
dred and  sevent}'  counts  were  quashed  because  they  con- 
veved  no  inforni;i,tion  of  what  defendants  wei-e  charged 
with.  New  inilictments  followed,  and  much  legal  skirmish- 
ing ensued.  Moses  Harman,  assuming  entire  control  of 
the  paper,  republished  the  matter  wliich  it  was  pretended 
were  offensive,  togetlier  witli  much  otiier  matter  of  like 
nature,  for  the  purpose  of  stating  his  case  and  maintain- 
ing liis  I'iglits.  The  controversy  is,  at  the  time  of  this 
wi-iting,  1894,  not  yet  legall}'  terminated,  but  Mr.  Har- 
man has  so  almirabh'  succeeded  in  holding  up  his  mis- 
chievous persecutors  to  the  judgment  of  mankind  that  a 
great   moral   victory   is   assuredly    his.     Tiu'ougliout   this 


THE  NATIONAL  DEFENSE  ASSOCIATION.  545 

whole  fight  Mr.  Harman  has  enjoyed  the  constant  cooper- 
ation of  the  Defense  Association.  In  1888  the  Defense 
Association  procured  the  defeat  of  two  bills  in  Congress 
which,  had  they  become  law,  would  have  greatly  increased 
the  mischievous  powers  of  the  censorship.  Another  effort 
to  procure  the  repeal  of  the  law  was  made  at  this  time, 
and,  on  May  18th,  an  exciting  argument  was  had  before 
the  House  Post-office  Committee,  but  no  practical  result 
followed. 

The  year  1889  marked  an  abortive  attack  upon  Sadie 
Bailey  Fowler's  book,  "  Irene."  The  appearance  of  the 
Defense  Association  upon  the  scene  warded  off  the  perse- 
cution. The  Association  was  also  called  upon  to  aid  in 
the  defense  of  W.  R.  Reid,  whose  offense  was  Spiritualism. 

In  May,  1890,  Mr.  Heywood  was  again  arrested. 
Charges  were  preferred  against  him  in  both  the  state  and 
federal  courts,  and  were  pushed  with  vindictiveness.  Very 
short  time  was  allowed  him  for  preparation ;  he  was 
forced  to  trial  iu  Juue.  Mr.  Chamberlain  volunteered  to 
defend  him.  Tiie  trial  was  a  mockery  of  justice  before 
the  judge,  whom  history  will  remember  only  for  his  scur- 
rilous abuse  of  General  Butler.  This  judge  bent  every 
effort  to  the  conviction  of  Mr.  Heywood,  and,  to  the  dis- 
grace of  American  jurisprudence,  succeeded  only  too  well. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mr.  Heywood  never  did  the  act  which 
was  charged  against  him,  but  this  made  no  difference. 
The  Defense  Association  set  forth  tha  facts  and  procured 
a  number  of  influential  signers  to  a  petition  for  Mr.  Hey- 
wood's  release,  which  was  presented  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Gilbert, 
of  Boston,  but  President  Harrison  evaded  the  real  point 
in  the  case  and  denied  the  application. 

About  the  time  of  the  Heywood  case,  Mr.  J.  B.  Cauld- 
well,  editor  of  "Tlie  Christian  Life"  in  Chicago,  was 
arrested  in  retaliation  for  certain  expressions  of  sympathy 
with  Mr.  Harman  which  appeared  in  his  paper.  He  was 
tried  and  acquitted. 


546  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FRBETHOUGHT. 

In  May,  1891,  some  one  connected  witli  the  post-office 
department  made  the  amazing  discovery  that  Tolstoi's 
"  Kreutzer  Sonata  "  was  an  obscene  book,  and  undertook 
to  prevent  its  transmission  through  the  mails.  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin R.  Tucker,  one  of  the  valiant  defenders  of  Walt 
Whitman,  again  came  to  the  front  and,  defying  the  postal 
censors,  maintained  the  right  of  free  press  and  free  mails, 

October  17,  1891,  James  Parton,  an  ardent  defender, 
died. 

The  most  far-reaching  and  effective  work  of  the  Defense 
Association  was  its  rebuke  of  the  efforts  of  the  Harrison 
administration  to  constitute  the  postmaster-general  a  cen- 
sor of  the  press,  and  to  sanction  by  statutory  enactment 
a  course  of  usurpation  which  had  taken  on  a  most  oppres- 
sive character.  In  the  summer  of  1892  the  following  pro- 
test was  issued  : 

"  A  Protest. — We  append  our  names  to  this  paper  for  the 
purpose  of  protesting — 

"Against  any  and  all  laws  violating  and  invading  the 
constitutional  pledges  which  guarantee  to  American  citi- 
zens the  rights  of  Free  Speech  and  Free  Press. 

'Against  the  enforcement  of  laws  by  the  instrumental- 
ity of  private  amateur  detective  associations. 

"Against  the  establishment  of  a  censorship  of  the  press 
and  of  the  mails,  as  is  now  attempted  in  the  Post-office 
Department. 

"  And  having  seen  that  such  laws,  and  prevailing 
methods  of  enforcing  them,  open  great  opportunities  for 
fraudulent  practices,  for  the  accomplishment  of  private 
revenges,  and  for  the  suppression  of  unpopular  sentiments 
by  fanatical  persecutions,  we  hereby  pledge  ourselves  to 
do  all  that  good  citizens  may  properly  do  to  overcome 
these  mischiefs  and  to  reverse  the  current  of  this  class  of 
legislative  and  official  aggression." 

This  was  signed  by  hosts  of  well-known  writers  and 
publicists,  and  by  hundreds  of  editors.     It  fouinl  its  way 


EDWARD  DOUWES  DEKKER  (p.    838). 


THE  NATIONAL  DEFENSE  ASSOCIATION.  547 

into  every  printiug-office  in  the  country  where  a  news- 
paper was  iDrinted,  and  miles  of  editorial  matter  was  writ- 
ten in  opposition  to  the  censorship.  The  effect  was- 
maixical.  It  not  only  defeated  Mr.  Wauamaker's  measures^ 
in  Congress,  but  perhaps  it  defeated  Mr.  Harrison's  presi- 
dential aspirationsr  by  producing  a  spontaneous  outburst 
of  indignation  at  the  overwhelming  greed  of  power  which 
sought  to  extend  its  dominion  into  the  realm  of  men'* 
minds  and  consciences,  and  which,  by  a  gradual  growth, 
culminated  in  the  establishment  in  our  post-office  of  a  law- 
less censorship  as  oppressive  as  that  of  the  fourteenth 
century  Inquisition. 

Thus  the  work  of  the  Association  has  gone  on  quietly^ 
but  forcefully ;  steadily,  but  with  very  little  expenditure,, 
holding  meetings,  watching  the  operations  of  the  enemy,, 
and,  in  all  cases  of  injustice  and  oppression,  giving  valu- 
able assistance  and  advice.  Its  documents  have  been 
lavishly  distributed,  and  many  of  the  vindictive  outrages 
upon  Freethinkers  haVe  been  exhibited  in  their  true  light. 
These  documents  have  become  historical. 

New  York  State  Freethinkers'  Association. 

This  Association  was  organized  in  the  town  of  Huron,, 
near  the  village  of  Wolcott,  on  the  18th  of  August,  1877. 
Mr.  J.  Madison  Cosad,  of  Huron,  an  active,  earnest,  and 
intelligent  Freethinker,  decided  to  have  a  Freethought 
grove  meeting  near  his  residence.  He  invited  H.  L. 
Green,  of  Salamanca,  now  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  editor  of 
the  "  Freethinkers'  Magazine,"  to  superintend  the  meeting. 
It  was  held  as  announced.  It  was  a  very  large  gathering, 
Mr.  Cosad,  at  his  own  expense,  procured  the  large  tent 
belonging  to  the  County  Fair  Association,  and  put  it  up 
in  his  beautiful  grove  near  his  house  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  Convention.  The  tent  would  accommodate 
two   thousand  people,  and   on   Sunday   it  was   more  than 


548  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

full,  notwitlistandiug  the  orthodox  people  got  up  a  tem- 
perance grove  meeting  near  by  with  noted  speakers. 

On  Friday  morning  the  meeting  was  called  to  order, 
and  Giles  B.  Stebbins,  of  Detroit,  was  appointed  tempo- 
rary chairman,  and  E.  M.  Sellon,  of  Buffalo,  temporary 
secretary.  C.  de  B.  Mills,  of  Syracuse,  was  afterwards 
elected  permanent  chairman  of  the  Convention.  The 
meeting  was  an  enthusiastic  one.  Speeches  were  made  by 
Horace  Seaver,  Dr.  M.  WooHey,  Dr.  T.  L.  Brown,  D.  M. 
Bennett,  Amy  Post,  Mrs.  Scott-Briggs,  J.  P.  Mendum,  and 
others. 

The  Freethinkers'  Association  was  organized,  with  Dr. 
T.  L.  Brown  as  president ;  E.  M.  Sellon,  recording  secre- 
tary ;  Amy  Post,  treasurer,  and  H.  L.  Green,  corresponding 
secretary. 

The  "  creed  "  of  the  Association  is  "  Universal  Mental 
Liberty,"  and  its  platform  the  Nine  Demands  of  Liberal- 
ism. It  has  a  membership  of  over  twenty-six  hundred. 
Persons  from  any  state  in  the  Union  can  join.  There  are 
also  members  from  Canada.  Its  annual  conventions  have 
been  held  at  the  following  places  :  Watkins,  Chautauqua 
Lake,  Hornellsville,  Rochester,  Cassadaga,  and  Albany. 

The  first  Watkins  Convention  was  distinguished  as 
being  the  place  where  D.  M.  Bennett  was  arrested  for 
selling  a  copy  of  "  Cupid's  Yokes ;"  and  the  second  Wat- 
kins Convention  for  giving  a  grand  reception  and  dinner 
to  Mr.  Bennett,  after  his  trip  around  the  world. 

Most  of  the  Freethought  speakers  of  the  United  States, 
and  some  from  other  countries,  have  addressed  these  con- 
ventions, among  whom  are  the  names  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll, 
Horace  Seaver,  D.  M.  Bennett,  Hon.  Geo.  W.  Julian, 
Thaddeus  B.  Wakemau,  Judge  E.  B.  Hurlbut,  George 
Jacob  Holyoake,  Charles  Bright,  of  Australia ;  Charles 
Watts,  of  London  ;  Courtlandt  Palmer,  J.  H.  Burnham, 
Judge  Krekel,  of  Missouri ;  George  Chainey,  W.  S.  Bell, 
Samuel    P.    Putnam,    Mrs.    Mattie    Krekel,    Hon.    Elizur 


NEW  YORK  STATE  FREKTHINKKRS'  ASSOCIATION.        549 

Wright,  Amelia  H.  Colby,  George  G.  Meikel,  of  Canada ; 
Juliet  H.  Severance,  Susan  H.  Wixon,  C.  Fannie  Allyn, 
Dr.  T.  L.  Brown,  Jay  Cliaapel,  Charles  B,  Keyuolds,  C.  de 
B.  Mills,  John  E.  Eemsburg,  Giles  B.  Stebbms,  Dr.  M. 
Woolley,  J.  H.  Harter,  Amy  Post,  Lucy  N.  Colman,  Mrs. 
H.  S.  Lake,  Mrs.  B.  W.  Scott-Briggs,  Mrs.  Cornelia  Gard- 
ner, Mrs.  P.  R.  Lawrence,  Elder  F.  W.  Evans,  Elder  G.  A. 
Lonns,  Eev.  Thomas  Mitchell,  Mrs.  Laura  Kendrick,  Rev. 
J.  L.  Alcott,  John  W.  Truesdell,  Rev.  W.  E.  Copeland, 
Judge  R.  S.  McCormick,  G.  L.  Henderson,  Prof.  J.  H.  W. 
Toohey,  Mrs.  Matilda  Joslvn  Gage,  Hon.  A.  B.  Bradford, 
Geo.  d  Miln,  Dr.  J.  M.  Peebles,  T.  C.  Leland,  Mrs.  Clara 
Neyman,  Prof.  A.  L.  Rawson,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Tillotson,  Dr. 
T.  P.  Taylor,  Mrs.  Ella  E.  Gibson,  Mrs.  A.  C.  Bristol,  J.  E. 
Verity,  Rev.  E.  W.  Abbey,  John  Stolz,  M.D.,  and  L.  K. 
Washburn. 

The  convention  of  this  association,  held  at  Rochester, 
was  without  doubt  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important 
Liberal  conventions  ever  held  in  this  country.  The  most 
noticeable  occurrence  of  this  convention  was  the  public 
discussion  between  Hon.  Thaddeus  B.  Wakeman  and  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Mitchell. 

The  conventions  have  come -to  be  national  institutions, 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  press  and  the  public  every- 
where. 

The  peculiarity  of  this  association  is  that  it  includes, 
under  the  name  "  Freethinker,"  all  the  various  branches 
of  the  Liberal  party — Materialists,  Spiritualists,  Free  Re- 
ligionists, and  all  others  who  indorse  the  Nine  Demands 
of  Liberalism.  Its  catholic  liberality  is  the  secret  of  its 
success. 

At  the  great  convention  at  Albany,  Robert  G.  IngersoU 
gave  the  closing  lecture  to  a  packed  house,  and  donated 
all  the  proceeds,  nearly  one  thousand  dollars,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  association  and  the  Freethought  work. 

This  association  has  made  many  a  bright  page  in  Free- 


550  FOUR  hundrp:d  years  of  freethought. 

■  thought  history.  It  has  been  a  source  of  wide  influence 
and  companionship  tliroughout  the  Liberal  ranks.  It  has 
been,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  a  notable  turning-point 
in  the  advance  of  liberty.  T.  B.  Wakeman  is  now  presi- 
dent. It  is  hoped  that  its  old-time  glories  well  not  be  lost 
in  tlie  work  that  is  now  before  us. 

Kansas. 

Much  aggressive  Liberal  work  has  been  done  in  this 
state.  Between  thirty  and  forty  local  Leagues  were  organ- 
ized before  1883.  In  September  of  that  year  a  mass  con- 
vention and  camp  meeting  was  held  at  Valley  Falls.  Among 
the  speakers  were  Ex-Governor  Charles  Robinson,  Hon. 
Alfred  Taylor,  Mrs.  H.  S.  Lake,  W.  F.  Peck,  and  J.  M. 
Hagaman.  A  state  League  was  formed  and  officers  elected 
as  follows  :  President,  J.  M.  Hagaman ;  vice-presidents, 
Hon.  Alfred  Taylor,  Maj.  J.  L.  Ferguson,  and  Mrs.  C.  R. 
Doster  ;  secretary  and  chairman  executive  committee.  E. 
C.  Walker  ;  treasurer.  Dr.  R.  C  Raymond.  This  League 
was  represented  in  the  Milwaukee  congress  of  the  National 
League  in  1883. 

Iowa. 

The  first  local  Liberal  League  was  organized  at  Flor- 
ence (now  Norway)  on  Jan.  19,  1878.  The  officers  were  : 
President,  Byron  McQuin  ;  secretary,  E.  C  Walker  ; 
assistant  secretary,  AU^ert  N.  Rogers  ;  treasurer,  Mrs. 
R.  Irena  Wagner.  This  was  Auxiliary  No.  25  of  the 
National  Liberal  League.  Subsequently  quite  a  num- 
ber of  auxiliaries  were  organized  in  the  state,  of  wiiich 
the  Liberal  League  of  Northern  Iowa,  with  headquar- 
ters at  Waverly  and  Matthew  Fai-rington  as  president, 
had  several  hundred  members  in  Bremer,  Black  Hawk, 
Chickasaw,  and  other  counties.  Iowa  had  eighteen  dele- 
gates in  the  annual  Congress  of  the  National  League,  held 
in   Chicago   in    1880,   and  the   vote   of  the  delegation   was 


IOWA. 


551 


solidly  for  the  resolution  demanding  the  repeal  of  the 
Comstock  postal  statutes. 

In  the  winter  of  1878  a  call  was  issued  for  a  mass  con- 
vention of  Iowa  Liberals  at  Des  Moines,  March  7.  This 
call  was  sii^uetl  by  the  state  committee  of  the  National 
Liberal  League  :  J.  C  Micliener,  J.  H.  Strong,  C  De  Rob- 
erts, E.  C.  Walker,  E.  H.  Gibbs.  The  chief  speakers  at 
the  convention  were  B.  F.  Underwood  and  Mattie  Hulett 
Parry.  A  State  Lengue  was  organized,  with  these  officers  : 
President,  J.  C.  Michener  ;  vice-president,  J.  H.  Strong  ; 
secretary,  Rev.  Hiram  A.  Beid  ;  corresponding  secretary, 
E.  C.  Walker  ;  treasurer,  Joel  P.  Davis  ;  executive  com- 
mittee, the  above  and  G.  G.  Carstens  and  Ella  J.  Skinner. 

A  mass  convention  was  held  at  Marslialltown  August 
27-29,  1880.  Addresses  by  T.  C.  Lelaml,  W.  F.  Jumieson, 
Mrs.  H.  S.  Lake,  Mattie  Hulett  Parry,  O.  A.  Phelps,  and 
W.  F.  Pe(;k.  Iowa  Liber;d  League  was  reorganized  with 
tliese  officers  :  President,  M,  Farriugton  ;  vice-presidents, 
Dr.  Siiorland  Harris,  M.  E.  Billings,  Abram  Clegg,  Mrs. 
C.  P.  Robinson;  secretary  and  chairman  executive  com- 
mittee, E.  C  Walker  ;  treasurer,  Cornelia  Boecklin  ;  ex- 
ecutive commitee,  president,  secretary,  and  treasurer,  with 
Leroy  Dutton  and  C  W.  Dibble. 

Tlie  first  annual  convention  of  the  reorganized  League 
was  held  at  Cedar  Rapids,  September  24-26,  1881  Old 
boad  of  officers  re-elected.  Resolutions  of  respect  for 
Charles  Brndlaugh  were  adopted.  Governor  Roberts,  of 
Texas,  was  congratulated  for  his  refusal  to  issue  a  Thanks- 
giving ])rocl;i.mation. 

The  second  annual  convention  was  held  at  Tama  City, 
September  7-10,  1882.  The  speakers  were  Mrs.  H.  S. 
Lake,  Dr.  Juliet  H.  Severance,  M.  F;irrington,  Prof,  W.  S. 
Peck,  Nettie  Pease  Fox,  E.  C.  Walker,  S.  D.  Moore,  M. 
E.  Billings,  D.  M.  Fox.  Old  officers  re-elected,  with  the 
exception  of  Executive  Committeeman  C.  W.  Dibble,  whose 
place  was  taken  by  Abner  Kimball. 


552  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

The  third  annual  convention  was  held  at  Tama  City  in 
September,  1883.  C.  W.  Dibble,  the  new  secretary,  who 
had  taken  the  place  of  E.  C.  Walker,  the  latter  having  re- 
moved to  Kansas,  had  charge  of  the  arrangements. 

Illinois. 

The  Illinois  State  League,  F.  F.  Follett,  secretary,  did 
some  good  work.  Mr.  Follett,  as  secretary  of  the  State 
League  and  Illinois  member  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  National  League,  traveled  extensively  over  the 
state,  lecturing,  organizing,  and  distributing  Liberal  lit- 
erature. Most  of  the  work  accomplished  by  organizations 
in  Illinois  has  been  done  by  the  Chicago  Secular  Union. 

The  Texas  Liberal  Association. 

The  first  meeting  to  organize  was  called  by  Mr.  Shaw 
to  meet  in  Waco  in  July,  1890.  The  following  was  adopted 
as  the  platform,  or  constitution,  of  the  association  : 

''Resolved,  1.  That  we.  Liberals  of  Texas,  in  convention 
assembled,  do  hereby  organize  ourselves  into  a  society 
to  be  known  as  the  Liberal  Association  of  Texas. 

'^Resolved,  2.  That  the  objects  of  this  association  shall 
be  as  follows  : 

"  1.  To  encourage  the  study  of  man  in  all  his  relations. 

"  2.  To  seek  to  realize  the  truth  in  life. 

"  3.  To  aid  in  those  movements  that  tend  most  to  the 
improvement  of  the  individual  and  of  society,  and  to  the 
unity  and  freedom  of  mankind. 

"  4.  To  facilitate  the  association  of  those  who  have  at 
heart  and  hold  dear  that  absolute  freedom  of  thought  and 
expression  which  is  the  natural  right  of  every  rational 
being. 

"  5.  To  inaugurate  a  system  of  positive,  tolerant 
thought,  ethical  culture,  and  practical  benevolence  in 
which  all  liberal-minded  people  can  unite  and  work  in 
harmony  for  the    moral   elevation,   intellectual   improve- 


fA^^ 


THE  TEXAS  LIBERAL  ASSOCIATION.  553 

ment,  social  well-being,  and  consequent  happiness  of  the 
human  race. 

^'Resolved,  3.  That  we  welcome  into  this  association 
all  persons  who  indorse  these  objects,  regardless  of  their 
speculative  opinions  on  religion,  philosophy,  or  politics. 

''Resolved,  4.  That  the  officers  of  this  association  sliall 
be  a  president,  a  secretary,  and  a  treasurer  ;  and  these 
officers  shall  constitute  an  executive  committee  with  full 
power  to  formulate  methods  to  carry  out  the  purposes  for 
which  we  are  organized. 

''Resolved,  5.  That  the  officers  of  this  association  shall 
hold  their  offices  until  their  successors  are  chosen,  which 
shall  be  at  the  regular  annual  meetings. 

"Resolved,  6.  That  an  annual  fund,  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  this  organization,  shall  be  raised  by  voluntary 
contributions,  and  that  said  fund  shall  be  known  as  the 
extension  fund,  and  shall  be  expended  by  the  executive 
committee  in  such  manner  as  they  may  deem  proper." 

This  constitution  was  subsequently  amended  by  adding 
the  "Nine  Demands  of  Liberalism."  The  officer  selected 
were  :  James  D.  Shaw,  president ;  J.  L.  Jackson,  secre- 
tary ;  T.  V.  Munson,  treasurer. 

The  meetings  lasted  through  three  days,  the  evenings 
being  devoted  to  lectures  and  addresses. 

Tlie  number  of  members  enrolled  at  this,  the  first 
meeting,  was  seveuty-three,  and  the  funds  subscribed, 
three  hundred  dollars. 

The  second  meeting  was  held  in  San  Antonio  on  April 
10.  11,  12,  1891.  The  report  of  the  secretary  showed  an 
increase  of  membership  to  five  hundred  and  twenty.  The 
officers  elected  were  :  J.  P.  Richardson,  president ;  A.  L. 
Teagarden,  secretary  ;  T.  V.  Munson,  treasurer. 

The  third  meeting  was  in  Waco,  April  8,  9,  10,  1892. 
The  secretary  reported  an  addition  of  sixty-seven  mem- 
bers,   making    in    all    five    hundred    and    seventy-three. 


554  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

Ofl&cers  elected  :  J.  P.  Richardson,  president;  J.  D.  Shaw^ 
secretary  ;  R.  W.  Park,  treasurer. 

The  fourth  meeting  was  held  in  Austin,  May  1,  2,  8, 
1893.     The  same  board  of  officers  was  elected. 

Texas  is  one  of  most  promising  states  in  the  Union 
for  Free  thought.  The  work  done  by  J.  D.  Shaw,  Judge 
J.  P.  Richardson,  T.  Y.  Munson,  A.  L.  Teagardeu,  and 
others  has  brought  many  noble  Liberal  people  to  the 
front.  The  vast  extent  of  Texas,  over  five  hundred  thou- 
sand square  miles,  renders  organization  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult. But,  though  comparatively  few  names  are  on  the 
roll,  they  are  names  which  represent  a  great  deal  of  in- 
fluence in  the  community,  and  will  do  much,  no  doubt,  to 
shape  the  destinies  of  this  vast  and  splendid  state  towards 
the  principles  of  republican  liberty. 

The  California  State  Liberal  Union. 

This  Union  was  organized  in  May,  1888,  at  San  Fran- 
cisco. Over  one  thousand  numes  Avere  affixed  to  the  call. 
It  has  now  a  membership  of  over  three  thousand.  Its 
annual  conventions  have  been  numerously  attended.  The 
chief  fight  in  California  has  been  in  regard  to  Sunday 
laws.  There  are  no  Sunday  laws  in  California.  In  1889 
and  1890,  the  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union  of 
California  made  a  tremendous  attempt  to  pass  Sunday 
laws.  The  ecclesiastical  forces  were  organized  all  over 
the  state.  Circulars  were  distributed,  and  conventions 
held.  Bills  were  introduced  into  both  branches  of  the 
legislature,  and  there  was  a  large  lobby  attendance  of 
ministers  and  members  of  the  Women's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union.  A  great  discussion  was  held  in  the  Senate 
Chamber,  which  was  crowded.  The  Christians  flocked  to 
their  standard,  and  the  Freetliinkers  were*  on  hand. 
Samuel  P.  Putnam  and  Addie  L.  Ballon  represented  the 
Liberal  Union.  The  Seventh  Dav  Adventists  joined 
forces.     The  debate  lasted  until  midnight,  and  there  was 


THE  CALIFORNIA  STATE  LIBERAL  UNION.  555 

a  battle  royal.  The  most  lively  interest  was  manifested. 
The  Christians  expected  to  carry  the  day.  They  did  not 
anticipate  so  determined  an  opposition.  They  were  de- 
feated. As  the  result  of  the  debate,  the  legislative  com- 
mittee unanimously  resolved  to  table  the  Sunday  bill. 

The  California  State  Liberal  Union,  by  thus  organizing 
its  forces,  was  enabled  to  defeat  the  powerful  attempts  of 
the  church  party.  There  are  no  Sunday  laws  in  California, 
and  church,  property  is  taxed. 

The  present  officers  of  the  Union  are  Samuel  P.  Put- 
nam, president ;  Emil  Lemme,  secretary ;  and  W.  H.  East- 
man, treasurer.  Among  its  vice-presidents  and  supporters 
throughout  the  state  are  Addie  L.  Ballon,  Dr.  W.  Bots- 
ford,  C.  F.  Burgman,  Leonard  Parker,  S.  Littlefield,  John 
Beaumont,  Will  Alfred  Pingree,  Lyman  Smith,  Chas.  D. 
Lane,  Sarah  L.  Thurston,  J.  H.  Ostello,  L  G.  Gardner, 
John  H.  Leining,  R.  F.  Grigsby,  John  Dumbacher,  R.  H. 
Bliss,  R.  Blackburn,  A.  H.  Smith,  W.  A.  Fisher,  Joseph 
Lee,  Henrv  Houston,  Frank  Bucholtz,  Robert  Laramore, 
Fred  McMillan,  J.  H.  Lindsay,  Mrs.  Pauline  Van  Hoeter, 
H.  C.  Tandy,  R.  W.  Barcroft,  H.  F.  Ebers,  Geo.  W.  Gill, 
P.  W.  Forbes,  John  E.  Jones,  A.  Schell,  Abram  M.  Hiltz, 
Herrick  R.  Schell,  N  B.  Parnell,  Frank  B.  Fox,  Mrs.  Sarah 
Fox,  Peter  Ting,  M.  S.  Palmer,  Geo.  Hogan,  John  Riggin, 
J.  E.  Clark,  C.  Severance,  O.  H.  Puvdy,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Han- 
son, T.  L.  Gi'igsby,  A.  K.  Coward,  John  Robinett,  Herman 
O.  Fry.  Di-.  R.  H.  Endicott,  John  Hubbel,  Marshall  Pierce, 
C.  H.  Furj^ason,  H.  L.  Haelke,  Andy  Dermiug,  Dr.  Frank 
Kuckein,  A.  H.  Schow,  Mary  A.  Handy,  W.  H.  Pepper, 
Philip  Cowen,  R.  C.  Reed,  L.  D.  Reynolds,  T.  H  Cheney, 
John  Mewhinney,  R.  A.  Maddox,  D.  Buckingham,  D.  W. 
Perkins,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  White,  R.mford  Worthing,  James 
Bid  well.  Mis.  S.  M.  Brady,  Mrs.  W.  A.  Dorris,  P.  A.  Clark, 
Martha  Deming,  John  Vernon,  J.  Vostrovsky,  R.  H. 
Schwartz.  L.  Magenheiraer,  L.  R.  Titn.s  S.  A.  Bisljop,  B. 
B.  Roekwood,  Mrs.  Emma  Regain,  N.  D.  Goodell,  R.  But- 


556  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

terfield,  O.  T.  Davies,  Ed.  Wegner,  W.  F.  Freeman,  Chas. 
Hass,  J.  C.  Gage,  T.  J.  Pope,  Victor  Heck,  J.  R.  Horsley, 
W.  H.  Baker,  W.  A.  Chess,  Peter  H.  Kroncke,  A.  R.  Wood- 
hams,  J.  H.  Dibble,  B.  G.  Parker,  Tiiomas  McCowan,  John 
McGlashan,  L.  Schlegel,  Joel  B.  Parker,  Col.  D.M.Baker, 
and  many  others.  California  has  a  large  Liberal  element. 
It  is,  perhaps,  in  many  respects,  the  most  Liberal  and  ad- 
vanced state  in  the  Union.  It  is  a  state  of  wonderful 
resources,  and  has  a  varied  and  ever-changing  population. 
The  pioneers  of  '49,  as  a  rule,  are  radicals.  Making  their 
own  fortunes,  they  do  their  own  thinking.  The  later  im- 
migrations to  California,  the  result  of  its  vast  fruit  indus- 
tries, tend  to  strengthen  the  churches,  yet  the  churches 
themselves  are  of  a  very  Liberal  order.  The  rigid  old 
dogmas  seem  to  melt  everywhere  in  the  golden  sunshine 
of  California.  Freethought  organization  is  difficult  on 
account  of  this  very  liberality  that  pervades  the  people. 
They  do  not  realize  the  dangers  that  still  exist;  that  the 
battle  is  not  yet  won  for  liberty.  Freethought,  however, 
has  a  cheering  outlook  upon  the  Pacific.  The  list  here 
given  represents  a  stalwart  company  of  thousands.  It  is 
necessarily  imperfect  from  lack  of  space.  There  are  many 
more,  i^ood  and  true,  worth v  of  this  record. 

The  Oregon  State  Heoular  Union. 

Tlje  Oregon  State  SHCiilar  Union  was  organized  at 
Silverton  in  1889.  C.  Beal  was  ciioseu  president,  one  of 
the  old-time  Liberals  of  the  coast,  broad,  generous,  genial, 
and  radical.  He  took  hold  of  the  work  of  organization 
with  great  courage.  A  large  mass  meeting  was  called  at 
Portland  the  following  October.  This  was  a  pronounced 
success.  The  hall  was  crowded  and  delegates  were  present 
from  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  a  large  sum  of  money  was 
raised  for  campaign  purposes.  On  this  occasion  a  beauti- 
fully wrought  banner  was  presented  to  the  convention  by 


THE  OREGON  STATE  SECULAR  UNION.  557 

Miss  Mattie  Blaisdell,  of  Portland,  one  of  the  most  earnest 
and  devoted  Liberals  in  our  ranks. 

The  chief  point  of  attack  in  Oregon  has  been  the  tax- 
ation of  church  property,  and  this  has  been  vigorously 
agitated  m  several  sessions  of  the  legislature.  Some 
measure  of  success  has  been  achieved,  but  the  battle  is  a 
long  one.  The  members  of  the  legislature,  while  aelmit- 
ting  the  justice  of  impartial  taxation,  are  afraid  to  push 
the  matter  for  fear  of  the  votes  of  the  church.  J.  Henry 
Schroeder,  one  of  the  foremost  leaders  of  Liberalism  in 
Coos  county,  succeeded  Mr.  Beal  after  the  latter  had  once 
for  all  declined  a  re-election  on  account  of  pressing  busi- 
ness, although  it  was  unanimously  and  earnestly  tendered 
him.  President  Schroeder  pushed  the  work  effectively. 
Mrs.  Mattie  P.  Krekel  was  elected  secretary  and  she  made 
an  extensive  tour  of  the  state,  traveling  by  rail,  coach, 
buckboard,  and  sometimes  on  foot  to  meet  her  appoint- 
ments. Pioneer  work  in  Oregon  is  no  easy  task.  After 
J.  Henry  Schroeder,  W.  W.  Jesse  was  elected  president. 
He  is  well  known  for  his  stanch  and  persistent  labors  for 
Freethought.  Katie  Kehm  Smith  was  elected  secretary, 
and  she  certainly,  in  connection  with  the  Union  and  the 
Portland  Secular  Church,  which  she  started,  has  done  a 
splendid  service  to  the  cause.  Mr.  D.  W.  Smith,  vice- 
president,  both  in  Washington  and  Oregon  has  not  only 
been  a  prominent  citizen,  holding  offices  of  trust,  and 
honored  by  all  parties,  but  has  been  an  unflinching  sup- 
porter of  Freethought.  The  Oregon  State  Secular  Union 
is  H  live  organization,  and  its  officers  at  present  are  labor- 
ing with  unbounded  energy. 

Among  the  vice-presidents  and  supporters  of  the  Union 
are  John  Diamond,  after  whom  Diamond's  Peak  is  named. 
He  is  one  of  the  earliest  pioneers  of  the  state ;  Senator 
E.  P.  Coleman,  J.  D.  Garfield,  member  of  the  House  ;  O. 
Jeldness,  Mrs.  M.  PefferJe,  Keneth  Campbell,  A.  J.  Sclirum, 
B.  F.  Hvlaud,  H.  H.  Nichols,  H.  A.  Lee,  Wm.  Barlow,  L. 


558  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREKTHOU&HT. 

P.  Howard,  Jas.  Laiid,  H.  McElsander,  Mrs.  Carrie  E. 
Haiglit,  David  Wittenberg,  S.  H.  Hazard,  Henry  Buxton, 
D.  C.  Stewart,  S.  B.  Huston,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tliomas  Todd, 
J.  M.  Settle,  Wm.  Sims,  Alex.  Hardy,  J.  D.  Fountain,  W. 
G.  Webster,  Mrs.  F.  M.  Bates,  F.  Marks,  A.  J.  M.  Camp- 
bell, Mrs.  E.  A.  Hilborn,  A.  B.  Klise,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M.  J. 
Olds,  W.  T.  Booth,  Reuben  Wright,  Jack  Plummer,  F. 
Hauswirth,  R.  R.  Laughiiu,  B.  F.  Linn,  Geo.  Johnson,  C. 
W.  Saunders,  Ed.  Alisky,  M.  Howell,  Jas.  Barbeau,  H. 
Arnold,  W.  W.  West,  Geo.  H.  Dawes,  J.  W.  Norval,  Henry 
Allen,  Wright  Forshay,  E.  Wolfard,  A.  Wolf,  R.  D.  Allen, 
M.  Fitzgerell,  H.  D.  Mount,  Jas.  Down,  Dr.  J.  W.  McClure, 
F.  S.  Matteson,  W.  G.  Dean,  D.  L.  Trullinger,  T.  Cameron, 
Geo.  A.  Thompson,  E.  C.  Brainard,  W.  M.  Kline,  Maxwell 
Ramsby,  O.  R.  Wagner,  C.  G.  Casparj,  and  many  others. 
It  is  impossible  to  mention  the  two  thousand  and  more 
names  on  the  roll  of  the  Union. 

Oregon  has  a  great  future  before  it.  Although  it  can- 
not equal  the  golden  sunshine  of  California,  it  surpasses 
it  in  the  possession  of  two  requisite  elements — w^ood  and 
water.  Its  forests  are  simply  magnificent,  and  occasion- 
ally it  rains  forty  days  and  nights.  Its  fruits  are  the  finest 
in  the  world,  and  as  an  agricultural  country  it  lias  no 
superior.  It  is  a  good  place  for  the  growth  of  Liberalism, 
which  in  Oregon  has  a  sturdy  and  persistent  element, 
because  wliatever  one  wins  in  Oregon  he  must  win  by 
hard  work.  He  must  battle  with  the  elements.  Free- 
thought  in  Oregon,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  record,  has  come 
to  stay,  and  through  all  sorts  of  weather  the  flag  of  Free- 
dom will  be  unfurled. 

The  Washington  Secular  Union. 

May  1,  1889,  C.  B.  Reynolds  arrived  at  Walla  Walla, 
Washington,  under  engagement  as  regular  lecturer  of  the 
Walla  Walla  Liberal  Club. 

Public  lectures  were  delivered  every  Sunday  evening 


TITUS  VOLKEL  (p.  84). 


THE  WASHINGTON  SECULAR  UNION.  559 

at  Small's  Opera  House,  and  the   regular  club  meetiugs- 
were  held  Suuday  moruiugs  at  the  G.  A.  R.  Hall. 

The  Walla  Walla  Liberal  Club,  becoming  convinced 
of  the  absolute  necessity  of  practical,  efficient  organiza- 
tion, in  December,  1889,  at  their  own  cost,  sent  out  letters 
to  the  Liberals  throughout  the  State,  asking  co-operation.. 
Finding  a  very  general  desire  for  organization,  the  Walla 
Walla  Liberal  Club  sent  their  then  president,  C.  B.  Rev- 
nolds,  to  the  city  of  Seattle  to  organize  a  committee  of 
leading  Liberals  to  call  and  arrange  for  holding  a  conven- 
tion. Robert  J.  Wilson,  George  M .  Roman,  C.  Forbach, 
P.  B.  Morton,  Richard  Winsor,  P.  Wickstrom,  and  C.  B. 
Reynolds  comprised  the  committee. 

On  January  28,  1890,  a  delegation  of  Liberals  from  all 
parts  of  the  state  of  Washington  assembled  at  Fried's 
Hall,  Ninth  street,  in  the  city  of  Seattle,  and  effected  a 
temporary  organization  by  election  of  Richard  Winsor 
chairman,  and  R.  Rawson,  of  Olympia,  secretary.  The 
following  committees  were  appointed  : 

Oil  credentials. — J.  B.  Holwarth,  of  Waterford  ;  R.  H. 
Straub,  of  Coupe ville  ;  Peter  Wickstrom,  of  Seattle  ;  S. 
D.  Dammon,  of  EUensburgh,  and  Dr.  A,  W.  Calder,  of 
Walla  Walla. 

On  organization. — C.  B.  Reynolds,  of  Seattle  ;  C  H. 
Packard,  of  Snohomish  ;  Geo.  M.  Boman,  of  Seattle  ;  J.  F. 
Le  Clerc,  of  EUensburgh,  and  W.  S.  Gilliam,  of  Walla  Walla. 

On  January  29,  1890,  the  convention  proceeded  to 
election  of  permanent  officers,  without  making  any  nom- 
inations. Vote  was  by  secret  written  ballot.  Richard 
Winsor  was  elected  president ;  C.  B.  Reynolds,  secretary  ; 
Geo.  M.  Boman,  treasurer ;  Albert  Rosenow,  of  Walla 
Wfdla,  director  at  large  for  east  of  the  mountains ;  R.  J. 
"Wilson,  of  Seattle,  director  at  large  for  west  of  the  moun- 
tains. 

The  president,  secretary,  treasurer,  and  directors  at 
large  constitute  the  executive  committee. 


560  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

On  January  3(»,  1890,  the  convention  unanimously  passed 
constitution  and  by-laws,  and  W.  S.  Bush,  Dr.  A.  W. 
Calder,  and  R.  H.  Straub  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
engross  and  prepare  copy  of  constitution  and  by-laws  for 
printer.     Three  thousand  copies  were  printed. 

During  the  year  1890  the  Union  defeated  the  Sunday- 
law  funatics  in  a  number  of  cases.  The  secretary  wrote 
personal  letters  to  every  judge  in  the  state,  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  rights  of  every  citizen  to  affirm,  and  that  no 
judge  or  officer  of  any  court  of  law  could  question  any 
juryman,  witness,  etc.,  as  to  his  belief  or  disbelief  in  any 
religious  dogma. 

The  reading  of  the  Bible  and  religious  services  in  pub- 
lic schools  was  general.  The  unwearying  persistence  of 
the  secretary  in  appealing  to  school  teachers,  directors, 
county  school  superintendents,  etc.,  almost  entirely  ex- 
cluded religious  teaching  and  prayers  in  the  public  schools 
-and  finally  secured  a  favorable  decision  from  State  Attor- 
ney-General Jones. 

The  eftbrts  of  the  Union  succeeded  in  abolishing  paid 
chaplains  in  the  Senate  and  House  at  Olympia.  After  the 
abolishment  of  pay  for  prayers,  ministers  ceased  to  vol- 
unteer and  refused  to  pray  at  opening  of  sessions,  etc. 

On  February  22,  1891,  the  annual  convention  of  the 
"Wasliington  Secular  Union  was  held  at  G.  A.  R.  Hall, 
Second  street,  Seattle. 

.  At  the  afternoon  session,  election  of  officers  for  the 
ensuing  3'ear  was  held.  In  accordance  with  their  consti- 
tution no  nominations  were  allowed.  Each  delegate  wrote 
-on  a  ballot  the  name  of  the  person  desired  to  fill  the 
•office.  Each  officer  was  balloted  for  separately.  Every 
officer  was  elected  on  the  first  ballot.  No  better  evidence 
■could  be  afforded  of  the  harmony  of  the  convention,  no 
more  gratifying  assurance  to  the  persons  elected  that  they 
■were  the  unanimous  choice  of  the  society.  The  following 
officers    were    elected :    President,   Robert    J.  Wilson,  of 


THE  WASHINGTON  SECULAR  UNION.  561 

Seattle  ;  secretary,  C.  B.  Eeynolds  ;  trea,surer,  Mrs.  M.  E. 
Eoman  ;  directors  at  large,  Albert  Eoseuow,  of  Walla 
Walla,  aud  P.  B.  Morton,  of  Seattle. 

It  was  ordered  that  the  secretary  write  and  have 
printed  five  thousand  pamphlets,  giving  concisely  as  pos- 
sible the  facts,  biblical,  historical,  and  legal,  in  regard  to 
Sunday  observance  and  Sunday  laws. 

Religious  exercises  in  jyuhlic  schools. — The  board  of  di- 
rectors were  instructed  to  seek  to  make  a  test  case  in 
regard  to  religious  exercises  in  public  schools,  ajid  to 
carry  such  case  to  the  supreme  court  for  decision.  Mrs. 
r.  C.  Reynolds  was  appointed  field  secretary. 

The  five  thousand  pamphlets  on  Sabbath  and  Sunday 
were  printed  and  distributed  at  a  cost  of  fifty-seven  dollars 
and  fifty  cents.  The  directors  decided  not  to  call  the  next 
convention  until  the  first  week  in  June,  1892.  The  con- 
vention Avas  held  in  the  opera  house  at  Fremont.  The 
following  officers  were  elected  :  President,  Dr.  D.  M. 
Angus,  of  Tacoma  ;  secretary,  C.  B.  Reynolds,  of  Fremont ; 
treasurer,  Mrs.  F.  C.  Reynolds,  of  Fremont;  directors  at 
large,  Albert  Rosenow,  of  Walla  Walla,  and  Dr.  Otto 
Wilde,  of  Tacoma. 

lu  May,  1892,  under  the  energetic  efforts  of  President 
Dr.  Angus,  a  Secular  Union  was  formed  in  the  city  of 
Tacoma,  and  the  services  of  Mr.  C.  B.  Reynolds  secured 
as  lecturer,  and  lectures  have  been  held  at  Germania  Hall, 
the  largest  hall  in  the  city,  every  Sunday  evening  since. 
The  regular  Union  meets  on  Tuesdaj^  nights  of  every  week. 
Amid  difficulties,  perplexities,  and  fierce  opposition  of 
church  folks  and  Ministerial  Alliance,  the  Tacoma  Secular 
Union  has  held  its  own  and  done  great  and  good  work  for 
Liberalism.  In  May,  1892,  the  city  of  Tacoma  Avas  de- 
clared by  the  Ministerial  Alliance  and  Evangelist  Mills  to 
be  the  most  pious  city  on  the  sound.  Mills  had  a  taber- 
nacle built  to  seat  three  thousand,  and  claimed  to  have 
made  in  a  few  weeks  two  thousand  converts.     To-day  the 


562  FOUR    HUNDRKI)    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

evangelists  and  Ministerial  Alliance  declare  Tacoma  the 
"  hot-bed  of  Infidelity." 

On  August  6th  was  inaugurated  the  Tacoma  Secular 
Union  Sunday-school,  at  Germania  Hall,  which  had  a 
large  attendance  of  children  and  adults. 

The  hard  times  materially  affected  receipts,  and  for 
the  past  eighteen  months  the  secretary  has  carried  on 
the  work  of  the  Washington  Secular  Union  under  many 
disadvantages.  But  the  power  and  influence  of  the  organ- 
ization is  felt  and  admitted  by  the  opponents  of  religious 
liberty.  The  present  officers  are  :  Dr.  D.  M.  Angus,  of 
Prosser,  Yakima  count}',  president ;  C.  B.  Reynolds,  of 
Tacoma,  secretary ;  Mrs.  F.  C.  Reynolds,  of  Tacoma, 
treasurer  ;  Albert  Rosenow,  of  Walla  Walla,  and  Dr.  Otto 
Wilde,  of  Tacoma,  directors  at  large. 

The  Young  People's  Freethought  Temperance  Society. 

This  society  was  brought  into  existence  through  tlie 
efforts  of  Mr.  H.  L.  Green,  editor  of  the  "  Freethinkers' 
Magazine,"  and  Mr.  Augustus  W.  Dellquest,  who  was  at 
that  time  a  student  of  a  Meadville  theological  school.  It 
was  first  organized  in  May,  (E.  M.)  291,  under  the  name, 
Young  Men's  Freethought  Temperance  Society.  At  first 
it  limited  its  members  to  young  men,  but  it  soon  became 
open  to  both  sexes.  The  young  men,  before  becoming 
members,  pledged  themselves  to  abstain  from  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquor  as  a  beverage,  tobacco  in  any  form, 
and  profane  language,  for  ten  years.  The  young  ladies 
promised  to  study,  so  far  as  they  should  find  opportunitv, 
all  questions  having  a  bearing  upon  the  welfare  of  human- 
ity. Nearly  three  hundred  young  people,  representing 
Canada  and  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union,  have  joined 
this  society.  The  membership  list  of  the  Young  People's 
Freethought  Temperance  Society  is  made  up  largely  of 
teachers,  students,  and  young  professional  men. 


the  canadian  secular  union.  563 

The  Canadian  Secular  Union 

"Was  originally  organized  m  1877  under  the  ieaderahip  of 
Mr.  Ick  Evans,  and  was  reorganized  in  1885  under  William 
Algie,  who  retained  the  presidency  until  1889,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  the  present  president,  Capt.  Robert  0. 
Adams,  of  Montreal.  The  headquarters  of  the  Union  are 
at  Toronto,  the  officials  being :  President,  Capt.  Robert 
C.  Adams,  of  Montreal ;  secretary,  J.  Spencer  Ellis,  To- 
ronto ;  treasurer,  A.  Earsman,  Toronto  ;  executive  com- 
mittee, Messrs.  George  Martin,  Montreal  ;  W.  Macdonald, 
Lindsay  ;  J.  Lockie,  Waterloo ;  A.  Roe,  Wingham  ;  E. 
Duval,  Hamilton  ;  and  J.  Taylor,  J.  A.  Risser,  Frank  Arm- 
strong, and  E.  J.  Kendall,  Toronto. 

Under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Algie  the  Union  accom- 
plished a  considerable  amount  of  propagandist  work. 
Lecturers  were  invited  from  tlie  States,  and  visited  most 
of  the  cities  and  towns  in  Ontario.  Among  tlie  principal 
features  was  a  debate  between  Mr.  B.  F.  Underwood  and 
the  Rpv.  Mr.  Marples.  which  was  reported  and  after- 
wards printed.  This  debate  caused  a  considerable  amount 
of  discussion  all  over  the  dominion,  and  the  orthodox 
party,  expressing  annoyance  that  a  clergyman  should 
have  descended  to  debate  with  an  Infidel,  ostracized 
the  reverend  ".eutleman,  who,  though  an  intelligent  and 
cultivated  man,  was  no  match  for  Ijis  opponent.  The 
effect  on  Mr.  Marples  was  siicli  that  he  sometime  after- 
wards committed  suicide  ;  and,  with  true  orthodox  venom 
and  bigotry,  his  fellow-preachers  left  him  to  be  buried  by 
the  Freethinkers,  who  undertook  the  task. 

Another  feature  of  note  was  the  Napanee  incident. 
Here  the  town-hall  was  engaged  and  paid  for,  but,  in- 
fluence having  been  Brought  to  bear  upon  the  officials,  on 
the  night  appointed  for  the  lecture,  by  order  of  the  council, 
the  lia-11  was  closed  against  the  Secularists  and  the  money 
returned    to    them.     After    considerable    trouble   another 


564  I'OL'U  JllJNDilED    YEAK8  OF   KREETliOUGHT. 

ball  was  engaged  and  the  lecture  was  delivered.  An  action 
was  at  once  brought  against  the  council  for  damages, 
and,  being  carried  on  appeal  to  the  highest  court,  was 
eventually  decided  in  favor  of  the  town  council,  on  the 
ground  that  the  country  was  a  Christian  country,  and  the 
council  were  justified  in  refusing  to  allow  its  hall  to  be 
used  against  the  Christian  religion.  The  most  active 
agent  in  this  aft'air  was  Mr.  Allen  Pringle,  whose  name  is 
known,  not  only  in  Canada,  but  in  the  States,  as  a  keen 
and  logical  writer.  He  incurred  liabilities  of  nearly  a 
thousand  dollars,  which  sum  was  raised  by  subscription 
among  the' Canadian  Freethinkers. 

Under  Captain  Adams's  presidency,  two  very  important 
points  have  been  gained.  Up  till  very  recently  "  immoral  " 
literature  of  all  sorts  has  been  at  the  mercy  of  the  cus- 
toms authorities,  who  have  seized  and  confiscated  Free- 
thought  works,  while  allowing  the  most  obscene  period- 
icals to  pass.  In  1890,  however,  the  Canadian  Secular 
Union  determined  to  test  this  power,  and  notified  the 
customs  authorities  that  they  were  about  to  import  a  con- 
signment of  Paine's"Age  of  Reason,"  which  work  had 
previously  been  repeatedly  seized  as  "  immoral  "  literature. 
At  the  same  time  they  advised  the  officials  that  they  were 
determined  to  test  the  question  in  the  law  courts  if  the 
books  were  seized,  and  were  prepared  to  carry  it  to  the 
hi<4;est  court,  and  they  demanded  to  know  what  course 
the  officials  intended  to  pursue  in  regard  to  the  "Age  of 
Reason."  The  Toronto  customs  collector  was  somewhat 
nonplused,  and  referred  the  matter  to  headquarters  at 
Ottawa.  In  the  end,  a  non-committal  reply  was  received 
at  Toronto,  but  the  bc^oks  were  passed  through  the  cus- 
toms without  more  ado,  and  since  then  there  has  been  lit- 
tle trouble  with  any  Freethought  books. 

Last  3'ear  (1893)  the  efforts  which  had  been  made  to 
obtain  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  system  of  oath-taking, 
culminated   in    the   insertion   of    clauses   which    make  the 


AUGUST  SPECHT  (p.  639). 


THE  CANADIAN  SECULAR  UNION.  565 

Dominion  Oaths  act  the  most  Liberal  at  present  known. 
^ot  only  has  a  witness  the  right  to  "  aflfirm,"  instead  of 
being  obliged  to  take  the  oath  on  the  Bible,  but  the  judge 
has  no  right  to  ask  any  questions  in  regard  to  the  wit- 
ness's religious  belief  or  non-belief.  A  "  conscientious 
scruple  against  taking  an  oath  "  is  all  that  is  required. 
T^he  change  in  the  law  has  been  brought  about  almost  en- 
tirely through  the  energy  and  perseverance  of  President 
R.  C.  Adams. 

At  the  beginning  of  1884  the  leaders  of  the  Union, 
under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Charles  Watts,  commenced  the 
publication  of  "  Secular  Thought,"  and,  despite  the  ultra- 
orthodoxy  of  Canada,  this  journal  was  carried  on  under 
great  difficulties,  though  with  indomitable  pluck  and  some 
measure  of  success  by  Mr.  Charles  Watts,  until  his  return 
to  England  in  1892,  when  the  work  fell  iipon  the  shoulders 
■of  his  assistant,  Mr.  James  Spencer  Ellis,  the  present 
editor.  Although  heavily  handicapped,  under  his  editor- 
ship the  journal  has  maintained  its  position  and  literary 
character,  and  were  it  adequately  supported  b}^  the 
wealthier  Canadian  Freethinkers,  it  would,  no  doubt,  be- 
<comr    a  powerful  factor   in   progressive   proj^agandism. 

Captain  Adams,  the  present  president,  is  not  only  a 
'clear  and  concise  writer,  but  he  is  an  attractive  and  forci- 
ble lecturer,  and  has  carried  the  Freethought  banner  into 
-all  parts  of  Canada,  as  well  as  into  many  of  the  Northern 
states.  Originally  brought  up  in  one  of  the  straitest 
Presbyterian  families  of  Boston,  and  taking  an  active 
;share  in  church  work  for  many  years,  lie  ultimately 
brought  his  keen  intellect  to  bear  upon  the  knotty  points 
of  the  old  faith,  and  found  they  would  not  stand  the  test. 
To  the  regret  of  a  large  circle  he  abandoned  the  orthodox 
faith,  and  has  since  worked  as  vigorously  in  favor  of  his 
jiew  faith  as  he  had  done  for  the  old  one.  His  mental 
:struggles  are  depicted  in  one  of  his  well-known  works, 
-"  Travels  in  Faith." 


566  pour  hundred  years  of  freethought. 

Local  Organization. 

The  history  of  local  organization  in  America  is  one  of 
many  and  changing  fortunes,  but  on  the  whole  there  has 
been  a  great  gain.  Only  a  glance  can  be  given  at  the 
various  points  of  growth  as  we  sweep  around  the  circuit. 

The  farthest  eastern  organization  is  at  Fort  Fairfield, 
Aroostook  county.  Maine.  The  campaign  was  inaugu- 
rated by  a  debate  between  Samuel  P.  Putnam  and  Rev. 
Mr.  Wheeler.  The  debate  lasted  nearly  a  week.  Large 
crowds  attended,  and  the  Freethought  movement  rapidly 
developed.  The  Fort  Fairfield  Liberal  League  was  organ- 
ized January,  1893,  with  fifty  members.  It  has  now  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  volumes  in  its  library.  Its 
present  ofiicers  are  :  E..  L.  Baker,  president ;  G.  W.  East- 
man, vice-president ;  O.  A.  Johnston,  secretary,  and 
Franklin  Grant,  treasurer.  President  Baker  gives  for  the 
use  of  tlie  League  Liberty  Hall,  and  in  it  rings  Liberty- 
bell.  The  League  at  present  is  in  good  working  order, 
and  it  is  hoped  tliat  the  flag  at  this  far-away  point  will 
always  greet  the  rising  sun. 

We  must  travel  all  along  tlie  gleaming  coast  of  New 
England  until  we  come  to  Boston  before  we  greet  another 
Freethouglit  organization,  but  tliis  is  worthy  of  glorious 
Boston — tlie  IngersoU  Secular  Society.  The  following  is 
the  liistory  of  tliis  noble  enterprise  : 

The  IngersoU  Secuhir  Society,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  was 
organized  in  October,  1884,-  and  is  the  cliild  of  and  suc- 
cessor to  the  old  Investigator  Freethouglit  Society,  so 
long  presided  over  by  tliose  sturdy  veterans  of  Liberal- 
ism, Josiah  P.  Mendum  and  Horace  Seaver. 

The  name  of  IngersoU  in  its  title  M-as  adopted  at  the 
suggestion  of  tliat  earnest  young  Liberal,  now  deceased, 
Willard  M.  Chandler,  and  the  new  association  chose  for 
its  first  board  of  officers  the  following  list :  President, 
George  N.   Hill;  vice-president,  W.   M.   Chandler;  secre- 


LOCAL  ORGANIZATION.  567 

tary,  Sylvester  G.  Swett ;  treasurer,  Ernest  Menclum,  Its 
principles  as  set  forth  in  its  constitution  as  these,  viz.: 

"  We  do  affirm  it  to  be  both  the  duty  and  the  pride  of 
Freethinkers,  to  advocate  the  use  of  reason  as  the  supreme 
guide  and  standard  for  mankind  in  all  things,  to  incul- 
cate the  doing  of  right  for  the  riglit's  sake  alone,  and  to 
labor  actively  in  teaching  people  to  so  appreciate  truth 
and  virtue  that  they  will  search  out  and  follow  them 
because  of  their  worth  and  beauty,  and  not  because  of 
rewards  or  punishments  either  in  this  world  or  any  other  ; 
in  brief,  we  declare  for  earnest  work  in  the  ennoblement 
of  humanity,  by  means  of  instruction  in  Liberalism  and 
the  various  sciences." 

The  late  Mr.  James  Parton,  eminent  historian  and 
biographer  of  Voltaire,  gave  the  original  opening  lecture 
for  the  society  on  Sunday  afternoon,  November  23,  1884, 
to  a  large  and  appreciative  audience. 

The  meetings  have  consisted  of  lectures,  debates,  en- 
tertainments, etc.,  and  have  been  free  to  all  and  the  public 
cordially  invited. 

Time  alone  can  tell  what  measure  of  success  has 
attended  its  efforts,  but  the  endeavor  has  always  been 
exceedingly  earnest  to  advance  the  Freethought  cause,  or, 
in  other  words,  the  cause  of  humanity. 

The  membership  roll  of  the  society  has  been  honored 
by  the  names  of  many  of  the  stanchest  Liberals  in 
America,  including  such  veterans  of  the  past  as  Elizur 
Wright,  John  S.  Verity,  James  Harris,  Amasa  Woods, 
Photius  Fisk,  Mrs.  Ernestine  L.  Rose,  Horace  Seaver,  J. 
P.  Mendum,  Mrs.  S.  B.  Jacobs,  Capt.  Gorham  Crowell> 
James  Dady,  William  Kendall,  W.  D.  Burrell,  and  others. 

Lectures,  addresses,  etc.,  have  been  given  at  its  meet- 
ings by  nearly  all  the  renowned  public  advocates  of 
universal  mental  liberty,  including  the  world-famous  Col. 
Eobert  G,  Ingersoll. 

The  association  is  flourishing  and  its  board  of  officers 


568  FOUR   HUNDRED    YKARS   OF   FREF:TH0UGHT. 

foi-  1893  was  as  folhnvs  :  President,  Wm.  D.  Rock  wood  ; 
vice-president,  Mrs.  Aiuiie  S.  Harris  ;  secretary,  John  F. 
Foster  ;  treasurer,  J.  H.  Harrison,  and  the  same  president 
and  treasurer  were  recently  elected  for  the  season,  of  189-i 
also,  with  Reuben  Rnsh  as  vice-president  and  T.  Geoffrey 
Keatiu":;  as  secretary  for  this  term. 

The  membership  fee  is  only  one  dollar  per  year,  and 
Liberals  all  over  the  world  are  invited  to  join. 

If  we  take  a  look  at  Cape  Cod,  of  delii^htful  memor}'. 
We  shall  find  a  stanch  organizatKJU  at  East  Dennis,  Joshua 
Crowell,  president.  It  n)eets  in  Worden  Hall.  This  was 
named,  I  believe,  after  Peter  Worden,  Avho  lived  on  the 
Cape  in  1637.  and,  according  to  the  records,  was  ''ex- 
cepted" by  the  church.  I  suppoi-e  tliis  means  that  he 
was  an  Intidel,  and  perha]is  the  first  open  and  avowed 
Inlidel  in  America.  The  East  Dennis  Society  for  many 
years  has  been  doing  an  effective  work. 

At  Cotuit  and  Osterville  an  organization  has  been 
started,  and  Capt.  J.  H.  Handy  and  Daniel  Crosby,  with 
others,  have  built  a  pretty  good  craft  to  sail  over  the  seas 
of  time. 

N.  F.  Griswold,  at  Meri.len,  and  C.  F.  Michaels,  at 
Bristol,  Conn.,  have  aided  the  Fieethought  movement  in 
these  places;  and  W.  B.  Clark,  at  Worcester,  has  organ- 
izeil  quite  successful  meetings  in  this  orthodox  town. 
The  wiiter  of  this  was  a  resident  of  Worcester  when  it 
was  scarcely  more  than  a  village:  over  forty  3'ears  ago  ; 
and  he  remembers  the  solemn  shadows  of  Puritanism  that 
rested  over  it.  Mr.  Clark's  labors  have  developed  quite 
an  jiniount  of  Liberalism  in  tliis  yreat  manufacturing  citv 
which  now  has  a  population  of  nearly  one  humlred  thou- 
sand. 

New  York  next  draws  our  attention,  and,  of  course,  the 
first  thing  that  blazes  along  our  path  is  the  Manhattan 
Liberal  Club,  one  of  the  most  famous  organizations  in 
this   great  metropolis,  the   center  of  an  immense   amount 


LOCAL  ORGANIZATION.  569 

of  intellectual  activity  on  the  most  radical  lines.  There 
is  room  for  every  crank  and  every  creed ;  but  reason  is 
the  sole  arbiter.  The  following  is  the  history  of  this 
unique  club  : 

"  The  organization  of  the   Liberal  Club  of  the  City  of 
New  York  resulted  from  the  action  of  Mr,  D.  T.  Gardiner 
and  other  active  Liberals,  and  the  publication  of  a  circu- 
lar dated  Sept.  14,  1869,  proposing  an  'organization  where 
men  of  liberal  ideas  can  meet  and  exchange  their  thoughts 
in  an   unbiased   manner  upon  these  important   t(^pics ' — 
literature,  positive  science,  and   social  economy — '  one  in 
which  the  welfare  of  humanity  will  be  the  controlling  in- 
fluence,   and   in    which   the   intellect^^al   will  be    the   only 
standard  '     Mr.  Horace  Greeley  was   for  several  years  its 
president,   and  Mr.  Gardiner   its  energetic   promoter  and 
secretary.     In  later  years  it  elected  for  president  Mr.  J. 
Wilson    McDonald,    Mr.    James   Parton,    and    Mr.   Simon 
Sterne.     Its   meetings  were   held   every  Friday  evening  at 
Plimpton    Hall,   30    Stuyvesant    Place,    untif  May,    1876, 
when  it  moved  to   Science  Hall,  141  Eighth  street,  gener- 
ally with  one  of  its  vice-presidents  in   the  chair,  Mr.  S.  S. 
Nash,  Mr.  W.  L.  Orrasby,  Jr.,  Dr.  P.  H.  Yander  Weyde,  or 
Mr.  C.  D.  Bragdon.     The   Club  increased  in  numbers,  in- 
terest, and  influence  until  toward  the   time  for  election  of 
officers  in  April,  1877,  when  its  elements   took  on  unusiial 
activity.     Differentiations   ensued,  fission  or  spontaneous 
division   naturally   eventuated  ;    Avith    the    result  that  the 
New  York  Liberal  Club  took  a  hall  up  town,  where  it  died 
of  inanition  in  February,  1878  ;  while  the  Manhattan  Lib- 
eral Club   continued   at   its   old  Hall   with    the   following 
members    as   officials  :  James   Parton,  W.  L.  Ormsby,   Jr., 
A.  L.  Rawson,  P.  H.  Vander  Weyde,  D.  T.  Gardiner,  Por- 
ter C.  Bliss,  Huudi   Byron  Brown,  David  S.  Plumb,  Henry 
Evans,  Conrtlandt  Palmer,    T.  B.  Wakemau,  and  John   H. 
Staats.      Since  1882  the  Manhattan  Libpral  Club  has   held 
its   meetings    in   the   pleasant    and    commodious    German 


570  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUWHT. 

Masonic  Hall,  220  East  15tli  street.  Mr.  Wakeman  pre- 
sided uutil  1887.  Prof.  Vau  Buren  Deiislow  was  elected 
president,  April,  1887,  and  Dr.  E.  B.  Foote,  Jr.,  April, 
1888. 

"The  club's  membership  averages  about  forty  persons, 
both  sexes  well  represented,  and  its  audience  is  almost 
always  equal  to  the  capacity  of  its  hall — seating  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  persons.  The  Liberal  pilgrim  who 
discovers  these  meetings  soon  finds  himself  at  home  in 
them,  and  feels  less  like  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land.  The 
cosmopolitan  spirit,  and  '  wide-open '  platform,  render  the 
club  a  welcome  haven  for  the  true  Liberal  of  democratic 
instincts,  and  the  free  lance  that  enjoys  a  lively  tilt  in  de- 
bate. From  that  date  till  now  there  has  been  no  change 
in  the  policy  of  the  club,  and  but  little  change  in  its 
methods  or  officials.  Dr.  Foote,  Jr.,  has  been  continued 
as  president,  but,  at  his  own  request,  and  mainly  to  afi'ord 
him  the  privilege  of  the  platform  in  debate,  three  vice- 
presidents  are  annually  elected,  and  each  takes  his  turn 
in  presiding  during  one  month,  so  that  the  president  is  on 
duty  only  one  montli  in  four. 

"  The  proceedings  of  the  club  generally  consist  of  a 
lecture  of  an  hour's  duration,  or  less,  by  some  member  of 
the  club  or  invited,  guest,  followed  by  a  debate  by  mem- 
bers in  speeches  of  ten  minutes  or  less,  uutil  10:15  ;  when 
the  speaker  of  the  evening  again  takes  the  platform  and  is 
allotted  fifteen  minutes  to  reply  to  critics.  The  club  ad- 
journs at  10:30  p.m.  The  club  continues  to  be  made  up 
mainly  of  radical,  progressive  people  interested  in  reforma- 
tor}'  movements,  with  perhaps  more  marked  differences 
than  similarity  of  views,  but  as  a  club  it  is  not  devoted  to 
any  set  of  opinions,  to  any  '  ology '  or  '  ism,'  excepting 
Liberalism,  in  so  far  as  that  means  not  only  a  toleration 
of  but  a  cordial  welcome  of  any  new,  original,  or  well- 
presented  thought  on  subjects  appropriate  for  discussion 
before  a  mixed  audience.     Its  audiences  are  appreciative 


CONSTANTIN  MILLE  (p.  843). 


LOCAL  ORGANIZATION.  571 

of  profound  dissertations  on  philosophical  subjects,  but 
perhaps  prefer  '  popular  lectures '  on  timely  topics,  and 
especially  delight  in  lively  debates.  Its  membership  fees 
are  small,  just  enough  to  cover  current  expenses,  and  new 
members  in  accord  with  its  objects  are  desired.  There  are 
many  silent  members  who  uevei'  appear  upon  the  platform 
in  debate,  and  some  who  are  seen  but  rarely  at  its  meet- 
ings ;  but  all  kinds  are  equally  desired,  and  can  by  moral 
and  financial  support  help  to  sustain  and  improve  the 
oldest  free  platform  in  the  city  of  New  York ;  and  an  edu- 
cational institution  which  has,  and  asks  for,  no  other 
endowment  than  the  voluntary  support  of  Liberal,  intel- 
lectual people,  having  the  welfare  of  humanity  at  heart. 
If  all  such  in  this  city  would  aid  in  some  manner,  the 
Manhattan  Liberal  Club  would  become  known  far  and 
wide,  and  its  utility  be  greatly  increased." 

Going  across  the  river  to  New  Jersey,  where  orthodoxy 
has  ruled  in  some  of  its  darkest  phases,  we  find  a  bright 
light  burning  at  Newark — the  Newark  Liberal  League, 
which,  through  many  troublous  times,  has  always  sent  its 
raj^s  into  the  darkness.  President  Bird  is  now  at  the 
head  of  the  organization,  and  it  was  never  more  prosperous. 

If  we  cross  the  big  bridge,  the  wonder  of  modern  en- 
gineering, and  take  the  cable  cars  for  Williamsburg,  the 
Brooklyn  Philosophical  Association  will  be  found.  It  was 
in  1878,  I  believe,  that  the  writer  of  this  book  was  invited 
to  attend  the  first  meeting  of  this  association.  Since  that 
time  it  has  kept  upon  a  successful  course,  and  become  a 
fixed  and  flourishing  institution.  Under  the  administra- 
tion of  President  Warwick  it  prospered,  and  now,  with 
President  Rowley,  it  has  a  splendid  outlook. 

The  Liberals  of  Northport,  L.  I.,  have  also  engaged  in 
successful  work  for  the  past  3'ear,  and  stirred  up  the  or- 
tliodox  to  an  unwonted  extent,  so  that  the  newspapers  of 
Brooklyn  have  taken  up  the  discussion  and  the  interest 
has  extended.     Two  courses  of  lectures  have  been  given 


572  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

here.  Dexter  K.  Cole  and  Capt.  John  Scott,  N.  L.  Pid- 
geon,  with  others,  are  originators  of  this  movement. 

If  we  go  southward,  the  point  of  intellectual  illumina- 
tion, whose  beams  are  not  confined  to  its  own  locality,  is 
the  Friendship  Liberal  League.  No  organization  has 
been  more  favorably  known  for  its  services  to  Freethought. 
Freethought  has  ebbed  and  flowed  under  various  names 
for  the  last  fifty  years  in  Philadelphia.  Before  the  pres- 
ent League  the  title  of  the  association  was  "  The  Assembly 
for  Free  Discussions  on  Religious  Subjects."  September, 
1883,  the  present  name  was  adopted,  and  the  society  be- 
came auxiliary  to  the  National  Liberal  League.  T.  G. 
Leland  was  present  on  this  occasion.  The  names  of  the 
officers  elected  were  :  President,  Francis  Fish  ;  vice-presi- 
dent, Wm.  F.  Porter;  treasurer,.  John  Simmons;  secre- 
tary, George  Longford.  Mr.  George  Longford,  who  has 
ever  since  been  the  efficient  secretary  of  the  organization, 
writes  as  follows  of  some  of  its  veteran  officers  and  the 
affairs  of  the  League  : 

"You  see  I  am  the  only  officer  that  is  on  the  list 
lo-day,  for  our  old  veteran  treasurer,  John  Simmons, 
has  had  to  resign  his  post  reluctantly  by  losS  of  memory 
through  old  age,  as  he  is  now  in  his  eighty-fifth  year,  yet 
he  his  still  among  us  and  takes  an  active  part  in  what  he 
can  do  as  though  he  were  a  young  man.  He  helped  me 
to  decorate  our  hall  for  this  last  Paine  anniversary.  I 
am  pleased  to  state  that  this  last  anniversary  of  ours  was 
the  most  successful,  both  in  point  of  audiences  and  talent 
and  finances,  that  we  ever  experienced.  Our  hall  was  not 
near  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  people,  notwithstand- 
ing the  Spiritualists  had  two  large  gatherings  on  the  same 
day,  which  is  something  unusual  for  this  city.  I  was  in- 
duced to  take  the  secretaryship  through  the  death  of  the 
former  secretary,  Robert  Wallen,  who  died  at  an  advanced 
age.  He  was  an  Englishman,  and,  as  I  understand,  came 
to  this  country  as  a  missionary  to  spread  Freethought. 


LOCAL  ORGANIZATION.  573 

When  I  took  hold  of  the  office  fifteen  years  ago,  there  were 
very  few  of  us.  And  we  were  in  debt.  Now  we  have  an 
account  of  nearly  $500  to  our  credit,  and  a  Liberal  Hall 
Association,  chartered  by  the  state,  with  $1,200  in  stock  to- 
ward building  a  Freethought  hall  in  this  city.  So  you 
see  we  are  making  a  creditable  showing.  Our  average  au- 
diences are  about  five  hundred  every  Sunday  during  the 
lecture  season.  We  hold  meetings  every  Sunday  all  the 
year  round ;  the  only  Sundays  that  I  have  missed  in  fifteen 
years  were  four  when  I  was  laid  up  with  the  typhoid  fever, 
and  one  Sunday  through  death  in  the  family.  If  faith- 
ful attention  to  duty  assures  success,  then  surely  we  ought 
to  be  favored." 

The  Pittsburgh  Union  has  been  a  swiniug  landmark. 
Every  lecturer  who  goes  there  is  delighted  with  its  large 
audiences,  its  splendid  receptions,  and  its  Paine  celebra- 
tions of  magnificent  proportions.  Roman  Staley  and  his 
associates  have  done  well  at  this  famous  post. 

Linesville,  Pennsylvania,  has  been  one  of  our  celebrated 
localities.  In  years  past  it  has  borne  the  torch  of  reason 
with  splendid  enthusiasm. 

Salem,  Ohio,  was  the  camping-ground  of  the  antislavery 
reformers.  Among  the  leaders  of  its  movement,  and 
prominent  in  Freethought,  is  S.  Sharp,  one  of  the  fore- 
most manufacturers  of  the  place. 

Alliance,  Ohio,  always  gives  a  welcome  to  the  lecturer 
both  upon  the  platform  and  in  the  social  circle.  Many  of 
its  pioneers  are  gone,  but  the  Elizur  Wright  Secular 
Union  and  "  Independent  Church  "  are  still  there. 

Massillon  has  had  many  changing  fortunes,  but  we  can 
not  forget  in  this  roll  S.  Hunt  and  his  generous  support. 

And  now  we  come  to  Cincinnati,  whence  Thomas  Win- 
ter, the  Materialist,  sent  forth  his  undaunted  voice.  Free- 
thought  has  surged  in  Cincinnati  for  many  a  year,  and 
flashed  in  brilliant  array.  At  last  its  forces  have  been 
consolidated  into  the  Ohio  Liberal  Society,  and  the  ad- 


574         FOUR  hundr?:d  years  of  freethought. 

vuuce  light  now  burns  steadily.  This  society  was  organ- 
ized in  October,  1891,  by  a  few  Freethinkers  of  Cincinnati. 
It  has  had  a  steady  and  healthy  growth  and  includes 
amongst  its  members  school-teachers,  doctors,  lawyers, 
college  professors,  business  men,  and  a  good  many  think- 
ers in  the  ranks  of  the  artisans  and  laborers.  There  are 
many  lady  members.  This  society  is  independent  of  any 
of  the  national  Freetliought  societies,  and  is  doing  much 
to  educate  the  people  of  Cincinnati  in  historical,  current, 
and  comparative  religious  ideas,  evolution  m  all  its  phases, 
economic,  political,  social,  ethical,  and  educational  ques- 
tions. The  society  welcomes  those  of  any  race,  color,  or 
sex  in  its  membership  who  indorse  the  "  Nine  Demands  of 
Liberalism."  All  lectures  are  followed  by  free  criticism 
and  discussion  by  the  audience,  after  which  the  lecturer 
replies.  Since  the  society  organized  it  has  been  self- 
supporting,  has  had  the  best  lecturing  talent  fi-<>:;i  home 
and  abroad  and  every  year  has  had  to  lease  a  larger  liall. 
The  present  place  of  meeting  is  College  Hall  on  Wal- 
nut street,  whicli  is  a  large,  well-heated,  ventilated,  and 
*  lighted  auditorium.  The  society  looks  after  the  interests 
of  its  members,  visits  the  sick,  aids  those  in  distress 
and  buries  its  members.  Three  members  of  the  society 
have  gone  to  their  final  rest :  Thomas  Winter,  aged  ninety- 
five  ;  Ralph  Taylor,  aged  seventy-four;  Joseph  Taylor, 
aged  fift3'-one  3'ears.  Tlie  two  former  were  cremated,  the 
liitter  being  buried  at  Spring  Grove  cemetery.  The  so- 
ciety had  charge  of  these  funerals,  furnished  pall-bearers, 
music,  and  friends  of  the  deceased  in  the  society  to  give 
the  funeral  orations.  The  society  stands  well  in  the  com- 
munity, has  tlie  good  will  of  the  press  and  has  always 
been  conducted  on  business  principles.  The  officers  of 
the  society  are  :  George  E.  Liglit,  president ;  J.  W.  Pat- 
rick, first  vice-president ;  W.  H.  Battenberg,  second  vice- 
president  ;  Andrew  Hogg,  general  secretary ;  James  R. 
Allen,  financial  secretarv  ;  J.  C.  Wilms,  treasurer. 


LOCAL  ORGANIZATION".  575 

Kent,  Ohio,  must  not  be  omitted  in  this  roll,  where 
Marius  Heightou  and  a  host  of  other  Liberals  have  ad- 
vanced our  cause. 

Delphos,  Ohio,  has  also  a  young  and  bright  organiza- 
tion, which  is  pushing  forward,  B.  A.  Roloson  is  one  of 
its  stanch  supporters.  Its  present  officers  are  :  Louis 
Eysenbach,  president ;  Mrs.  H.  H.  Brundage,  vice-presi- 
dent ;  James  Both,  treasurer. 

Louisville,  Ky.,  has  done  some  good  work,  and  Dr.  W. 
F.  Carter  and  other  Liberals  have  been  ready  to  help. 

Lexington  has  had  some  rousing  meetings  through 
the  influence  of  Dr.  Hallowell  and  friends. 

S.  F.  Suiurr,  of  Brookhaven,  has  inaugurated  the  cam- 
paign in  Mississippi. 

The  South  is  not  eventful  with  Freethought,  but  the 
elements  of  change  arc  sweeping  over  it.  At  Jackson- 
ville, Fla.,  a  society  has  been  organized  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Helen  H.  Gardener's  visit.  In  the  Indian  river 
country  Capt.  R.  A.  Hardee  has  pushed  forward  the 
Liberal  movement.  Savannah,  Ga.,  has  made  some  music 
in   humanity's  marching  columns. 

When  we  come  to  Texas  a  wide  and  splendid  domain 
opens  before  us.  Waco  was  a  lively  center  until  its 
beautiful  hall  was  burned  down,  but  its  future  is  not 
dark.  Denison,  with  such  prominent  supporters  as  B. 
C  Murray,  of  the  "  Gazetteer;  "  T.  V.  Munson  and  others  ; 
Flatonia,  with  Dr.  Bristow  and  J.  H.  Sloma ;  Forney,  with 
Geo.  T.  Bondies  ;  Reagan,  Capt.  W.  G.  Johnson  ;  Gaines- 
ville, Dr.  N.  T.  Bonar ;  Burnet,  J.  T.  Woodard ;  Gold- 
thwaite,  A.  Lewis;  Sunset,  J.  P.  Herod  ;  Alvarado,  M.  San- 
some  ;  Fort  Worth,  J.  M.  Brown;  Stephenville,  E.  J. 
Hewitt;  Norse,  T.  Colwick  and  others;  Calvert,  W.  H. 
Wallace,  and  others;  Corsicana,  Walnut  Springs,  San 
Antonio,  El  Paso,  Austin,  Houston,  Nelsonville — in  all 
tliese  places  are  Liberals  too  numerous  to  mention.  Or- 
i'jinizations    have   been    established,   lectures    have   been 


576  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

given,  and  an  advance  made  which  has  not  been  surpassed 
in  any  other  part  of  the  country. 

If  we  travel  on  to  Arizona,  Tucson  has  a  host  of  Free- 
thinkers ;  Tempe,  with  Chas.  T.  Hayden  ;  Phoenix,  with 
J.  H.  W.  Jensen ;  Prescott,  with  J.  Rosenburgh,  have 
flung  the  banner  to  the  tropical  sunshine. 

When  we  come  to  California,  with  its  shining  valleys 
and  resplendent  mountains,  new  courage  fills  the  heart. 
There  is  a  breadth  and  glory  here  which  is  simply  exhil- 
arating. "Whatever  the  difficulties,  the  skies  are  so  bright 
and  beautiful  that  it  is  impossible  to  lose  hope.  San 
Jacinto,  Perris,  Elsinore,  Escondido,  San  Pasqual,  San 
Diego,  with  the  great  and  glorious  sea  fronting  it,  with  its 
magnificent  harbor  waiting  for  the  thousand  ships  that 
will  one  day  gleam  over  its  surface  ;  Santa  Ana,  Orange, 
Anaheim,  Norwalk ;  Los  Angeles,  where  the  Queen  of  the 
Angels  is  disappeai-ing  in  modern  splendor ;  Tulare, 
Hanford,  Lemoore,  Oakdale,  Knight's  Ferry,  Livermore, 
Angel's  Camp,  Grass  Valley,  Auburn,  Colusa,  Merced, 
Modesto,  San  Jose,  Santa  Clara,  Boulder  Creek,  Napa, 
Carlistoga,  Petaluma,  Ukiah,  Fort  Bragg — these  names 
are  like  a  radiant  scroll.  Wiiat  pictures  they  bring  to 
the  mind,  magnificence  of  scenery,  and  hundreds  of  Liberal 
friends !  The  Stockton  Liberal  League  was  one  of  the 
first  organized  in  the  country.  It  has  done  a  very  nota- 
ble work  both  in  Stockton  and  throughout  the  state.  It 
presented  over  five  hundred  volumes  of  scientific  books  to 
the  public  library.  W.  F.  Freeman,  its  president,  has 
scattered  thousands  of  pamphlets,  and  circulated  Inger- 
soll's  lectures  by  the  hundreds.  Chas.  Haas,  J.  C.  Gage, 
Victor  Heck,  Jarnes  Coudy,  Ciiarles  Wagner,  Jacob  Simon, 
Frank  McClure,  F.  A.  Ruhl,  are  among  the  ardent  sup- 
porters of  this  League.  Stockton  is  one  of  the  points  on 
the  Pacific  coast.  Sacramento,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
church  and  capitol  and  cathedral,  has  had  pretty  hard 


LOCAL  ORGANIZATION.  577 

* 
work   to   maintain   organized   Liberalism,  but   it  seldom 

fails  to  keep  in  line. 

The  San  Francisco  Liberal  League,  with  H.  W.  Walker, 
H.  W.  Faust,  Wm.  Emmette  Coleman,  Byron  Adonis,  and 
others,  was  for  many  years  a  flourishing  organization.  It 
arranged  a  grand  reception  for  D.  M.  Bennett  when  he 
landed  upon  the  Pacific  shore,  on  his  trip  around  the 
world.  New  elements,  new  combinations,  and  new  organ- 
izations have  developed  since  then,  and  Liberalism  is  a 
very  extensive  influence  in  San  Francisco.  Large  con- 
ventions have  been  held  there.  At  the  last  election  Judge 
Maguire  was  elected  to  congress,  notwithstanding  the 
tremendous  opposition  of  the  Bomish  church,  against 
which  in  his  book,  "  Ireland  and  the  Pope,"  he  had  hurled 
an  effective  weapon. 

As  we  travel  northward,  up  the  vast  Sacramento  valley,^ 
by  the  great  Mount  Shasta,  which  is  a  perpetual  inspira- 
tion to  the  traveler  in  its  majestic  and  dazzling  altitude, 
and  over  the  Siskiyous,  the  beautiful  Bogue  river  valley 
is  the  first  point  we  strike  in  Oregon  where  there  is  Free- 
thought  organization  Ashland,  Talent,  Jacksonville,  have 
been  good  points  of  work.  Northward,  still,  from  Bose- 
burg,  where  the  Liberal  lights  occasionally  burn,  a  stage 
ride,  and  sometimes  horseback  ride,  when  the  roads  are 
bad,  of  a  hundred  miles,  brings  us  into  Coos  county,  and 
this  has  been  a  great  place  for  Freethought  work.  The 
majority  of  the  population  are  Freethinkers,  and  when 
the  churches  have  undertaken  to  oppose  anyone  for  pub- 
lic office  on  the  ground  of  his  Infidelity,  they  have  invari- 
ably been  defeated.  From  Coos  county  we  strike  the 
"Willamette  valley,  one  of  the  loveliest  and  most  fertile 
valleys  in  the  world.  The  pioneers  of  Oregon  first  settled 
here,  and  they  were  generally  of  a  Liberal  character. 
Silverton  has  been  one  of  the  banner  towns  of  Oregon. 
The  Silverton  Secular  Union  was  organized  in  1887,  with 
a  membership  of  over  one  hundred.     It  has  built  a  hall 


578  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

■of  its  own.  The  Ames  Brothers,  M.  Fitzgerell,  E.  D. 
AUeu,  Dr.  McClnre,  are  on  the  roll  here  as  officers.  We 
must  not  forget  Mrs.  Carrie  Fitzgerell,  who  was  one  of 
ihe  most  earnest  Liberal  women  on  the  coast,  and,  while 
living,  was  a  great  inspiration  to  the  cause.  Salem,  the 
<;apital  of  the  state,  is  solidly  conservative,  but  once  in  a 
while  Liberalism  will  flame  up,  but  there  is  no  permanent 
organization.  Portland,  the  chief  city  of  the  state,  with 
a  population  of  nearly  one  hundred  thousand,  has  always 
been  a  fine  Liberal  rallyiug-place.  The  conventions  held 
there  have  always  been  a  success.  The  Portland  Secular 
Church  has  now  been  organized,  and  under  the  manage- 
ment and  with  the  eloquence  of  Katie  Kehm  Smith,  is 
one  of  the  briglit  spots  of  Freethought  labor.  North 
TTamhill,  Forest  Grove,  Hillsboro,  McMinnville,  Corvallis, 
■etc.,  are  places  of  Liberal  interest  and  action.  If  we  go 
down  the  Columbia,  one  of  the  noblest  rivers  on  the  con- 
tinent, with  five  glittering  mountains  to  be  seen  from  its 
majestic  breast,  Stella,  Cathlatnet,  Astoria,  Crooked 
dreek,  Gray's  River,  with  F.  Schornliorst,  Wm.  Cliance, 
the  Lawsons,  the  Nelsons,  the  Andersons,  the  Olsens  as 
:Supporters,  the  fields  of  Liberal  work  open  wdth  delightful 
prospects. 

N<^rtliward  from  Portland,  Scappoose  makes  a  stand  for 
Liberalism  with  W.  W.  West.  Tacoma,  Wash.,  has  be- 
•<come  a  living  point  with  C.  B.  Reynolds  and  a  got)dly 
company.  Seattle  has  had  many  varying  fortunes,  but  it 
lias  a  large  Liberal  population.  It  has  sustained  more 
successful  courses  of  lectures  than  any  other  city  of  its 
.size.  Its  Liberals  have  been  foremost  in  the  fight  against 
•ecclesiastical  encroachments.  Olympia,  the  capital,  like 
;jill  capitals,  has  the  politician  to  contend  with  as  well  as 
the  priest ;  and  Freethought  organization  is  slow  and 
^wavering,  but  much  has  been  done  at  this  place.  Port 
Townsend,  of  which  our  stanch  Liberal  comrade,  J).  W. 
Smith,  was  major,  has   made  a  favorable  showing.     Port 


LOCAL  ORGANIZATION.  579 

Angeles,  the  extreme  western  point,  has  always  had  a  pro- 
gressive Liberal  element.  It  has  been  the  seat  of  one 
of  the  great  industrial  experiments  of  the  age,  which,  if 
not  entirely  successful,  will  certainly  teach  lessons  for 
future  advantage.  Its  Liberal  organization,  with  Frank 
Morse  secretary,  has  done  effective  work.  Over  across 
the  waters,  twelve  miles  distant,  is  Victoria,  B.  C,  and 
here  the  Liberal  people,  with  Wm.  Jensen  and  many 
others,  have  maintained  a  victorious  front.  When  Inger- 
soU  lectured  here  several  years  since,  the  hall  doors  were 
locked  against  him,  but  the  unconquerable  Liberals  bat- 
tered down  the  doors  with  an  ax,  and  the  lecture  was  given 
amidst  immense  plaudits.  A  great  debate  was  also  held 
here  between  Samuel  P.  Putnam  and  Rev.  I.  D.  Driver. 
Charles  Watts  also  debated  with  Rev.  Mr.  Driver,  at  Chi- 
cago. This  clergyman  is  regarded  as  the  most  valiant, 
learned,  and  eloquent  defender  of  the  Christian  faith, 
highly  recommended  by  Mr.  Moody  and  others  of  that  ilk. 
Snohomish,  Sultan  City,  Roeder,  Oilman,  North  Bend, 
Fairhaven,  Whatcom,  Blaine — these  far  western  points 
have  kindled  the  fires  of  Freethouglit. 

As  we  come  Eastward  from  Tacoma,  we  find  Buckley 
and  vicinity  breaking  down  the  mighty  forest  growth  for 
the  sunlight  of  freedom.  Then,  far  onward,  we  reach  the 
Palouse  country,  one  of  the  most  magnificent  wheat  sec- 
tions of  the  West,  and  in  harvest  time  a  bountiful  pros- 
pect greets  the  eye.  Palouse  City,  Pullman,  Oakesdale, 
Rosalia,  Waverly,  have  planted  the  seeds  of  reason, 
whose  fruit  shall  mingle  with  its  material  wealth.  Daven- 
port, with  its  stanch  Liberal  band,  has  kept  at  the  plow, 
and  the  furrows  bloom.  The  brilliant  city  of  Spokane, 
and  northward  the  Colville  country,  have  witnessed  Free- 
thought  advance.  Walla  Walla,  with  A.  Rosenow,  has 
been  a  splendid  working  point.  Pendleton,  Summerville, 
Union,  Baker  City,  Prairie  City,  Fox  valley,  Hamilton 
Monument,  Wagner,  Fossil,  Lone  Rock,  Lost  Valle}^  Prine- 


580  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

ville,  Heppuer,  Arlington,  the  Cascades,  all  these  have 
blazed  with  Liberal  agitation.  Emmettsville,  Idaho,  has 
been  a  noble  out-post,  and  on  the  roll  of  honor  none  are 
more  worthy  than  James  Wardwell,  who  has  been  one  of 
our  chief  captains  on  this  frontier.  The  Wood  Kiver 
country  has  had  some  vigorous  campaigns.  Dillon,  Butte 
City,  Helena,  Missoula,  Granite,  Boseman,  in  the  shining 
state  of  Montana,  have  contributed  to  the  grand  army. 
In  Utah  some  of  the  best  material  is  found  for  Freethought 
effort.  Salt  Lake  City  has  always  been  a  favorable  point. 
Large  audiences  attend  Liberal  lectures.  The  Mormons 
are  not  a  bad  people.  They  are  growing  in  intelligence  ; 
and  when  they  leave  Mormonism  they  adopt  Liberalism. 
Mormonism  is  the  last  superstition  of  Christianity. 
Among  the  Liberals  of  Utah  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  P.  Ma- 
son, Alexander  Eogers,  Andrew  Cahoon,  Chas.  de  La  Baume. 
Wm.  J.  Jones,  John  Jost,  Y/m.  Eeynolds,  E.  F .  Munn, 
Hector  W.  Haight,  L.  P.  Edholm,  D.  Williams,  James 
Lindsay,  H.  S.  Brooks,  M.  P.  Braffut,  with  many  others. 
Utah  is  destined  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  states  in  the 
Union,  and  with  its  peculiar  history,  and  remarkable  de- 
velopment, will  no  doubt  be  one  of  the  most  Liberal. 

Colorado,  the  silver  state,  wheels  into  line,  and  Denver, 
the  Queen  City  of  the  mountains,  has  a  host  of  Liberals. 
Tabor  Opera  House,  one  of  the  finest  and  largest  in  the 
West,  has  been  packed  to  its  utmost  capacity  to  listen  to 
the  lectures  of  S.  P.  Putnam.  Boulder  City,  Georgetown, 
Blackhawk,  Longmont,  Greeley,  Leadville,  Canon  City  are 
important  points,  and  have  pushed  Freethought  organi- 
zation and  work.  Seward,  Omaha,  Lincoln,  West  Point, 
and  other  places  in  Nebraska,  have  dotted  this  great  state 
with  centers  of  reform. 

Ottumwa,  Burlington,  West  Union,  Leon,  Cromwell, 
Shenandoah.  Hamburg,  Waverly,  Des  Moines,  Correction- 
ville.  Fort  Madison,  are  the  chief  localities  in  Iowa.  Wi- 
chita,   Fort    Dodge,    Salina,    Seneca,    Topeka,    Emporia, 


CHICAGO  SECULAR  UNION.  581 

Atchinson,  Valley  Falls,  in  Kansas,  have  contributed  more 
or  less  to  the  advance  of  the  cause.  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis, 
Albert  Lea,  Waterville,  Mapleton,  Crookston,  in  Minne- 
sota ;  Jamestown,  North  Dakota ;  Eau  Claire  and  Milwau- 
kee, Wisconsin ;  Grand  Rapids  and  Adrian,  Michigan ; 
Waterloo  and  Indianapolis,  Indiana ;  Springfield  and 
Centralia,  Illinois ;  Golden  Pond,  Kentucky,  are  plj\ces 
where  the  most  successful  meetings  have  been  held. 

In  the  vast  circuit  of  the  United  States  it  is  impossible 
to  note  every  point  of  interest  and  progress.  But  we 
have  endeavored  to  give  some  view  of  what  is  going  on 
among  sixty  millions  of  people.  Beyond  what  facts  we 
can  give  is  the  unwritten  history  of  Freethought,  the 
silent,  unseen  forces  which  occasionally  flash  forth  with 
unexpected  power.  Freethought  organizations  cannot  al- 
ways be  permanent.  Several  hundred  organizations  have 
been  started  since  the  National  Liberal  League  was  es- 
tablished. Thej'^  have  not  survived.  But  they  did  some 
good  work  while  they  did  live,  and  perhaps  prepared  the 
way  for  better  and  stronger  organizations.  Freethought 
labor  must  oftentimes  be  temporary,  but  it  is  nevertheless 
valuable  ;  and  even  amidst  a  thousand  failures  the  pioneer 
should  press  on.  Every  year  is  a  record  of  attainment  ; 
more  life  and  more  organization. 

Chicago  Secular  Union. 

Tlie  Chicago  Secular  Union  was  organized  m  1880.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  important  Freethought  societies  in  the 
country,  being  the  only  organizatic^n  in  Chicago  that  stands 
squarely  on  the  platform  of  the  Demands  of  Liberalism. 
It  liHS  given  a  long  series  of  lectures  each  year  since  its 
organization,  continuing  during  the  winter  and  summer. 
The  most  prominent  men  and  women  of  the  city  have  oc- 
cupied its  platform — doctors,  judges,  la-wyers,  ministers, 
workingmen.  Nearly  all  the  Freethought  lecturers  have 
spoken  before  it.     It  was  a  great  power  during  the  brill- 


582  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

iant  and  energetic  administration  of  E.  A.  Stevens,  who 
was  for  many  years  its  president.  Mrs.  M.  A.  Freeman 
has  been  one  of  its  leading  members.  Her  addresses  have 
attracted  large  audiences,  and  maintained  the  enthusiasm 
of  its  supporters.  Dr.  J.  H.  Greer  is  now  president ;  Mrs. 
Sarah  E.  Ames,  vice-president ;  C.  C.  Chapman,  secre- 
tary ;  and  A.  M.  Freeman,  treasurer.  Among  its  promi- 
nent members  during  many  years  of  labor  are  Gen.  M.  M. 
Trumbull,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Schelling,  James  K.  Ma- 
gee,  Samuel  Fielding,  Charles  Frankel,  Charles  Hunt,  Mrs.. 
Carrie  Piper,  H.  H.  Harris,  George  H.  Robertson,  Wm. 
Thompson,  Seymour  Stedman,  Albert  Schaffer,  James  Ab- 
bott, Lizzie  Holmes,  E.  P.  Peacock,  E.  N.  Dahl,  A.  C. 
Berg,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  M.  Graber,  Horace  C.  Bennett,  and 
Stuart  Beattie  ;  the  two  latter  have  also  been  presidents. 

The  Toronto  Secular  Society 

Has  also  been  a  power  for  Freethought.  This  society  was- 
organized  in  1873,  under  the  name  of  the  Toronto  Free- 
thought  Association,  and  was  incorporated  under  the  On- 
tario statutes  in  1885,  under  the  name  it  at  present  bears. 
Among  its  presidents  appear  the  names  of  Messrs.  Phillips- 
Thompson,  Ick  Evans,  Alfred  Jury,  Alfred  Piddington,  R. 
B.  Butland,  Charles  Watts,  and  W.  C.  Price,  now  president. 

For  many  years  the  society  carried  on  an  active  work, 
maintaining  Sunday  evening  lectures  at  Albert  Hall,  as 
well  as  a  large  amount  of  open  air  propagandism  in  the 
Queen's  park,  until  all  such  work  was  stopped  by  the  civic 
authorities,  owing  to  the  unruly  conduct  of  some  of  the 
"  religious  "  cranks. 

In  1882  Mr.  Watts  paid  a  visit  to  Canada ;  lectured 
before  the  society  at  Albert  Hall,  and  was  at  once  invited 
to  take  up  his  residence  at  Toronto.  Subscriptions  were 
raised  sufficient  to  justify  this  step ;  and  Mr.  Watts  re- 
turned to  England  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements 
for  bringing  over  his  family.     The  following  year  saw  this^ 


J.  G.  TEN  BOKKEL  (p.  834). 


THE  TORONTO  SKUULAR  SOUIKTY.  583 

accomplished ;  and  from  this  time  Mr.  Watts  led  the 
movemeut  iu  Canada  with  marked  ability  and  energy, lect- 
uring not  only  in  Toronto,  but  in  all  the  principal  towns 
and  cities  of  Canada  and  the  states. 

The  establishment  of  "  Secular  Thought,"  as  well  as 
Mr.  Wutts's  cultured  and  logical  advocacy,  have  not  been 
without  great  effect  upon  the  general  public  of  Toronto  ; 
and  to-day,  though  it  is  one  of  the  most  church- 
controlled  cities  in  the  civilized  world,  Freethought  opin- 
ions are  discussed  without  that  personal  rancor  which 
was  noticeable  a  few  years  ago. 

The  discussions  on  the  Sunday  street-car  question  dur- 
ing the  last  two  years  have  brought  out  very  clearly  the 
fact  that  Freethought  has,  to  a  considerable  extent,  per- 
meated the  churches,  although  they  remain  in  the  hands 
of  men  who  are  pledged  to  support  the  old  faith.  The 
fact  that,  at  the  recent  election  in  Toronto,  a  vote  of  over 
ten  thousand  was  given  in  favor  of  a  free  Sunday,  proves 
that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  religious  questions 
will  be  discussed  in  Toronto  on  a  plane  with  all  other 
questions  affecting  the  popular  weal. 

The  Toronto  Secular  Society  has  been  carried  on  under 
somewhat  unfavorable  circumstances  since  the  departure 
of  Mr.  Chas.  Watts,  but  vigorous  efforts  are  now  being 
made  by  the  younger  members  to  organize  it  upon  a  per- 
manent and  self-supporting  basis.  The  society  possesses 
a  fairly  good  library,  and  among  the  agencies  employed 
at  present  are  a  Debating  Club,  which  meets  every  Sun- 
day afternoon  at  3  o'clock,  carrying  out  a  programme  of 
(1)  reading  an  original  essay  by  some  member ;  (2)  a  de- 
bate on  some  subject  arranged  for  two  weeks  in  advance, 
so  as  to  give  time  for  fair  preparation  by  the  speakers ; 
and  (3)  a  declamation,  being  a  recitation  or  reading  from 
some  good  author.  The  work  of  this  club  has  produced  a 
marked  improvement  in  the  powers  of  those  who  have 
taken  part  in  the  debates.     On  Monday  evenings  a  class 


584  J^'OUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

for  tlie  study  of  political  economy  is  carried  on  under  the 
leadership  of  Mr.  Hepburn  ;  On  Tuesday  evening  a  sing- 
ing class  is  held,  the  members  generally  indulging  in  a 
little  dancing  after  the  music,  and  spending  a  pleasant 
evening.  Sociables  are  held  on  alternate  Fridays.  Other 
means  of  useful  cooperation  have  been  contemplated,  but 
lack  of  adequate  financial  support  has  hitherto  prevented. 
In  this,  as  in  some  other  directions,  the  example  of  the 
wealthy  men  in  the  church  might  reasonably  be  followed 
by  those  in  our  own  ranks,  who  see  in  the  spread  of  Lib- 
eral opinions,  and  the  dethronement  of  superstition,  the 
only  hope  for  the  rapid  improvement  of  the  human  race. 
The  editor  of  "  Secular  Thought "'  should  be  adequately 
supported  in  his  efforts  for  the  pillar  organization  of  the 
cause  in  Canada. 

Montreal  Pioneer  Freethought  Club 

Has  a  record  of  great  interest.  On  the  24th  day  of  July, 
1880,  a  meeting,  called  by  circular,  for  the  purpose  of 
forming  a  Freethought  association,  was  held  at  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  Feodor  Boas  in  Montreal.  As  a  result  the 
Montreal  Pioneer  Freethought  Club  was  organized  with 
the  following  members  :  Messrs.  George  Martin,  Feodor 
Boas,  Frank  P.  Currie,  H.  G.  Levetus,  G-eorge  S.  "Wilson, 
Aloys  Hulek,  James  A.  Wright,  Casey  A.  Wood,  M.  D.,  Geo. 
Brown,  M.  Eichhorn,  Moritz  Boas,  Z.  Turgeon,  Julius 
Kruse,  Jas.  Longlands,  M.  Michaels,  W.  S.  Walker,  and 
Mrs.  Marie  Louise  Hulek.  The  first  president  was  George 
Martin,  who,  upon  his  retirement  from  office,  was  elected 
honorary  president  for  life.  Succeeding  presidents  have 
beeai  Feodor  Boas,  George  S.  Wilson,  Eoswell  C.  Fisher, 
Robert  C.  Adams,  and  Charles  Stevens.  The  meetings  of 
the  club  were  at  first  private  and  attended  only  by  mem- 
bers or  by  those  invited  upon  special  occasions,  but  in 
1883,  upon  removal  to  a  larger  hall,  the  meetings  were 
thrown  open  to  the  public. 


MONTREAL  PIONEER  FREETHOUGHT  CLUB.  585 

Capt.  Eobert  C.  Adams,  who  was  president  of  tlie  club 
for  eight  years,  sustained  a  lecture  course  on  Sundays 
during  the  winter  seasons,  aided  occasionally  by  other 
members  and  visitors.  These  lectures  were  often  reported 
in  the  daily  papers  and  the  influence  of  the  club  has  been 
widely  felt  both  in  Montreal  and  throughout  Canada. 
The  club  has  agitated  for  many  reforms  and  by  legal  suit 
against  the  collector  of  customs  so  impressed  the  author- 
ities that  Paine's  "Age  of  Reason,"  Voltaire's  works  and 
other  Liberal  publications  have  since  been  allowed  to  be 
imported.  Continued  effort  was  made  for  many  years  to 
secure  the  right  of  affirmation.  Captain  Adams  made 
this  matter  a  personal  charge  and  by  persistent  labor 
secured  the  introduction  of  a  measure  into  the  dominion 
parliament,  which  became  law  July  1,  1893,  giving  the 
right  of  affirmation  to  all  who  have  conscientious  scruples 
against  taking  the  oath. 

The  club  has  an  extensive  library,  started  by  a  legacy 
of  five  hundred  dollars  from  Mr.  Baker,  of  Bedford,  Que., 
and  enlarged  by  donations  from  influential  citizens  of 
Montreal.  The  club  has  had  the  unusual  good  fortune  to 
receive  the  sympathy  and  support  of  some  of  the  wealthiest 
knd  most  honored  citizens,  and  George  Jacob  Holyoake 
was  so  impressed  by  a  visit  that  upon  his.  return  to  Eng- 
land he  published  the  statement  that,  for  social  influence 
a,nd  high  standing,  the  Montreal  Pioneer  Preethought 
Club  was  the  most  important  Freethought  society  extant. 
A  large  amount  of  money  has  been  subscribed  by  mem- 
bers and  friends  of  the  club  for  the  purposes  of  support- 
ing the  propagandism  of  Liberal  ideas  through  the  press 
and  upon  the  lecture  platform,  and  for  ten  years  it  had  its 
large  sign  with  the  name  "Freethought  Club"  displayed 
at  one  of  the  most  prominent  corners  in  the  city.  Dona- 
tions of  over  a  million  dollars  have  been  made  to  McGill 
College  by  supporters  of  the  club,  and  some  of  its  mem- 
bers occupy  the  highest  places  in  commercial  and  civic 


586  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

life.  These  things  have  done  much  to  lessen  the  antipathy 
felt  to  the  name  of  Freethought  and  have  secured  an  un- 
willing recognition  of  the  merits  and  usefulness  of  Free- 
thinkers. The  present  officers  of  the  club  are  :  President, 
Charles  Stevens  ;  vice-presidents,  John  H.  R.  Molsou, 
Feodor  Boas,  Roswell  C  Fisher  ;  treasurer,  M.  Michaels  ; 
secretary,  T.  J.  Griffiths,  167  Colborne  street ;  directors, 
James  Shearer,  Peter  Lyall,  A.  Granville,  A.  Chisholm,  B. 
Marcuse,  W.  W.  McClellan,  M.  J.  Macdonald, 

Moralists. 

The  Brotherhood  of  Moralists,  established  on  the  basis 
of  pure  morality  without  any  reference  to  religion  of  any 
kind,  has  quite  a  membership  throughout  the  country. 
Its  chief  object  is  the  cultivation  of  science  and  humanity. 

Newark  Liberal  League 

Was  organized  in  1878,  with  F.  J.  Kieb  as  its  first  presi- 
dent and  T.  B.  Parse  as  its  first  secretary.  Dr.  Douai 
must  not  be  forgotten  as  one  of  its  most  active  members 
and  lecturers  during  its  early  history,  and  among  subse- 
quent presidents  may  be  mentioned  the  names  of  Messrs. 
Genung,  Marshall,  Mayo,  Hunter,  Schmitt,  Blythe,  Coole. 
Geo.  Gillen  is  its  present  recording  secretary.  Its  present 
officers  are  :  Henry  Bird,  president ;  Geo.  Gillen,  secre- 
tary ;  Henry  Allsop,  treasurer;  who  also  act  collectively 
as  an  executive  committee.  Mr.  Bird  is  serving  his  third 
year  as  presii^lent.  Among  active  members,  past  and 
present,  may  be  mentioned  the  names  of  Messrs.  Frankel, 
Avery,  Gorum,  Pionnie,  Holmes,  Walker,  Schnabel,  Bam- 
berg, Brill,  Watters,  Werner,  and  others,  and  among  ladies 
the  names  of  Mrs.  Le  Fort  and  daughters,  Mrs.  Gillen, 
Oordien,  Smitli.  Bird,  and  others. 

Fkeethought  in  England. 

We  now  come  to  a  section  of  our  work  that  will  per- 
haps be  of  more   than  ordinary  interest  to  many  of  our 


FREETHOUGHT  IN  ENGLAND.  587 

readers.  The  grand  achievements  in  the  cause  of  mental 
freedom  by  our  Freethought  brothers  and  sisters  in  Eng- 
land form  some  of  the  brightest  and  most  encouraging  in- 
cidents in  the  glorious  history  of  human  progress. 

The  advent  of  Freethought  in  any  country  is  of  tran- 
scendent importance,  because  it  is  the  herald  of  intel- 
lectual liberty,  the  precursor  of  the  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge and  the  forerunner  of  free  inquiry.  We  hope  to  show 
that  this  was  particular!}'  the  case  in  reference  to  the  in- 
troduction of  Freethought  in  England.  Although  isolated 
instances  of  this  noble  principle  had  been  known  for 
many  centuries  among  our  English  friends,  it  was  only 
about  three  hundred  years  ago  that  Freethought  assumed 
a  definite  and  an  organized  form.  In  his  "  History  of 
Freethought,"  Mr.  Charles  Watts  observes  :  "  Prior  to  the 
sixteenth  century  Freethought  was  principally  confined 
to  the  few,  while  the  many  were  content  to  accept  with 
implicit  belief  what  was  provided  for  them  by  those  who 
liad  so  long  held  the  human  mind  as  with  a  magic  charm." 
Freethought  found  England  wrapt  in  mental  darkness, 
biit  its  brilliant  influence  soon  caused  a  light  to  shine  that 
illuminated  the  church,  the  parliament,  and  the  univers- 
ities. The  scholar  at  his  desk,  the  philosopher  in  his 
study,  and  the  scientist  in  his  laboratory,  all  became 
speedily  affected  by  this  harbinger  of  mental  freedom.  So 
rapidly  did  Freethought  affect  defenders  of  the  Christian 
faith,  that  in  the  seventeenth  century  Boyle  wrote  that 
any  person  going  to  London  who  wanted  a  religion  might 
have  his  choice  of  many ;  and  he  who  possessed  one 
before  he  arrived  there  would  bid  fair  to  lose  it.  Previous 
to  tlie  sixteenth  century  the  seeds  sown  by  thinkers  in 
England  had  fallen  on  stony  ground ;  they  failed  to  take 
root  in  the  public  mind  in  consequence,  doubtless,  of  the 
hardening  nature  of  the  theology  which  then  prevailed. 
Such  a  state  of  things  can  be  readily  understood  when  it  is 
remembered  that  at  the  time  referred  to  there  was  among 


588  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  masses  a  general  absence  of  education.  Schools  were 
rare  and  few  only  of  the  population  could  read  and  write. 
England  then  had  no  national  system  of  Secular  educa- 
tion, and  the  few  improved  schools,  libraries,  and  other 
educational  institutions,  which  were  started  before  the 
year  1870  (the  date  when  the  public  school  system  was 
introduced),  were  largely  the  result  of  the  work  of  the 
Deists,  whose  services  are  so  justly  recognized  by  Buckle 
in  his  great  work  on  "Civilization."  Until  the  Deistical 
advent  Freethought  does  not  appear  to  have  had  any  his- 
torical status  worth  mentioning  in  England.  The  Deists 
found  the  people  credulous,  superstitious,  and  absolutely 
subservient  to  the  priest,  at  whose  right  hand  were  the 
king  and  the  rulers  who  demanded  unconditional  obedi- 
ence. In  an  illiterate  community  people  generally  place 
implicit  belief  in  the  "  powers  that  be,"  but  where  Free- 
thought  obtains  knowledge  and  intellectual  independence 
are  active  factors  in  regulating  personal  conduct.  The 
lesson  of  experience  is  that  ignorance  and  progress  are 
always  far  apart.  The  agitation  of  thought  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  acquirement  of  wisdom,  and  the  originator  of 
the  art  of  thinking  is  the  skeptical  spirit,  denominated 
Freethought. 

For  the  first  time  in  England  an  Association  for  the 
Study  of  Natural  Knowledge  was  inaugurated  in  the  skep- 
tical age  of  Charles  II.  by  the  establishment  of  the 
famous  Royal  Society,  which  was,  for  a  long  time,  con- 
demned by  orthodox  professors,  and  by  whom  its  labors 
were  discouraged  and  misrepresented.  The  Royal  Society 
was  an  important  advancement  in  the  direction  of  free  in- 
Testigation.  It  was  born  of  a  spirit  of  inquiry  similar  to 
that  which  gave  birth  to  the  Reformation  that  broke  the 
scepter  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 
With  all  its  defects,  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
<century  was  a  progressive  movement.  True,  its  usefulness 
was  greatly  impaired   by  the  narrow-mindedness  "of    its 


E.  C.   WALKER  (p.  820). 


FREETHOUGHT  IN  ENGLAND.  589 

theological  supporters,  who,  having  secured  freedom  for 
themselves,  denied  that  right  to  others.  Still,  the  protest 
at  Wittemberg  set  the  Freethought  ball  rolling,  and,  not- 
withstanding desperate  efforts  to  stop  its  progress,  it  has 
gone  on,  with  additional  force,  until  to-day  the  principle 
propounded  by  Luther  prevails  with  a  far  more  consistent 
application. 

Mr.  Watts,  in  his  work  referred  to,  gives  a  graphic  ac- 
count of  the  early  struggles  of  Freethought  in  England. 
He  commences  with  the  labors  of  Lord  Herbert  and 
Charles  Blount,  who  introduced  to  English  readers  the 
views  entertained  by  French  and  Italian  Freethinkers. 
These,  with  Toland,  Bolingbroke,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  An- 
thony Collins,  WoUston,  Chubb,  Hume,  and  others,  form 
H  grand  group  of  Liberal  minds  in  the  Pantheon  of  Free- 
tli ought.  Locke  and  Newton  may  also  be  mentioned  as 
being  among  those  who  discarded  the  orthodoxy  of  their 
time.  At  this  period  tlie  new  Deistical  method  was 
adopted  in  defense  of  the  church  and  its  doctrines  by  men 
who  still  occupied  prominent  positions  therein.  That 
great  changes  had  taken  place  is  evident  from  the  fact 
that  the  king  and  his  friends  associated  with  Thomas 
Hobbes.  Hobbes  died  at  the  age  of  ninety,  in  the  year 
1679.  His  best  known  work,  the  "Leviathan,"  was  published 
in  1651,  and  in  1628  Hobbes  had  the  pleasure  of  making  the 
acquaintance  of  tlie  astronomical  hero  of  the  age — the 
illustrious  Florentine,  Galileo  Galilei.  Twelve  years  after 
the  death  of  Hobbes,  David  Hume  was  born.  These  were 
the  men  who  hastened  the  dawn  of  English  Freethought, 
and  wlio,  by  their  efforts,  gave  to  the  world  the  results  of 
true  private  judgment.  The  Dissenters  had  attacked  only 
the  ceremonies  of  the  church  and  its  method  of  govern- 
ment, but  these  philosophers  struck  a  blow  at  the  very 
foundations  upon  which  all  the  churches  were  built.  All 
honor  to  the  pioneers  of  that  English  Freethought  whose 
glorious  history  and  development  we  now  enter  upon. 


590  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT, 

In  the  muster-roll  of  the  world's  redeemers,  Voltaire 
and  Thomas  Paine  occupy,  as  already  shown,  a  prominent 
position.  The  great  services  of  these  eminent  Free- 
thinkers connect  the  history  of  Freethought  in  England 
with  its  subsequent  growth.  They  made  a  combined  at- 
tack on  both  the  church  and  the  Bible,  denouncing  the 
tyranny  of  the  one,  and  exposing  the  errors  of  the  other. 

The  Freethought  seed  sown  by  Voltaire  and  Paine  took 
root  in  the  soil  of  France  and  England,  and  grew  into  a 
tree  with  widely-spread  branches,  which  to-day  shelter 
many  of  the  human  race  from  the  withering  effects  of  a 
malignant  superstition.  Happily,  the  good  these  men  did 
was  not  "interred  with  their  bones."  The  fame  of  their 
work  spread  so  rapidly  that  men  of  all  nations  claimed 
them  as  brothers ;  and  to-day  children  are  named  after 
them  as  a  token  of  respect  for  their  memories,  and  in 
recognition  of  the  services  they  rendered  to  humanity. 
Who  were  these  men  who  have  been  the  victims  of  vitu- 
perative slander?  One  was  a  brilliant  Frenchman,  the 
leading  thinker  and  writer  of  his  day,  a  bold  defender  of 
justice,  liberty,  and  humanity.  The  other  was  an  English- 
man, born  of  Quaker  parents,  full  of  enthusiasm  for  man- 
kind, and  ever  desirous  of  doing  his  best  to  remove  the 
wrongs  inflicted  upon  society  by  kingcraft  and  priestcraft. 
He  was  a  believer  in  true  democracy,  and  he  proclaimed 
the  brotherhood  of  nations,  and  the  right  of  fearless  crit- 
icism, in  his  '■  Rights  of  Man,"  and  in  his  "Age  of  Reason." 
As  he  expressed  it  in  one  of  his  imperishable  utterances  : 
"  The  world  is  tny  country,  mankind  are  my  brethren,  and 
to  do  good  is  my  religion." 

The  present  century  has  been  marked  by  an  active  and 
a  determined  propaganda  in  England  on  behalf  of  Free- 
thought.  A  stanch  rebellion  against  the  encroachments 
of  orthodoxy,  and  the  unjust  interference  of  "the  powers 
that  be,"  has  been  heroically  maintained.  Some  of  the 
greatest  minds  and  bravest  hearts  have  adorned  the  Free- 


FREETHOUGHT  IN  ENGLAND.  591 

thought  history  since  the  advent  of  the  year  1800.  Eng- 
lish Freethinkers  of  the  present  generation  may  be  justly 
proud  of  such  noble  intellects  as  Bentham,  Grote,  Mill, 
Carlile,  Lyell,  Buckle,  Darwin,  Clifford,  Tyndall,  Huxley, 
Laing,  and  Leslie  Stephen.  These  eminent  men,  although 
not  directly  associated  with  Secularism,  threw  a  halo 
of  mental  glory  and  moral  dignity  around  the  records  of 
Freethought  in  England.  Freethought  has  now  become, 
not  only  scholarly,  scientific,  and  ethical,  but  also  demo- 
cratic and  social.  It  has  reached  all  sections  of  society, 
influencing  journalists,  poets,  philosophers,  politicians, 
men  of  science,  clergy,  and,  above  all,  the  humbler  classes 
of  the  people.  The  lament  that  is  constantly  heard  from 
the  various  pulpits,  and  read  in  the  religious  literature  in 
England  to-day,  is  that  Freethought  principles  are  spread- 
ing to  an  alarming  extent.  This  progress  has  been  the 
more  striking  within  the  last  forty  years.  Referring  to 
the  increase  of  heretical  opinion  in  the  English  Universi- 
ties, the  "Westminster  Review,"  for  October,  1860,  ob- 
served :  "  Indeed,  no  one  who  knows  the  religious  state  of 
the  Universities  could  doubt  how  far  the  decay  of  belief 
extends  beneath  those  walls.  .  .  .  '  Smouldering  skep- 
ticism,' indeed  !  When  they  are  honeycombed  with  disbe- 
lief, running  through  every  phase,  from  mystical  inter- 
pretation to  utter  Atheism.  Professors,  tutors,  fellows, 
and  pupils  are  conscious  of  this  widespread  doubt."  "  It 
must  be  a  profound  evil,"  continues  the  writer,  "that  all 
thinking  men  should  reject  the  National  religion."  . 
.  .  "  The  newspaper,  the  review,  the  tale  by  every  fire- 
side, is  written  almost  exclusively  by  men  who  have  long 
ceased  to  believe.  So  also  the  school-book,  the  text-book, 
the  manuals  for  study  of  youth  and  manhood,  the  whole 
mental  food  of  the  day ;  science,  history,  morals,  and 
politics,  poetry,  fiction,  and  essay ;  the  very  lesson  of  the 
school,  the  very  sermon  from  the  pulpit."  In  February, 
1864,    "Fraser's   Magazine,"    noticing    that    Freethought 


592  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

principles  were  extending,  remarked  that  it  is  "  true  that 
for  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  at  least,  such 
opinions  have  been  steadily  increasing,  not  only  in  popu- 
larity, but  in  what  may  be  called  respectability.  They 
were  once  confined  to  a  small  number  of  persons.  .  .  . 
They  are  now  spreading  widely  and  quietly  through  all 
classes  of  the  community,  and  derive  great  weight  from  the 
demonstration  supplied  by  history,  science,  and  criticism 
of  the  fact,  that  whatever  else  we  may  or  may  not  possess, 
there  is  in  the  world  no  such  thing  as  an  infallible  church 
or  an  infallible  book."  In  1865,  the  Eev.  D.  Moore,  M.A., 
published  a  book  entitled,  "  The  Age  and  the  Gospel," 
in  which  he  says  :  "  The  tendencies  to  skepticism  in  the 
present  day  show  themselves  more  or  less  in  every  direc- 
tion. Mach  especially  have  Ave  to  apprehend  from  the 
prevalence  of  these  tendencies  among  our  poorer  classes. 
No  doubt,  among  the  eight-and-twenty  millions  of  Infidel 
and  vicious  tracts  computed  to  be  annually  circulated 
among  our  English  poor,  many  are  but  reproductions  of 
the  accusations  of  Ricliard  Carlile,  and  Taylor,  and  Paine. 
But,  mixed  up  with  them,  are  attacks  upon  our  Christian- 
ity of  a  more  dangerous  kind — made  up  from  the  Infidel 
philosophy  of  America,  or  the  admissions  of  the  writers 
in  the  '  Essays  and  Beviews,'  or,  in  some  instances,  of 
translated  extracts  from  the  subtle  skepticism  of  the  con- 
tinent— so  that  in  the  case  of  large  bodies  of  persons 
working  together,  as  in  shops  or  factories,  men  who  never 
heard  the  names  of  Hegel,  or  Schelling,  or  Strauss,  can 
retail,  with  flippant  tongue,  their  mischievous  theories  of 
unbelief.  But  not  by  the  agency  of  tracts  only  do  the 
promoters  of  popular  Infidelity  carry  on  their  work. 
They  have  their  Sunday  meetings  for  holding  discussional 
or  Deistical  services.  Weekly  or  monthly  periodicals  are 
open  to  receive  and  deal  out  the  freshest  contributions  of 
Infidel  thought.  Associations  are  formed,  ostensibly  with 
a  scientific  purpose,  but  really  to  place  the  conclusions  of 


FRBETHOUGHT  IN  ENGLAND.  593 

science  and  the  statements  of  Revelation  in  array  against 
each  other ;  all  being  so  many  painful  proofs  how  much 
the  recent  advances  of  the  national  mind  have  been  unac- 
companied with  a  healthy  religious  influence,  and  showing 
what  a  tendency  there  is  in  all  unsanctified  knowledge  to 
foster  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief  in  departing  from  the  liv- 
ing God."  On  page  29  of  the  same  work,  the  reverend 
gentleman  further  remarks  :  "  Never  has  the  Infidelity  of 
the  lower  orders  presented  itself  in  such  systematized  and 
scientific  forms  as  it  exhibits  now.  It  is  a  negation  no 
longer — an  obliteration  of  old  faiths  no  longer.  In  out- 
ward form  and  pretension,  at  least,  it  is  a  science,  a  phi- 
osophy,  an  articulate  creed."  Dr.  Herbert  Yaughan  in  his 
pamphlet  on  "Popular  Education  in  England,"  written  in 
March,  1868,  says  :  "The  most  thorough,  the  most  logical, 
and  the  most  distinct  school  opposed  to  us  is  that  of  the 
Secularists.  It  would  be  vain  to  close  our  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  their  numbers  are  large  and  rapidly  increasing."  Al- 
luding to  the  circulation  of  Freethought  works,  the  doctor 
further  observes :  "  Our  alarm  and  our  sorrow  have  a 
deeper  reference,  and  can  only  be  appreciated  after  an  ex- 
amination of  the  rationalistic  and  Infidel  literature  which 
is  circulated  among  the  masses,  and  which  shapes  their 
plans  and  politics.  "Without  speaking  of  larger  and  more 
expensive  works  of  Infidelity  and  rationalism,  of  which 
Messrs.  Longman  could  furnish  an  ample  list,  we  have 
actually  before  us  a  quantity  of  smaller  publications  and 
tracts,  which  are  sold,  and  sometimes  distributed  gratis 
among  the  artisan  and  lower  classes."  This  valuable  tes- 
timony, coming  as  it  does  from  Christian  authorities,  can 
not  be  over-estimated. 

Let  us  now  see  who  were  the  actors  in  the  great  Free- 
thought  drama  that  has  played  and  is  still  playing  such 
an  important  part  amongst  the  English  people.  One  of 
the  early  reformers  of  the  century  was  the  genial  and 
self-denying  philanthropist,  Robert  Owen,     Not  only  did 


594      FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

be  introduce  the  system  of  infant  schools,  but  he  sought 
to  reconstruct  society — to  put  it  upon  the  basis  that  man 
is  what  he  is,  as  a  social  being,  through  the  organization 
he  inherits,  and  the  circumstances  by  which  he  is  sur- 
rounded. He  gave  an  impetus  to  sanitation  and  to  the 
general  improvements  of  dwellings,  improvements  which 
since  his  time  have  occupied  the  attention  of  all  social 
reformers.  The  great  offense  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
Christians  and  of  menfbers  of  fashionable  society,  Robert 
Owen  committed,  was  his  solemn  declaration  that  all  the 
religions  of  the  world  were  founded  on  error.  Although 
in  our  opinion  he  was  quite  right  in  this  declaration,  the 
world  was  not  prepared  to  hear  such  a  truth.  The  result 
was  the  aristocracy  and  the  high  church  dignitaries  "  all 
forsook  him  and  fled."  The  subsequent  governments  in 
England,  however,  and  a  large  section  of  the  English 
people  accepted  many  of  his  ideas  and  acted  upon  them. 
Perhaps  the  most  important  system  that  exists  to-day 
which  he  really  inaugurated  is  that  of  cooperation,  which 
has  proved  of  immense  value  to  the  working  classes.  We 
may  also  mention  that  the  national  system  of  education 
now  in  operation  in  England  is  largely  due  to  his  efforts. 
He  insisted  that  every  child  should  be  sent  to  school  at 
a  proper  age;  this,  he  urged,  was  essential  to  the  forma- 
tion and  maintenance  of  well-constituted  society.  It  is  in 
connection  with  his  movement  that  we  first  meet  with  the 
name  of  George  J'acob  Holyoake,  who  is  regarded  as  the 
"  Father  of  Secularism." 

Mr.  Holyoake. 

Early  in  life  he  became  a  social  missionary,  devoting 

his  great  abilities  to  the  exposition  of  the  princijDal  views 
expounded  by  Robert  Owen.  From  1846  to  1861  Mr. 
Holyoake  edited  "  The  Reasoner,"  which  at  that  time  was 
the  only  important  publication  in  England  devoted  to  the 
judicious  discussion  of  the  various  theological  questions^ 


E.  B.  FOOTE,   JR.  (p.  731). 


MR.  HOLYOAKK.  595 

including  those  which  refer  to  the  existence  of  God  and  to 
the  alleged  truths  of  the  Bible.  For  the  first  time,  Theism 
and  biblical  criticism  were  made  familiar  topics  of  debate 
through  the  medium  of  literature  that  circulated  among 
English  working  people  and  at  a  price  within  their  reach 
and  in  their  own  vernacular.  It  was  in  the  pages  of  "The 
Reasoner  "  that  the  word  Secularism  was  first  suggested 
as  a  name  representing  principles  adopted  b}'  those  to 
whom  Christianity  was  no  longer  acceptable.  Mr.  Hol- 
yoake  subsequently  drew  up  certain  positive  propositions 
which  he  published  under  the  title  of  "Secularism  the 
Philosophy  of  the  People,"  from  which  we  quote  the 
following  : 

"  Secularism  builds  on  the  foundation  of  four  rights  : 

"  1.  The  right  to  think  for  one's  sell  which  most  Chris- 
tians now  admit,  at  least  in  theory. 

"2.  The  right  to  differ,  without  which  the  right  to 
think  is  nothing  worth. 

"  3.  The  right  to  assert  difference  of  opinion,  without 
which  the  right  to  differ  is  of  no  practical  use. 

"4.  The  right  to  debate  all  vital  opinion,  without 
which  there  is  no  intellectual  equality — no  defense  against 
the  errors  of  the  state  or  the  pulpit. 

"Looking  over  human  society,  numerous  persons  may 
be  discerned  standing  outside  Christianity,  who,  for  con- 
scientious reasons,  reject  one  or  other  of  its  fundamental 
principles.  At  this  point  of  sight,  a  serious  question 
arises — Are  good  citizenship,  personal  virtue,  a  calm  con- 
science, and  fair  desert  in  death,  possible  to  such  per- 
sons ?  Secularism  undertakes  to  solve  that  problem,  and 
answers — Yes. 

"Its  moral  basis  is,  that  justification  by  sincerity  is  a 
higher  and  more  reliable  truth  than  '  justification  by  faith.' 

"  Its  province  of  study  is  the  order,  rather  than  the 
origin,  of  nature,  the  study  of  the  laws  or  operations  of 
nature  being  the  most  fruitful  for  human  guidance. 


596  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

"  Its  practical  result  is  the  discovery  that  science  is 
the  providence  of  man,  and  the  development  of  this  truth 
as  a  protection  against  false  dependencies. 

"Its  theory  of  morals  is  that  there  exist  guarantees  of 
pure  morality  in  human  nature,  in  utilitj^  and  intelli- 
gence ;  and  that  conduct  is  the  true  source  of  accepta- 
bility before  man  and  God — that  human  service  is  the 
truest  prayer,  and  work  the  highest  worship. 

"  Its  standard  of  appeal  is  that  Secularism  accepts  no 
authority  but  that  of  nature,  adopts  no  methods  but  those 
of  science  and  philosophy,  and  respects  in  practice  no 
rule  but  that  of  the  conscience,  illustrated  by  the  common 
sense  of  mankind.  It  values  the  lessons  of  the  past,  and 
looks  to  tradition  as  presenting  a  storehouse  of  raw  ma- 
terials to  thought,  and  in  many  cases  results  of  high  wis- 
dom for  our  reverence  ;  but  it  utterly  disowns  tradition  as 
a  ground  of  belief,  whether  miracles  and  supernaturalism 
be  claimed  or  not  claimed  on  its  side.  No  sacred  scripture 
nor  ancient  church  can  be  made  a  basis  of  belief,  for  the 
obvious  reason  that  their  claims  always  need  to  be  proved, 
and  cannot  without  absurdity  be  assumed." 

In  reference  to  the  relation  of  Secularism  to  the  un- 
known, Mr.  Holyoake  observes : 

"  It  is  said  that  Secularism  seeks  to  destroy  the  '  re- 
ligious element'  in  man.  We  answer,  it  rather  seeks  to 
give  the  sentiment  bearing  that  erroneous  name  a  definite 
and    rational   direction.     We  ask  what  is  meant  by  the 

*  religious  element  ?  '  It  is  answered,  '  The  worship  of 
God.'  We  reply,  the  worship  of  a  supreme  being  implies 
the  recognition  of  such  independent  being.  But  to  those 
from    whom    such    recognition    is    hidden,   the   aforesaid 

*  religious  element '  is  not  attainable.  They  cannot  be  said 
to  '  destroy '  it — they  do  not  discover  it.  To  be  intel- 
ligible, the  'religious  element'  must  point  to  some  object. 
We  demand  to  have  it  clearly  stated  what  that  object  is. 
The  object  of  the  appetite  is  a  meal.     The   object  of  the 


MR.  HOLYOAKE.  597 

religious  sentiment  sliould  be  deity.  But  till  deity  is  dis- 
covered, the  object  is  wanting,  and  the  sentiment  is 
blind.  The  chief  general  intellectual  sentiment  the  race 
of  man  appears  to  possess  is  the  desire  to  penetrate  the 
unknown,  by  which  our  life  is  hemmed  in.  But  the  un- 
known is  not  God,  but  the  vestibule  through  which,  per- 
haps, we  pass  to  his  presence.  We  cannot,  without  the 
violation  of  philosophy,  assume  the  unknown,  as  such,  to 
be  deity.  The  god  of  the  intelligent  worshiper  is  the 
known.  He  who  worships  the  unknown  is  an  Atheist  in 
everything  but  the  name." 

In  reference  to  destructive  work,  Mr.  Holyoake  writes  ; 

"  Our  negative  work  has  been  to  combat  priests  and 
the  laws,  whenever  priests  or  the  laws  interfered  with 
Freethought — that  is,  our  mission  has  been  to  act  as  a 
John  in  the  wilderness,  to  make  way  for  science." 

We  have  quoted  at  some  length  from  the  "  Father  of 
Secularism,"  because  we  are  desirous  that  our  readers  on 
this  continent  shall  have  a  clear  conception  of  what  Eng- 
lish Secularism  really  is,  according  to  the  delarations  of 
its  founder.  In  the  course  of  our  indications  of  its  develop- 
ments, it  will  be  seen  that  slight  differences  of  opinion 
existed  among  some  of  Mr.  Holyoake's  principal  followers, 
but  these  differences  in  no  way  affected  the  system  as  a 
philosophj'  ;  they  pertained  only  to  matters  of  detail. 

The  skeptical  movement  in  England  then  assumed  a 
new  form.  It  was  no  longer  mere  unorganized  Free- 
thought,  but  it  contained  positive  principles  capable  of 
properly  regulating  human  conduct  apart  from  all  phases 
of  theology.  Before,  however,  this  change  was  possible, 
Freethinkers  had  to  endure  untold  sufferings  inflicted 
through  orthodox  bigotry.  They  were  persecuted  and 
prosecuted,  hunted  from  place  to  place,  fined  and  im- 
prisoned. *  These  were  indeed  the  times  to  "  try  men's 
souls."  Here  are  the  names  of  a  few  of  the  brave  Free- 
thinkers who  endured  the  severest  penalties,  and  who  had 


598  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

to  bear  the  grossest  forms  of  iDJustice,  simply  because 
they  sought  to  emancipate  themselves,  aud  others,  from 
the  shackles  of  religious  and  social  restrictions.  In  1797 
Williams  suffered  twelve  months'  imprisonment  for  pub- 
lishing "  The  Age  of  Reason."  Between  the  years  1792 
and  1814,  Eaton  was  prosecuted  several  times,  and  sen- 
tenced to  eighteen  months'  imprisonment,  and  to  the 
pillory  for  the  same  "  offense."  Houston  had  two  years  in 
prison  and  was  fined  two  hundred  pounds  for  translating 
D'Holbach's  "Ecce  Homo."  Richard  Carlile  served  sev- 
eral terms  of  imprisonment,  varying  from  one  to  three 
years,  and  had  to  pay  fines  amounting  to  many  thousand 
pounds,  for  publishing  the  works  of  D'Holbach,  Volney, 
Hone,  Palmer,  and  Paine.  Carlile's  wife,  his  sister,  and 
many  of  his  assistants  were  convicted  and  suffered,  to- 
gether with  many  small  booksellers,  for  selling  Freethought 
works.  We  have  also  a  long  list  of  other  martyrs  who 
fought  the  battle  against  the  "  taxes  on  knowledge " 
by  publishing,  unstamped,  the  "  Poor  Man's  Guardian." 
Among  these  were  Henry  Hetherington,  Abel  Heywood, 
and  James  Watson.  Later  on  we  find  that  Charles  South- 
well and  Robert  Taylor  were  both  imprisoned  and  cruelly 
treated  for  daring  to  impeach  the  theology  of  their  time. 
George  Jacob  Holyoake  did  not  escape.  In  1842  he 
suffered  six  mouths'  imprisonment  for  alleged  blasphemy. 
The  story  of  his  arrest  and  confinement  he  tells  in  "  The 
Last  Trial  by  Jury  for  Atheism."  Briefly,  the  facts  were 
these  :  Lecturing  at  Cheltenham  (England)  on  the  better- 
ment of  the  condition  of  the  working  classes,  he  answered 
an  irrelevent  question.  The  terms  he  used  in  his  reply 
were,  that  he  would  do  with  God  as  was  done  to  certain 
officers  of  the  army — put  him  on  half  pay.  This  was 
the  head  and  front  of  Mr.  Holyoake's  offense,  for  which  he 
was  found  guilty  and  sent  to  the  house  for  the  correction 
of  criminals.  Such  was  the  treatment  of  Freethinkers  at 
the  hands  of  those  who  preached  a  "religion  of  love."     It 


BRADLAUGH.  599 

is  to  such  dauntless  sufferers  as  these  in  the  cause  of 
Freethought  to  whom  the  English  people  are  indebted 
for  their  present  freedom  from  the  influence  of  a  per- 
nicious creed. 

We  find  that,  associated  with  the  "  Father  of  Secular- 
ism," in  conducting  "  The  Reasoner,"  were  Professor 
Francis  W.  Newman,  W.  J.  Birch,  M.A.,  F.  B.  Benton,  B. 
A.,  "William  Maccall,  Robert  Cooper,  Austin  Holyoake, 
and  John  Watts.  Mr.  A.  Holyoake  was  a  hard  but  silent 
worker,  and  the  Secular  cause  in  England  is  much  in- 
debted to  his  devoted  and  unrecorded  services  quietly  and 
unselfishly  rendered.  He  died  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  on 
April  10,  1874.  John  Watts  (brother  to  Charles  Watts) 
not  only  assisted  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake  with  "The  Rea- 
soner,"  but  subsequently  he  was,  for  a  time,  the  editor  and 
proprietor  of  "  The  National  Reformer."  He  died  at  the 
age  of  thirty-two  in  1866.  Robert  Cooper  wrote  a  book 
on  "The  Immortality  of  the  Soul,"  and  another  on  "The 
Bible  and  its  Evidences."  He  was  editor  of  "The  London 
Investigator,"  in  which  journal  the  first  essay  from  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Charles  Bradlaugh  appeared. 

Beyond  all  question  Mr.  Bradlaugh  was  the  greatest 
Freethinker  England  ever  had.  He  was  born  in  London 
in  1833,  and  began  his  public  life  as  a  Sunday-school 
teacher,  and  a  defender  of  the  Christian  faith.  He  very 
soon,  however,  discovered  reasons  for  giving  up  his  belief 
in  Christianity,  and  at  an  early  age  he  joined  the  Free- 
tliought  movement.  With  remarkable  skill  he  attacked 
the  teachings  of  the  Bible  and  the  evidences  offered  in 
its  defense.  His  knowledge  of  the  Bible  was  extensive, 
and  his  criticism  of  its  contents  was  most  searching  and 
trenchant.  His  work  on  Genesis  is  a  monument  of  dili- 
gent inquiry  and  of  deep  research.  It  is  the  opinion  of 
Charles  Watts,  who  was,  for  many  years,  Mr.  Bradlau?:h's 
colleague  and  confidpuHal  friend,  that  as  a  debater  on  God 
and  the   Bible  he  (Mr.  Bradlaugh)  had   no  equal.     As  a 


€00  FOUR  HUNDRED   YKARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

lecturer  his  eloquence  was  unique,  his  power  over  an  audi- 
ence being  marvelous.  He  was  an  active  politician ;  in 
principles,  a  radical  of  the  broadest  type.  His  long 
struggle  at  Northampton,  and  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  made  him  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  the 
English  nation.  At  last,  through  his  indomitable  courage, 
he  succeeded  in  gaining  a  seat  in  Parliament,  and  also  in 
converting  his  bitterest  opponents  into  his  most  attentive 
listeners.  As  he  prophesied  that  he  would  do,  he  accom- 
plished the  task  of  planting  the  flag  of  Freethought  on 
the  floor  of  St.  Stephens.  During  his  far  too  brief  services 
in  Parliament,  which  were  cut  short  by  his  death,  he  se- 
cured the  passing  of  the  Affirmation  bill — a  measure  that, 
enabled  a  person  to  give  evidence  on  all  occasions  without 
calling  for  the  help  of  any  God.  "  Swear  not  at  all "  is 
an  injunction  now  in  harmony  with  English  law,  and,  to  the 
honor  of  Freethought  be  it  said,  it  was  Mr.  Bradlaugh 
who  made  this  possible. 

After  many  severe  battles  on  behalf  of  Freethought, 
and  after  numerous  public  discussions,  both  with  laymen 
and  clergymen,  Mr.  Bradlaugh  became  the  leader  of  the 
Secular  party  in  England.  He  established  the  National 
Secular  Society  of  which  he  was  president  until  a  short 
time  prior  to  his  death  in  1891.  His  view  of  Secularism 
differed  somewhat  from  that  held  by  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 
Mr,  Bradlaugh  considered  that  Secularism  really  meant 
Atheism,  and  he  thought  that  the  principal  duty  of  a 
Secularist  was  to  seek  to  destroy  the  orthodox  faith,  and 
to  promote  social  and  political  reforms.  He  was  a  bold 
and  an  uncompromising  Atheist,  and  he  found  his  Athe- 
ism strictly  compatible  with  the  highest  practice  of  mo- 
rality, and  in  strict  accordance  with  human  reason.  The 
belief  in  this  philosophy  enabled  him  to  live  a  noble  and 
useful  life,  and  to  die  a  calm  and  peaceful  death.  For 
thirty  years  thf  "National  Reformer"  was  devoted  to  the 
exposition  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh's  views,  and  to  the  recording 


HERMAN   WETTSTl'nX  (823). 


MR.  WATTS.  GOl 

of  his  public  services.  It  was  familiarly  spoken  of  as 
"  Bradlaugli's  paper,"  and  its  recent  demise  sufficiently 
attests  the  accuracy  of  this  description.  Thousands  read 
the  paper  in  consequence  of  the  interest  they  took  in  the 
career  of  its  then  editor,  which  interest,  of  course,  ceased 
when  he  passed  away.  The  death  of  a  man  who  had  in 
the  public  mind  united  Bradlaugh  with  Freethought,  as 
previously  Holyoake  had  been  associated  with  Secularism, 
must  indeed  have  been  a  blow  to  our  English  friends. 
Fortunately,  others  have  been  found  to  continue  the  work 
that  for  years  was  so  efficiently  done  by  the  late  great 
English  leader.  And  we  shall  see  presently  that  his  suc- 
cessors have  not  labored  in  vain. 

Mr.  Charles  C.  Cattell  was  once  a  prominent  worker  in 
the  ranks  of  English  Freethought.  In  his  youth  he  be- 
longed to  the  Church  of  England,  but  he  left  the  Chris- 
tian fold,  and  studied  science  and  logic  at  the  leading 
institution  in  Birmingham.  He  has  published  many  books 
on  Freethought  subjects,  and  for  forty  years  he  was  a 
contributor  to  all  the  English  Secular  journals.  He  is  a 
master  of  the  philosoph}'  of  Secularism,  which  he  regards 
as  Atheistic  but  not  Atheism.  He  has  always  been  a  great 
admirer  both  of  Mr.  Holyoake  and  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh, 
whose  friendship  he  highl}-  valued.  Friends  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic  will  remember  Mr.  Cattell  better  as 
"  Christopher  Charles."  under  which  nom  de  plume  he  wrote 
for  many  years.  For  some  time  he  has  been  afflicted  with 
almost  complete  deafness,  but  we  see  that  he  still  occa- 
sionally writes  for  the  "  Freethinker  "  and  other  English 
papers. 

The  Secularist  of  longest  standing,  both  as  a  lecturer 
and  as  a  writer,  in  England  at  the  present  time,  is  our 
friend  Charles  Watts,  who  is  well  known  on  this  continent. 
For  many- years  he  worked  with  us,  but  on  the  death  of 
Mr.  Bradlaugh  he  was  induced  to  return  to  his  native 
country   and  to  join  Mr.  G.  W.  Foote  in   conducting  the 


602  FOUR   HtJNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

movement  there.  Mr.  Watts  is  regarded  by  bis  associates 
as  one  of  the  ablest  debaters  now  in  the  field.  Certainly 
while  he  was  in  America  and  Canada  he  won  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  our  foremost  controversialist.  Perhaps  no 
man  could  receive  higher  praise  than  the  following  from 
Kobert  G.  Ingersoll  who,  in  "  The  Truth  Seeker  "  of  Sept. 
5,  1885,  said : 

"  Mr.  Watts  is  an  extremely  logical  man,  with  a  direct 
and  straightforward  manner  and  mind.  He  has  paid 
great  attention  to  what  is  called  'Secularism.'  He 
thoroughly  understands  organization,  and  he  is  un- 
doubtedly one  of  the  strongest  debaters  in  the  field.  He 
has  had  great  experience.  He  has  demolished  more 
divines  than  any  man  of  my  acquaintance.  I  have  read 
several  of  his  debates.  In  discussion  he  is  quiet,  perti- 
nent, logical,  and,  above  all,  good-natured.  There  is  not 
in  all  he  says  a  touch  of  malice.  Last  winter,  wherever  I 
went,  I  heard  the  most  favorable  accounts  of  Mr.  Watts. 
All  who  heard  him  were  delighted."  Mr.  Watts  describes 
himself  as  a  disciple  of  G.  J.  Holyoake,  although  it  is 
evident  that  he  was  much  impressed  with  Mr.  Bradlaugh's 
mode  of  advocacy.  He  is  a  clear  and  logical  expounder 
of  Secularism,  which  he  regards  as  the  "  one  thing  need- 
ful," either  for  this  or  for  any  other  life.  In  speaking  of 
him,  Mr.  Holyoake  says  : 

"  Mr.  Watts,  whom  I  have  known  for  many  years,  is  a 
most  able  and  judicious  lecturer  and  debater.  His  state- 
ment of  Secular  principles  and  policy  is  the  best  I  have 
ever  seen." 

He  was  for  years  assistant  editor  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh's 
"  National  Reformer,"  and  secretary  and  special  lecturer 
of  the  National  Secular  Society.  He  wrote  the  official 
reply  to  the  "  Christian  Evidence  Society,"  which  was  in- 
dorsed by  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  who  said  of  the  work :  "  In 
these  essays,  Mr.  Charles  Watts,  as  the  official  representa- 
tive of  the  National  Secular  Society,  performs  with  his 


SECULARISM.  003 

pen  the  same  service  that  he  has  with  his  speech  rendered 
so  ablj  in  many  parts  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales. 
The  subjects  are  dealt  with  by  Mr.  Watts  in  a  spirit  which 
we  believe  will  command  the  respect  even  of  his  Christian 
adversaries." 

He  was  also  proprietor  and  editor  of  "  The  Secular 
Review "  in  England,  and  subsequently  he  owned  and 
edited  "  Secular  Thought"  in  Canada.  At  present  he  is 
a  regular  contributor  to  Mr.  Foote's  paper,  the  "  Free- 
thinker," and  also  to  "  The  Truth  Seeker."  In  politics 
Mr.  Watts  is  a  thorough-going  Kadical  and  a  persistent 
advocate  of  the  rights  and  equality  of  woman.  He  has  a 
large  heart,  a  genial  disposition,  and  always  takes  great 
interest  in  whatever  he  thinks  is  calculated  to  benefit  the 
human  race. 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Bradlaugh  ceased  to  be  president  of 
the  National  Secular  Society,  it  became  less  Atheistical 
and  less  political,  and  now  the  society  is  conducted  on 
purely  Secularistic  principles,  and  each  member  is  allowed 
to  form  his  or  her  own  opinion  upon  all  outside  questions. 
Still,  we  are  informed  by  one  who  is  in  a  position  to  know, 
that  for  the  most  part  the  members  of  the  society  are  by 
conviction  both  Atheists  and  Radicals,  although  a  few  are 
of  a  more  conservative  turn  of  mind,  and  prefer  the  term 
Agnostic.  This,  however,  does  not  affect  the  existence  of 
a  general  agreement  upon  the  principles  and  objects  of 
the  association,  which  are  as  follows :  "  Secularism 
teaches  that  conduct  should  be  based  on  reason  and 
knowledge.  It  knows  nothing  of  divine  guidance  or  in- 
terference ;  it  excludes  supernatural  hopes  and  fears  ;  it 
regards  happiness  as  man's  proper  aim,  and  utility  as  his 
moral  guide. 

"  Secularism  affirms  that  progress  is  only  possible 
through  Liberty,  which  is  at  once  a  right  and  a  duty  ;  and 
therefore  seeks  to  remove  every  barrier  to  the  fullest  equal 
freedom  of  thought,  action,  and  speech. 


604  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

"  Secularism  declares  that  theology  is  condemned  by 
reason  as  superstitious  and  by  experience  as  mischievous, 
and  assails  it  as  the  historic  enemy  of  progress. 

"  Secularism  accordingly  seeks  to  dispel  superstition  ; 
to  spread  education ;  to  disestablish  religion  ;  to  rational- 
ize morality  ;  to  promote  peace ;  to  dignify  labor ;  to  ex- 
tend material  well-being  ;  and  to  realize  the  self-govern- 
ment of  the  people." 

The  practical  objects  of  the  society  as  recently  drawn 
up  by  its  executive,  are  as  follows  :  "  The  legitimation  of 
bequests  to  Secular  or  other  Freethought  Societies,  for  the 
maintenance  and  propagation  of  heterodox  opinions  on 
matters  of  religion,  on  the  same  conditions  as  apply  to 
Christian  or  Theistic  churches  and  organizations. 

'•  The  abolition  of  the  Blasphemy  laws,  in  order  that 
religion  may  be  canvassed  as  freely  as  other  subjects, 
without  fear  of  fine  or  imprisonment. 

"  The  disestablishment  and  disendowment  of  the 
state  churches  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales. 

"  The  abolition  of  all  religious  tests  and  disabilities 
in  schools,  colleges,  municipalities,  parliament,  the  execu- 
tive, and  the  judicature. 

"  The  abolition  of  all  religious  teaching  and  Bible 
reading  in  schools,  or  other  educational  establishments, 
supported  by  the  state. 

"  Tlie  opening  of  all  endowed  educational  institutions 
to  the  children  and  youth  of  all  classes  alike. 

"The  abrogation  of  all  laws  interfering  with  the  free 
use  of  Sunday  for  purposes  of  culture  and  recreation ; 
and  the  Sunday  opening  of  state  and  municipal  Museums, 
Libraries,  and  Art  Galleries. 

"A  reform  of  the  marriage  laws,  especially  to  secure 
equal  justice  for  husband  and  wife,  and  a  reasonable  lib- 
ertv  and   facility  of  divorce. 

"The    equalization    of    the    legal   status   of    men    and 


MR.  FOOTE.  6Q5 

women,  so  that  all  rights  may  be  independent  of  sexual 
distinctions. 

"  The  protection  of  children  from  all  forms  of  violence, 
and  from  the  greed  of  those  who  would  make  a  profit  out 
of  their  premature  labor. 

"  The  abolition  of  all  hereditary  distinctions  and  priv- 
ileges, as  fostering  a  spirit  antagonistic  to  justice  and 
human  brotherhood. 

"  The  improvement  by  all  just  and  wise  means  of  the 
conditions  of  daily  life  for  the  masses  of  the  people, 
especially  in  towns  and  cities,  where  insanitary  and  in- 
commodious dwellings,  and  the  want  of  open  spaces,  cause 
physical  weakness  and  disease,  and  the  deterioration  of 
family  life. 

"  The  promotion  of  the  right  and  duty  of  labor  to 
organize  itself  for  its  moral  and  economical  advancement, 
and  of  its  claim  to  legal  protection  in  such  combinations. 

"  The  substitution  of  the  idea  of  reform  for  that  of 
punishment  in  the  treatment  of  criminals,  so  that  jails 
may  no  longer  be  places  of  brutalization,  or  even  of  mere 
detentiini,  but  places  of  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral 
elevation  for  those  who  are  afflicted  with  anti-social  ten- 
tencies. 

"  The  promotion  of  peace  between  nations,  and  the 
substitution  of  arbitration  for  war  in  the  settlement  of 
international  disputes." 

It  be  will  here  seen  that,  while  politics  is  avoided,  the 
consideration  of  social  questions  that  affect  the  Secular 
welfare  of  the  community  is  deemed  a  duty  to  be  per- 
formed by  members  of  the  organization. 

Tlie  president  of  the  society  is  Mr.  George  William 
Foote,  who  was  appointed  to  the  position  by  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh,  when  that  gentlemen  found  its  necessary  to  give 
Tip  some  of  his  public  duties.  That  the  selection  of  Mr. 
Foote  was  acceptable  to  the  Freethinkers  of  England  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  he  has  been  elected  at  every 


(506  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

annual  Secular  conference  which  has  since  been  held^ 
Judging  from  the  writings  and  from  the  opinion  Mr. 
Watts  has  publicly  expressed  of  Mr.  Foote,  we  regard  him 
as  being  "  the  right  man  in  the  right  place,"  as  president 
of  the  National  Secular  Society,  for  he  is  undoubtedly  one 
of  the  best  equipped  men  in  the  Freethought  ranks.  As 
a  writer,  a  lecturer,  and  a  debater,  he  has  but  few  equals. 
Being  a  young  man,  having  seen  only  forty-three  years, 
and  possessing  a  strong  constitution,  he  is  able  to  per- 
form the  work  that  in  his  office  as  president  devolves  upon 
him.  The  progress  of  the  English  Secular  Society  appears 
to  be  satisfactory.  Its  membership  has  largely  increased 
within  the  last  few  years,  and  it  has  branches  in  all  the 
principal  towns  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  "Wales. 
It  has  also  its  special  lecturers ;  among  them  we  see  the 
name  of  Arthur  B.  Moss,  who  writes  occasionally  for 
"The  Truth  Seeker."  Mr.  Foote  is  editor  of  the  "Free- 
thinker," the  most  successful  Freethought  paper  ever 
published  in  England,  and  he  has  for  sub-editor  the  able 
and  well-read  author  of  the  "Biographical  Dictionary  of 
Freethinkers,"  Mr.  J.  M.  Wheeler.  Mr.  Foote  joined  the 
Freethought  movement  in  1868,  and  was  for  years  a 
contributor  to  the  "Secular  Chronicle  "and  the  "National 
Beformer."  He  also  wrote  the  "  Heroes  and  Martyrs  of 
Freethought"  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Watts,  and  with 
Mr.  Holyoake  he  started  a  journal  called  the  'Secularist." 
Subsequently  Mr.  Foote  edited  a  magazine  entitle  "  Prog- 
ress." In  1882  the  public  prosecutor  commenced  legal 
proceedings  against  him  for  blasphemy,  and  thus  he 
became  enrolled  in  the  noble  army  of  martyrs.  Although 
Mr.  Foote  defended  himself  with  marked  ability,  he  was 
found  guilty  and  sentenced  by  a  Roman  (Catholic  judge  to 
one  year's  imprisonment.  On  leaving  the  dock  Mr.  Foote 
said :  "  Thank  you,  my  lord  ;  your  sentence  is  worthy  of 
your  creed."  All  this  occurred  in  a  country  that  boasts- 
of  its  freedom.     Let  us  hope  that  this  last  prosecution  for 


E.  A.  STEVENS  (p.  807). 


SECULARISM.  607 

"  blasphemy  "  will  conclude  in  England  the  long  list  of 
struggles  against  legal  ortl'odox  persecution.  We  shall  be 
much  mistaken  if  in  the  near  future  Mr.  Foote  does  not 
make  for  himself  a  name  deserving  to  be  placeil  second 
only  to  that  of  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Bradlaugh. 

Among  the  names  of  the  most  vigorous  Freethought 
writers  in  England  stands  that  of  William  Stewart  Ross, 
better  known,  perhaps,  by  his  pen  name  of  "'  Saladin." 
He  is  the  editor  of  "  The  Agnostic  Journal,"  which  is  ably 
conducted  and  in  which  appear  excellent  articles  on  a 
variety  of  subjects.  Mr.  Ross  is  also  a  brilliant  poet  and 
a  prolific  writer  upon  the  philosophical  questions  of  the 
day.  According  to  his  own  avowal  he  is  not  a  Secularist, 
and  he  objects  to  be  termed  an  Atheist.  Probably  the 
name  Agnostic  will  somewhat  express  his  views,  although 
he  holds  some  opinions  as  to  Agnosticism  that  are  not 
very  clear  to  us.  He  is  not  identified  with  the  organized 
Freethinkers  of  England,  as  he  prefers  the  role  of  a  ''  free 
lance."  He  is  not  a  public  speaker,  but  he  amply  makes 
up  for  his  absence  from  the  platform  by  the  use  of  his 
pen.  Orthodox  Christianity  and  priestcraft,  in  all  their 
forms,  have  a  no  more  determined  opponent  than  Mr. 
Ross.  He  was  born  in  Scotland  in  1844.  We  may,  there- 
fore, hope  that  he  still  has  many  years  before  him  in 
which  to  continue  his  splendid  aid  in  the  struggle  for 
mental  freedom. 

We  are  pleased  to  see  that  some  valuable  work  in  the 
Freethought  movement  in  England  is  being  done  by  the 
eldest  son  of  Charles  Watts.  Mr.  Charles  Albert  Watts 
is  associated  principally  with  the  Agnostic  wing  of  the 
Freetl] ought  army,  and  he  carries  on  a  printing  and  pub- 
lishing business  devoted  to  the  Agnostic  cause.  He  is 
editor  of  "  Watts's  Literary  Guide"  and  also  of  the  "Ag- 
nostic Annual,"  which  is  contributed  to  by  such  eminent 
writers  as  Huxley,  Laing,  Leslie  Stephen,  Gerald  Massey, 
Dr.  Bithell,  and  Mrs.  Lvnn  Linton. 


608  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT.  ' 

Next  to  Darwin,  Huxley,  and  Tyndall,  two  of  the  ablest 
scientists  who  have  aided  English  Freethought  during  the 
present  century,  were  W.  K.  Clifford,  and  K.  A.  Proctor. 
Professor  Clifford  distinguished  himself  as  a  profound 
student  at  King's  College,  London,  and  at  Cambridge 
University  before  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty.  He  was 
a  professor  of  mathematics  at  the  London  University  at 
twenty-six,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  he  was  made  an 
P.  R.  S.  He  died  in  his  thirty-fourth  year.  From  his 
published  "Essays"  and  "Lectures"  we  learn  that  he 
regarded  Christianity  as  the  enemy  of  civilization.  He 
was  a  pronounced  Atheist  and  Materialist,  although  he 
held  the  highest  position  among  the  scientists  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

R.  A.  Proctor  was  another  scientist  who  rendered  val- 
uable service  to  the  cause  of  Freethought.  He  was  born 
in  London  in  1837,  and  died  in  his  fiftieth  year  while  on  a 
visit  to  New  York.  His  works  on  astronomy  are  marvels 
of  accuracy  and  of  profound  research.  His  capacity  and 
industry  may  be  estimated  by  the  fact  that  he  published 
a  number  of  works,  the  great  object  of  which  was  to 
popularize  science.  Although  once  a  Roman  Catholic,  he 
gave  up  all  belief  in  that  faith,  because  he  could  not 
reconcile  it  with  the  facts  of  science.  In  his  magazine, 
called  "Knowledge,"  he  published  several  articles  con- 
necting Christianity  with  solar  myths,  and  he  fairly  dis- 
posed of  the  alleged  Star  of  Bethlehem.  He  entirely 
rejected  the  miraculous  elements  found  in  the  gos- 
pels, and  his  very  last  contribution  to  literature,  just 
before  his  death,  was  a  defense  of  Colonel  Ingersoll  in  reply 
to  Mr.  Gladstone.  Freethought  in  England  can  certainly 
claim  on  its  side  some  of  the  greatest  intellects  of  the  age. 
There  is  indeed  some  hope  for  the  triumph  of  a  cause  in 
a  nation  whose  master  minds  render  it  active  support. 

No  sketch  of  Freethought  in  England  would  be  com- 
plete that  did    not  record  the  important  part  that  women 


SECULARISM.  609 

have  played  in  advancing  its  principles  during  the  present 
century.  All  successful  movements  have  been  largely 
indebted  to  the  service  of  woman.  She  creates  an  interest 
and  imparts  a  vitality  to  any  cause  to  which  she  devotes 
her  energies.  This  has  been  the  case  with  the  Free- 
thought  movement  in  England.  Harriet  Martineau,  who 
died  in  1876  in  her  seventy-third  3'ear,  and  who  was  a 
great  "s^lriter  on  political  economy,  started  life  as  a 
Unitarian,  and  in  1851  she  wrote  her  celebrated  letter  on 
"  Man's  Nature  and  Development,"  addressed  to  Mr.  H. 
O.  Atkinson,  who  was  a  profound  thinker  and  a  ready 
writer.  He  was  an  avowed  Atheist,  and  when  people 
talked  about  not  knowing  the  reality  behind  phenomena 
he  put  this  question  to  them  :  "  What  is  there  to  know?  " 
Harriet  Martineau  now  avowed  sentiments  far  in  advance 
of  Unitarianism,  and  became  a  Freethinker. 

Emma  Martin  was  another  Freethought  heroine.  In 
the  morning  of  her  life  she  wrote  in  defense  of  Christian- 
ity, but  the  prosecution  of  Charles  Southwell  in  her 
native  city,  Bristol,  induced  her  to  examine  her  faith 
more  closely,  with  the  result  th;it  she  left  the  Baptist 
church  and  became  an  eloquent  and  popular  lecturer  on 
the  side  of  Freethought.  Her  knowledge  of  physiological 
subjects  was  extensive,  and  she  was  a  diligent  student  of 
medicine.  She  was  born  in  1812  and  died  in  1851  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-nine.  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake  delivered  an 
address  over  her  grave. 

One  of  the  greatest  writers  among  the  Freethought 
women  of  the  past  generation  was  Mary  Ann  Evans, 
known  by  the  name  of  George  Eliot.  She  Avas  born  in 
1819  in  Warwickshire  and  belonged  to  a  pious  family  of 
dissenters.  But  the  study  of  the  scientific  method  of 
Charles  Lyell  in  geology  led  her  to  renounce  Christianity, 
and  she  became  one  of  the  most  brilliant  Freethought 
writers  of  modern  times.  She  was  evidently  a  great 
reader,   for  a  minister  of  the  gospel   said  that  she   had 


610  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FRKKTHOUOHT. 

read  every  book  which  he  had  recommended  her  in  sup- 
port of  the  Christian  faith,  and  he  thought  that  "  the 
devil  must  have  been  at  her  elbow  suggesting  doubts." 
She  wrote  for  the  "Westminster  Review,"  and  while 
residing  in  the  family  of  its  editor,  Dr.  Chapman,  Her- 
bert Spencer  introduced  her  to  G.  H.  Lewes,  the  eminent 
Freethinker  and  author  of  "  The  History  of  Philosophy," 
"  Problems  of  Life  and  Mind,"  and  of  other  great  works 
which  have  addetl  a  luster  to  English  literature. 

Until  within  the  last  few  years  Mrs.  Harriet  Law  was 
a  prominent  Freethought  advocate  in  England.  She 
claimed  no  scholarship,  but  she  was  intellectually  a 
"rough  diamond."  Her  lectures  were  fine  specimens  of 
sound  reasoning,  and  she  was  mistress  of  the  art  of  de- 
bate, as  many  of  her  opponents  knew  to  their  cost.  Her 
memory  was  marvelous,  and  her  power  of  repartee  im- 
mense. For  some  time  she  edited  the  "Secular  Cliron- 
icle,"  but  circumstances  of  a  domestic  nature  caused  her 
to  retire  some  years  ago  altogether  from  public  life.  At 
the  time  of  writing  we  are  glad  to  hear  that  she  is  still 
living.  She  resides  in  London,  and  doubtless  enjoys  the 
recollection  of  the  useful  life  she  spent  in  the  movement 
that  she  still  loves. 

Ill  1874  Mrs.  Annie  Besaut  entered  the  Freethought 
movement  as  a  co-worker  with  Mr.  Bradlaugli.  She  is  a 
lady  of  bright  genius,  is  well  educated,  graceful  in  her 
manner,  and  eloquent  in  her  speech.  In  her  early  Free- 
thought  days  she  was  a  vehement  advocate  of  Atheism 
and  Materialism,  but  she  is  now  deeply  engaged  in  the 
attempt  to  reverse  the  current  of  that  opinion.  While  we 
regret  that  Mrs.  Besant  has  returned  to  the  mystic  path 
of  faith,  we  admire  and  appreciate  her  noble  work  for 
Freethought.  These  are  some  of  the  stars  that  have 
shone  brightly  in  the  Freethought  hemisphere  of  England. 
But  they  do  not  comprise  the  entire  cluster  of  womanly 
brilliancy  that  has  illuminated  the  English  movement. 


PREETHOUGHT  IN  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  611 

It  will  thus  be  seen  from  our  brief  sketch  of  the  Free- 
thought  movement  in  England  that  Secular  progress  there 
is  an  established  fact.  There,  as  here,  however,  wealth 
and  fashion  are  still  on  the  conservative  side.  Much  more 
Liberal  work  will  have  to  be  done  in  England  ere  the 
labors  of  the  dauntless  Ereethought  pioneers  are  crowned 
with  that  complete  success  wliich  their  merits  deserve. 
The  laws  under  which  the  Freethinkers  of  the  past  were 
imprisoned  are  still  on  the  statute  book  of  England,  and 
it  is  still  illegal  to  bequeath  property  for  purely  Secular 
purposes.  Therefore,  important  work  remains  to  be  done 
by  English  Freethinkers,  and  we  are  pleased  to  note  that 
they  are  active  in  endeavoring  to  remove  impediments 
that  yet  remain  to  that  individual  freedom  which  is  the 
birthright  of  all.  A  bill  is  now  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons for  the  purpose  of  securing  liberty  of  bequest  to 
Freethought  associations.  When  this  bill  becomes  law, 
which  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  it  will,  Freethinkers 
will  not  be  robbed,  as  they  have  been,  of  money  left  them 
for  Secular  purposes.  Efforts  are  also  being  made  to  ob- 
tain a  repeal  of  the  Blasphemy  L  iws,  which  are  a  dis- 
grace to  civilization.  The  leaders  of  the  movement  in 
England  are,  we  think,  alive  to  the  magnitude  and  signifi- 
cance of  the  work  in  which  they  are  engaged.  Its  object 
is  nothing  less  than  the  emancipation  of  the  human  race 
from  the  shackles  of  theolog}-  and  the  elevation  of  the 
thoughts  and  hopes  of  mankind. 

With  our  fraternity  in  England  we,  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  shake  hands  across  the  sea.  and  to  them  we  say, 
with  heartiest  good  feeling,  All  Hail ! 

Freethought  in  Continental  Europe. 

The  work  of  Freethought  in  Europe,  England  excepted, 
is  different  from  that  in  the  United  States.  While  here, 
among  the  English-speaking  Freethinkers,  the  propaga- 
tion of  Freethought  is  the  sole  issue,  and  social  and  eco- 


612  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

nomic  questions,  woman's  suffrage  excepted,  are  not  dis- 
cussed by  our  lecturers  on  the  platform,  and  in  the 
various  Freetliouglit  publications  occupy  but  a  secondary 
position,  in  Europe  Freetliouglit  is  one  of  the  several 
issues  which  claim  the  attention  of  the  greater  bod}^  of 
Freethinkers,  There  is  reason  for  this  ;  the  Freethinker 
in  the  United  States  enjoys  considerable  political  liberty. 
Political  liberty,  as  enjoyed  here,  is,  to  our  European 
brother,  those  in  France  and  Switzerland  excepted,  but  a 
dream  of  the  future.  Furthermore,  to  gain  mental  lib- 
ert}^  it  is  necessary  for  the  European  to  gain  political 
emancipation,  that  is,  to  abolish  the  monarchial  institu- 
tion, to  establish  a  republican  government,  to  destroy 
union  of  church  and  state,  and  make  all  religious  beliefs 
and  unbeliefs  equal  before  the  law. 

In  Europe  the  terms  Socialist,  Republican,  and  Free- 
thinker are,  by  the  government  papers  and  orators,  em- 
ployed to  denote  any  person  who  expresses  radical 
political  and  religious  views,  and  hence  it  has  come  to 
pass  that  the  public  at  large  cannot  conceive  of  a  Repub- 
lican or  Socialist  who  is  not  at  the  same  time  a  Free- 
thinker, and  vice  versa.  And  this  popular  belief  has,  in 
its  turn,  compelled  Socialists  and  Republicans  to  assume 
an  anti-Christian  attitude  toward  the  church,  to  proclaim 
themselves  Freethinkers  and  work  as  such. 

While  the  Freemasons  of  the  United  States,  Great 
Britain,  and  Teutonic  Europe,  by  virtue  of  their  "  holy  " 
ceremonies,  laws,  and  b3'-laws,  are  allies  of  the  church, 
the  Freemasons  as  such  in  Latin  Europe,  Central  and 
Soutli  America,  are  Freethinkers,  belonging  to  the  uni- 
versal French-Freemasonry,  the  most  important  and  cen- 
tral body  of  which  is  Le  Grand  Orient  of  France.  A 
noteworthy  point  in  the  conduct  of  Freethinkers  on  the 
European  continent  is  their  cultivation  of  the  social  spirit. 
Festivals,  excursions,  and  celebrations  are  continually  held 
"with  as  much  publicity  as  possible,  thus  impressing  upon 


WM.  F.    FREEMAN  (p.  734), 


INTERNATIONAL  FREETHOUGHT  FEDERATION.  613 

the  Christian  the  fact  that  the  Freethinkers  are  active  and 
hopeful.  This  sociability  has  another  peculiarity.  It 
serves  to  draw  the  children  and  young  people  from  the 
church,  which  many  attend  because  of  Sunday-school 
concerts,  picnics,  Christmas  trees,  etc. 

The  International  Freethought  Federation. 

The  first  International  Freethought  Congress  was  held 
at  Naples  in  1860.  It  was  called  by  Count  Guiseppe 
Eiicciardi  in  opposition  to  the  Ecumenical  Council  at  Kome. 
Since  then  various  congresses  have  been  held  in  the 
principal  cities  of  western  and  southern  Europe. 

Of  special  interest  are  the  following  congresses  : 

August  20,  1880,  the  congress  met  at  Brussels,  Bel- 
gium, and  it  was  here  resolved  to  form  an  International 
Freethought  Federation,  which  at  least  every  second  year 
should  call  a  congress. 

September  10,  1887,  the  congress  met  at  London,  and 
its  proceedings  are  noteworthy  from  the  fact  that  it  was 
here  resolved,  after  a  heated  debate,  by  a  considerable 
majority,  that  Freethought  cannot  be  indifferent  to  the 
question  of  social  amelioration. 

September  15,  1889,  the  congress  was  convened  at 
Paris.  A  public  reception  was  given  to  the  members  of 
this  congress  in  Hotel  de  Ville  by  the  Paris  municipal 
council,  and  it  was  at  this  congress  that  the  committee 
on  moral  laws  was  officially  recognized  by  the  Inter- 
national Freethought  Federation. 

October  12,  1893,  tiie  International  Freethought  Con- 
gress was  opened  at  Madrid,  Spain.  It  was  resolved  to 
continue  sessions  until  October  19,  but  the  meetings  were 
broken  up  by  order  of  the  governor  of  Madrid  on  October 
14.  This  proceeding  is  to  be  deplored,  for  the  congress 
promised  to  surpass  those  held  in  Brussels,  London, 
Paris,  Anvers,  and  Amsterdam. 

The     International    Freethought    Federation    is    gov- 


614  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

erned  by  a  general  council,  at  the  head  of  which  stands  a 
directory  committee.  Members  of  these  bodies  are  at 
present  Napoleon  Navez,  engineer,  secretary,  correspon- 
dent for  Italy,  323  Rue  de  la  Province  Nord,  Anvers  ; 
Emile  Gorissen,  architect,  secretary,  correspondent  for 
Portugal,  323  Rue  de  Progres,  Brusssels ;  Leon  Furue- 
mont,  lawyer,  treasurer,  correspondent  for  Spain,  61  Rue 
de  la  Putterie,  Brussels.  These  three  constitute  the 
directory  committee.  The  other  members  of  the  general 
council  are  :  Adolphe  Deluc,  professor  of  sciences,  corre- 
spondent for  France,  78  Rue  de  la  Croix,  Ixelles ;  Jean 
Baptiste  Boichot,  professor  of  law,  ex-representative  for 
the  people,  correspondent  for  France,  38  Rue  Souve- 
raine,  Ixelles ;  Jules  Des  Essarts,  editor  of  "  Journal  de 
Charleroi,"  correspondent  for  Belgium,  Charleroi ;  Jean 
Dons,  correspondent  for  Belgium,  42  Rue  du  Fort  St. 
Gilles  ;  G.  W.  Foote,  president  National  Secular  Society, 
correspondent  for  Great  Britain ;  Gustave  Nelson,  M.  D., 
correspondent  for  United  States  and  Canada,  Minden 
City,  Michigan  ;  Hector  Denis,  professor  and  dean,  Uni- 
versity of  Brussels,  correspondent  for  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria, 42  Rue  de  la  Croix,  Ixelles ;  Alexis  Sluys,  principal 
normal  school  of  Brussels,  correspondent  for  Holland, 
Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  98  Boulevard  du  Hainaut, 
Brussels  ;  Louis  Lambarelle,  man  of  letters,  correspondent 
for  Switzerland,  15  Rue  du  Conseil,  Uccle  ;  Joseph  Nyns- 
Lagye,  professor,  correspondent  for  Greece,  58  Rue  du 
Vautour,  Brussels. 

It  is  the  duty  of  each  society  belonging  to  the  inter- 
national Freethought  Federation  to  forward  once  a  year  a 
detailed  report  of  its  strength,  its  doings,  and  a  copy  of 
each  of  its  publications.  To  defray  the  administrative 
expenses  of  the  Federation  each  society  is  requested  to 
pay  the  sum  of  ten  centimes  a  year  for  each  member.  The 
possible  surplus  of  funds  is  used  to  propagate  the  cause, 
and   render   assistance  to  such  members  as  are  victims  of 


INTERNATIONAL  FREETHOUGHT  FEDERATION.  615 

persecution.  The  failure  of  a  society  to  comply  with  the 
above  law  prevents  it  from  taking  part  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  Federation.  Each  national  Federation  or  affiliated 
society  has  sole  jurisdiction  over  matters  pertaining  to  its 
policy  and  government.  Each  society  numbering  over  one 
hundred  members  elects  a  correspondent  who  once  a  year 
reports  the  status  of  the  society  to  the  general  council. 
All  members  of  the  Federation  are  bound  morally  to  aid 
and  protect  each  other. 

The  International  Freethought  Federation  consists  at 
present  of  the  Freethought  Federations  of  the  United 
States,  France,  Belgium,  Spain,  Holland,  Sweden,  National 
Secular  Society  of  England,  of  the  French  Masonic  order 
Le  Grand  Orient  of  France,  four  hundred  lodges ;  Spain, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  lodges ;  Portugal,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  lodges ;  Mexico,  fifty  lodges ;  Venezuela, 
forty  lodges ;  and  ten  lodges  or  less  of  same  order 
in  following  countries :  Uruguay,  Peru,  Italy,  Guade- 
loupe, St.  Domingo,  Colombia,  Argentine,  La  Grande 
Diete  symbolique  ecassaise,  a  I'or  .'.  of  Mexico;  of  indi- 
vidual Freethought  societies  of  the  United  States,  Argen- 
tine republic,  republic  of  Colombia,  republic  of  St. 
Domingo,  France,  Italy,  Spain,  Switzerland,  Portugal, 
Roumania,  San  Salvador,  Uruguay,  and  Venezuela. 

Its  individual  adherents  comprise  the  most  eminent 
scientists,  philosophers,  and  writers  of  all  European  and 
American  countries,  Russia,  Greece,  and  Turkey  excepted. 
Its  members  are  divided  into  two  classes — active  and 
honorary.  The  names  of  the  active  members  will  be 
found  in  the  history  of  Freethought  in  each  country. 
Among  the  honorary  members  the  following  have  acquired 
international  reputation  as  specialists  in  their  respective 
avocations  and  champions  of  Freethought  and  progress. 

England  is  represented  by  Dr.  Henry  Maudsley,  phys- 
iologist and  scientific  writer,  born  in  1835  ;  Prof.  Thomas 
Huxley,    naturalist,   born    1825 ;   Herbert    Spencer,  phi- 


616  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUaHT. 

losopher,  born  1820 ;  France :  Prof.  Tbeodule  Ribot, 
philosopher,  boru  1839 ;  Switzerhand,  Prof.  Karl  Yogt, 
naturalist,  physiologist,  born  1817  ;  Italy,  Professor  Som- 
broso,  physiologist,  and  Giosue  Carducci,  Italian  poet, 
born  1836 ;  Germany,  Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel,  naturalist, 
born  1831;  Denmark,  Dr.  George  Brandes,  literary'  critic, 
born  1812 ;  United  States,  Col.  E.  G.  lugersoll,  born  1833. 
The  rauks  of  honorary  members  have  been  decreased 
during  the  last  few  years  partly  b}-  deaths  of  such  men  as 
Professor  Tyndall,  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  Professor  Moleshott, 
Prof.  Ernest  Renau  ;  partly  by  the  fact  that  several  hon- 
orary members  have  joined  the  Federation  and  thus 
become  active  members. 

The  Committee  on  Moral  Laws. 

(Le  Comite  d^ Etudes  3Iorales.) 

The  committee  on  moral  laws  was  formed  at  Paris 
during  the  year  1890,  as  a  result  of  the  wishes  expressed 
b^'  the  International  Freethought  Congress  of  1889.  The 
committee  is  international,  it  has  correspondents  in  all 
civilized  countries,  it  extends  a  welcome  to  all  men  of  prog- 
ress, and  to  such  mothers  as  desire  for  their  children  a 
rational  and  scientific  educatic^n.  The  committee  has,  b}' 
unanimous  vote,  been  accepted  as  an  integral  part  of  both 
the  French  and  Belgian  Freethought  Federations.  Its 
work  has  received  the  approval  of  the  International  Free- 
thought  Congresses  at  Paris,  1890,  and  Madrid,  1892,  and 
only  the  unavoidable  absence  of  Dr.  Gustave  Nelson  pre- 
vented its  being  represented  and  its  works  and  aims 
explained  at  the  Cljicago  Congress.  The  committee  has 
published  several  works  and  pamphlets,  the  contents  of 
which  are  the  result  of  the  co-labors  of  the  most  prom- 
inent Freethinkers,  scientists,  and  philosophers  of  the 
past  and  the  present,  readjusted,  condensed,  and  popular- 
ized by  a  specialh'  appointed  committee.  Among  the 
woiks   published    are  "  Principles  of  Secular  Morals   and 


THE  COMMITTEE  ON  MORAL  LAWS.  617 

Education."  It  is  a  work  which,  if  presented  in  English 
dress,  would  undoubtedly  have  a  great  sale  among  Free- 
thinkers. The  committee  has  at  present  under  considera- 
tion a  work  entitled,  "The  Astronomic  Origin  of  the 
World."  The  president  of  the  committee  is  Mr.  Jean 
Paul  Gee,  its  vice-presidents,  Messrs.  Georges  Martin  and 
Emile  Pasquier.  Among  the  active  and  corresponding 
members  are  several  members  of  the  anthropologic  society 
■of  Paris  ;  university  professors  from  universities  in  France, 
Belgium,  Holland,  Germany,  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Italy ; 
prominent  jurists,  literary  men,  and  artists,  besides  a  good 
sprinkling  of  ladies.  The  United  States  are  represented 
by  Mr.  Salter,  president  of  Societj'  for  Etiiical  Culture  in 
Chicago;  Paul  Cams,  Ph.D.,  editor  of  the  "Open  Court;" 
Mr.  George  Wilson,  bank  president,  Lexington,  Mo.;  and 
Gustave  Nelson,  M.D.,  Minden  City,  Mich. 

Mr.  Jean  Paul-Cee,  the  founder  and  president  of 
Oomite  d  'Etudes  Morales  (Committee  on  Moral  Laws),  was 
born  Aug.  27,  1839.  For  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years, 
from  his  eighteenth  to  his  forty-fifth  year,  he  followed  the 
vocation  of  officer  in  the  French  navy,  where  he  obtained 
a  high  rank.  He  has  traveled  over  the  greater  part  of  the 
world,  mingled  with  society  of  all  classes,  comparing  man- 
ners, institutions,  but  particularly  the  religion  of  all.  He 
has  been  m  Rome  during  the  pontificate  of  Pius  IX.,  and 
observed  the  splendor  of  Roman  Catholic  rites,  while 
in  Dahomey  he  witnessed  the  human  sacrifices.  He  has 
navigated  the  Mediterranean  sea,  the  Atlantic  ocean,  the 
waters  of  India  and  China  ;  everywhere,  when  on  shore 
investigating  the  religious  customs,  exercises,  vices,  and 
virtues,  if  any ;  taking  notes  and  making  comparisons  be- 
tween the  different  faiths,  between  the  present  and  the 
past. 

Having  established  himself  in  Paris,  he  entered  into 
relations  with  the  Freethinkers  of  that  city,  joining  as 
active  member  the  group  of  Fourth  Arondissement  (ward). 


618  POUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   PREETHOUrxHT. 

He  presented  his  views  uiid  objects  for  the  first  time  in  a 
definite  form  at  the  Universal  Freethouglit  Congress  at 
Paris,  1889,  by  whom  it  was  recommended.  The  result  of 
this  action  of  the  congress  appeared  in  two  brochures  : 
"Appel  aux  Libres  Penseurs  pour  la  foundation  d'un 
Comite  d'Etudes  Morales"  (Appeal  to  Freethinkers  for 
the  founding  of  a  Committee  on  Moral  Laws), and  'Avant- 
Projet  d'un  Code  des  Lais  Morales  fonde  sur  les  principes 
Democratiques  et  Socialistes  "  (Advance  Project  of  a  Code 
of  Moral  Laws  founded  upon  Democratic  and  Socialistic 
principles).  (The  term  Socialistic  conforms  nearer  to  our 
word  "  nationalistic,"  since  the  Frencli  Socialism,  as  held 
by  Mr.  J.  Paul  Cee,  is  nearer  Nationalism  than  the  Social- 
ism as  taught  by  Marx,  Liebknecht,  and  Bebel.)  The 
"  Committee  on  Moral  Laws  "  has  now  become  a  settled 
fact,  and  its  success  having  become  a  certainty,  the  writer  of 
this  short  biography  feels  himself  at  liberty  to  publish  it 
in  substance  as  it  was  given  to  him  in  a  private  letter  of 
August,  1890. 

Sweden. 

The  history  of  Freethought  in  Sweden  is  an  eventful 
one.  Leaving  out  entirely  the  prosecutions  by  the  state 
church  (the  Lutheran)  against  other  Christian  sects,  we 
find  that  the  reward  Sweden  gives  to  those  who  dare  to 
think  for  themselves  and  give  expression  to  their  honest 
opinions  is  worthy  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

In  1820  Gejer,  of  Upsala,  was  prosecuted  for  blas- 
phemy. In  1830  Palmer,  of  Liukoping,  was  prosecuted 
for  same  crime.  In  1811  the  publisher  of  Strauss's  "  Life 
of  Jesus  "  was  sentenced  to  heavy  fines.  In  1850  Braun, 
of  Stockholm,  was  prosecuted  for  a  poem  on  Rebecca. 
In  1887  Lennstrand  was  prohibited  from  lecturing  in  Up- 
sala. In  1888  Hjalmar  Branting  was  fined  three  hundred 
crowns  for  permitting  a  greeting  to  Sweden's  Freethinkers- 
to  be  published  in  his  paper — "  Socialdemocraten."     In. 


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MRS.   M.   I).   FREEMAN  (p.   734). 


SWEDEN.  619 

1888  Axel  Danielsen  was  sentenced  to  a  fine  of  five  hun- 
dred crowns  for  same  offense,  to  four  mouths'  imprison- 
ment for  blasphemy,  and  shortly  after  to  an  additional 
three  months'  imprisonment  for  an  article  on  the  "Origi- 
nator of  the  World."  H.  Branting  was  sentenced  to  three 
and  a  half  months'  imprisonment  for  republishing  this 
article  ;  C.  A.  Rydgreen  to  four  months'  imprisonment  for 
same  offense.  April  1,  1888,  the  Utilistiska  Samfund  was 
organized  in  Stockholm  with  a  membership  of  one  hun- 
dred ami  eight  individuals.  In  November,  1888,  Viktor 
E.  Lennstrand  was  sentenced  to  three  months'  imprison- 
ment for  denial  of  the  "  holy  evangelic  faith."  October, 
1889,  he  was  sentenced  to  three  months  for  blasphemy, 
and  in  December,  1889,  to  six  months  for  blasphemy.  In 
1890  Henrj'  Y.  Bergliell  to  three  months'  imprisonment, 
and  subsequent  enforced  exile,  for  blasphemy. 

In  spite  of  all  Freethought  has  made  great  progress. 
When  times  was  darkest  for  Freethought  in  Sweden,  men 
like  Mr.  Rudolf  Wall  (born  Jan.  18,  1826,  died  Aug. 
20,  1893),  who  was  editor  of  "  Dagens  Nyketer,"  as- 
sisted the  movement,  not  alone  through  the  medium  of 
his  paper,  but  likewise  with  money.  A  Swedish  lady, 
wdiose  pen  name,  "  Marie,"  is  well  known  to  all  readers 
of  "  Fritankaren,"  a  journalist  and  authoress  by  profes- 
sion, is  another  whose  name  ought  to  be  preserved  in  the 
annals  of  Freethought.  Still,  even  with  the  assistance  of 
persons  like  the  above,  it  is  a  question  whether  Free- 
thought  would  not  have  been  merely  a  meteor  in  the  dark 
skv  of  orthodoxy  had  not  Mr.  J.  M.  Wheeler,  of  the  Lon- 
don "  Freethinker,"  called  attention  to  the  struggle  of  our 
brethren.  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  and  later  the  Boston 
"  Investigator,"  began  to  agitate  the  matter  in  the  United 
States,  and,  ns  a  result  of  this  agitation,  money  and  sub- 
scriptions for  "  Fritaukaren  "  poured  in. 

The  Swedish  Freethought  Federation  (Utilistiska  Sam- 
fundet),  the   president  of  whicli    is  Viktor  E.  Lennstrand, 


620  FOUR  HUNDRED  TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

agitates  through  public  demonstration,  church  attendance, 
with  subsequent  criticisms  of  the  preacher's  sermon  (he 
always  being  specially  invited),  by  lectures  and  debates, 
by  the  publication  of  a  semi-monthly  journal,  "Fritan- 
karen ;"  by  pamphlets,  fly-leaves,  and  by  holding  regular 
festivals  and  excursions.  The  Stockholm  branch  lias  a 
Sunday-school,  where  history  of  religions,  civilization, 
science,  ethics,  art,  with  song  and  declamation,  are  taught. 
The  school,  which  has  existed  for  eighteen  terms,  is  under 
the  superintendence  of  A.  J.  Andren,  and  is  at  present 
attended  b}^  fifty-seven  children.  The  history  of  Free- 
thought  in  Sweden  is  so  closely  interwoven  with  that  of 
Viktor  E.  Lennstrand  and  Captain  Otto  Thomson  that  we 
refer  the  reader  to  the  biographies  of  these  men.  Prom- 
inent in  the  Swedish  Freethought  movement,  besides  those 
already  mentioned,  are  Dr.  Knut  Wicksell,  Anna  B.  Wick- 
sell,  A.  Hellman,  A.  Janzon,  A.  Bergman,  Tilda  Widlund, 
Ernst  Hellborg,  F.  Eahm,  A.  Hentzuer,  A.  W.  Mentzer,  A. 
V.  Lindenau,  C.  A.  Magnussen.  The  Swedish  Freethought 
Federation  consists  of  fifteen  branch  societies,  with  an 
aggregate  membership  of  about  three  thousand.  (The 
Freethought  branch  at  Eskilstuna  has  established  a 
workingraen's  free  reading-room,  where,  besides  the  lead- 
ing daily  papers,  can  be  found  trade  journals,  scientilic 
works,  and  books  on  general  literature.)  It  joined  the 
International  Freethought  Federation  on  occasion  of  the 
Congress  held  at  Paris,  Sept.,  1890.   ' 

Viktor  E.  Lennstrand  was  born  at  Gefle,  Jan.  30,  1861. 
Both  his  parents  were  extremely  religious.  His  mother, 
by  a  formally  drawn  "  bill  of  sale,"  sold  him  to  Jesus, 
calling  in  as  witnesses  the  two  other  members  of  the 
heavenly  firm,  heaven's  joyous  inhabitants,  and  hell's  un- 
fortunate spirits.  Lennstrand's  childhood  was  happy  until 
religion  began  to  affect  him,  and  it  was  only  after  some 
years  of  mental  anguish  that  he  gained  "peace  in  God," 
which  showed  itself  in  his  boyish  resolution  to  go  as  mis- 


SWEDEN.  521 

sionary  to  Africa,  although  he  was  but  fourteen  years  old. 
He  was  not  permitted  to  go,  and  turned  his  attention  to 
home  missions,  organized  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, and  became  teacher  in  several  Sunday-schools. 
Lennstrand  was  a  devout  Christian  until  the  year  1881, 
when  he  entered  the  university  at  Upsala  as  a  student  of 
theology.  -Then  he  began  to  doubt.  His  reason  called 
for  proofs.  He  became  acquainted  with  the  writings  of 
Darwin,  Spencer,  John  Stuart  Mill,  Feuerbach,  Haeckel, 
and  others,  the  consequence  of  which,  after  several  years 
of  mental  struggle,  was  that  in  1886  he  became  an  Atheist. 
The  25th  of  September  is  a  memorable  day  in  the 
history  of  Freethought  in  Sweden.  On  that  day  Lenn- 
strand delivered,  in  the  great  hall  of  Upsala  University, 
his  first  public  lecture,  "  Is  Christianity  a  Religion  for  our 
Time  ?"  The  police  authorities  prohibited  a  continuation 
of  the  lecture,  and  Lennstrand,  by  handing  in  his  resigna- 
tion, escaped  a  public  dismissal  from  the  university.  He 
went  to  Stockholm,  where,  during  the  fall  of  1887  and  the 
spring  of  1888,  he  delivered  weekly  lectures  in  which  he 
attacked  Christianity  and  the  church.  Easter  Sunday, 
April  1,  1888,  the  "  Utilistiska  Samfund "  was  organized 
with  a  membership  of  over  one  hundred  individuals.  He 
continued  lecturing,  and  was  in  November,  1888,  sen- 
tenced to  three  months'  imprisonment.  During  the  sum- 
mer of  1889  he  founded  the  "  Frit'aukaren."  In  October 
of  the  same  year  he  received  another  sentence  of  three 
months  for  blasphemy  ;  in  December,  a  sentence  of  six 
months  for  the  same  crime,  and  a  prospect  of  an  addi- 
tional year  or  two  for  more  blasphemy.  In  the  prison 
Lennstrand  was  very  badh'  treated,  and  as  a  result  be- 
came dangerously  ill,  and  it  was  only  upon  remonstrance 
of  the  public,  and  fear  he  would  die  in  prison,  that  the 
bigoted  King  Oscar  11.  liberated  him.  The  inhuman 
treatment  he  was  subjected  to  has  made  him  an  invalid, 
so  that  as  late  as  last  fall  he  has  been  under  the  doctor's 


622  FOUR  HUXDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

care  in  the  hospital.  Upon  leaving  the  prison  on  May  2J, 
being  pardoned  by  the  king,  Lennstrand,  after  gaining 
some  strength,  took  up  his  work  anew,  and  the  result  of 
his  six-years'  battle  against  orthodoxy  is  shown  best  in  the 
great  Freethought  demonstration  at  Lili-Jans,  Sc3pt.  3, 
1889,  where  over  live  thousand  Freethinkers  gathered  to 
protest  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Christian  dhurch,  and 
likewise  against  the  church  celebration  at  Upsala,  wliicli, 
notwithstanding  proven  thefts  by  the  Christians  of  signed 
lists,  was  indorsed  by  the  signatures  of  over  eight  thou- 
sand men  and  women.  The  best  known  of  Lennstrand's 
lectures  are,  "  Why  I  am  Opposed  to  Christianity ;" 
"What  have  the  Authorities  Gained  by  Persecuting?" 
"  God  ;"  but  above  all  we  place  his  "  Is  Tliere  Another 
Life  ?"  which,  for  logic,  eloquence,  and  depth  of  feeling 
cannot  be  surpassed. 

In  1893  Viktor  Lennstrand  was  elected,  by  a  popular 
vote  of  over  thirteen  thousand,  to  the  P^^ople's  Congress. 

Captain  Otto  Thomson  was  born  in  Stockholm,  Jan.  3, 
1833.  His  parents  were  poor,  and  times  were  hard,  hence, 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  he  entered  upon  the  vocation 
of  a  sailor,  and  started  upon  a  seventeen  months'  voyage,  at 
the  close  of  which  he,  in  May,  1851,  passed  the  steersman's 
examination  with  first  credit  at  Stockholm's  navigation 
school.  Again  he  took  to  the  waves,  and  sailed  as  steers- 
man until  the  spring  of  1857,  when  he  passed  his  captain's 
examination  with  honors.  He  sailed  again  until  June, 
1859,  when  his  father's  death  let  him  to  provide  for  a 
heartbroken  mother  and  four  children.  In  1860  he  be- 
came foi-eman  in  Eskilstuna's  gas  works,  a  place  which 
he  kei)t  for  fourteen  years,  until  the  works  passed  into 
other  hands.  During  this  period  the  captain  married,  and 
for  a  few  years  his  family  life  was  singularly  happy. 

When  a  mere  youth  the  captain  liad  become  somewhat 
skeptical,  a  feeling  which  abated  not  when  he,  a  few  vears 
later,  read  Biichner's  excellent  work,  "Force  and  Matter." 


SWEDEN.  623 

Bat  force  of  circumstances,  and  the  conviction  that  to 
carry  on  a  successful  war  against  superstition  there  was 
wanted  a  man  who  had  made  the  subject  of  Christianity  a 
special  study,  prevented  him  from  taking  a  pronounced 
position. 

The  appearance  of  Viktor  Lennstrand,  his  lectures  in 
Eskilstiina  during  the  fall  of  1888,  stirred  the  mind  of 
Captain  Thomson  to  its  very  depths ;  then,  as  he  himself 
says,  ''I  felt  I  had  again  something  to  live  and  work  for, 
and  with  the  force  and  fire  of  youth  I  identified  and  con- 
nected myself  with  him  and  his  cause." 

"When  "Fritaukaren"  was  founded  he  became  its  asso- 
ciate editor  and  business  manager,  a  position  for  which  his 
knowledge  of  meu  and  events,  his  practical  eye  for  busi- 
ness, made  him  especially  well  fitted.  He  filled  this  posi- 
tion during  the  stormiest  days  of  Freethought  in  Sweden 
with  honor  to  himself  and  benefit  to  the  cause.  The 
captain  wanted  to  fight  out  the  battle  on  the  lines  of  Free- 
thought  only;  he  had  nothing  in  common  with  and  could 
not  appreciate  the  great  social  movement  of  economic 
and  political  reform.  Younger  minds  prevailed,  and  in 
October,  1892,  Captain  Thomson  retired  from  the  manage- 
ment of  the  paper.  During  the  imprisonment  of  Viktor 
Lennstrand,  Captain  Thomson  directed  the  warfare  against 
the  church  and  the  bigoted  government,  and  it  was  chiefly 
through  his  strenuous  exertions  that  he  was  able  to  act 
as  spokesman  for  a  committee  in  presenting  to  the  king 
two  protests  against  the  inhuman  treatment  of  Viktor 
Lennstrand  containing  nearly  ten  thousand  signatures, 
and  to  him  it  is  likewise  due  that  the  king  personally 
was  informed  of  Lennstrand's  dangerous  illness.  The 
captain  never  was  rich,  but  he  gave  what  he  had  to  the 
cause  he  loved,  and  to-day  the  god-father  of  Freethought 
in  Sweden  is  an  inmate  of  a  poor-house  at  Stockholm ; 
his  children  have  deserted  him  on  account  of  his  religious 
views;  the  Christians  hate  him,  and  his  former  associates 


624  ¥0\JR   HUxXURKD    YEAR8   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

in  Sweden  have  repudiated  him  on  account  of  his 
opposition  to  their  social  fancies.  Captain  Thomson  is 
truly  a  martyr  of  Freethought. 

Norway. 

There  is  no  organized  Freethought  movement  in  Nor- 
way, nor  is  the  number  of  outspoken  Freethinkers  very 
large.  Still  it  may  be  said  that  Freethought  is  in  the  air. 
It  meets  you  everywhere  more  or  less  disguised,  or  not  at 
all  disguised,  m  general  literature,  in  the  drama,  in  the 
press,  and  in  the  halls  of  the  University  of  Christiana. 
What  is  needed  is  a  man  like  Viktor  E.  Leunstrand,  pas- 
sionate, an  eloquent  agitator,  with  logic  and  Norwegian  hard 
common  sense.  Yet  even  as  it  is,  Norway  has  reason  to 
be  proud.  Two  of  her  sons  have  not  only  sowed  the  seeds 
of  progress  in  their  fatherland,  but  their  names  are  house- 
hold words  in  the  whole  civilized  world,  and  wherever 
their  writings  have  been  spread  religious  doubts  have  arisen 
in  the  mind  of  every  thoughtful  Christian  reader.  We 
refer  to  the  two  great  writers,  Bjornsterne  Bjornson,  and 
Henrik  Ibsen. 

Belgium. 

Freethought  in  Belgium  is  in  an  excellent  condition. 
There  exists  a  thorough  organization,  which,  with  unity 
in  thought  as  well  as  action,  prophesies  a  bright  future  for 
Freethought.  Organized  Freethought  is  well  established 
in  Belgium.  The  society,  L' Affranchisement  de  Bruxelles, 
was  founded  in  1854,  and  there  are  other  societies  which 
are  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  old — Societe  des  Libres 
Penseurs  de  Liege,  La  Fraternite  a  Warre,  Les  Solidares 
de  Bruxelles,  and  others.  In  1885  a  national  organiza- 
tion was  effected,  and  from  that  time  dates  the  real  prog- 
ress of  Freethought  in  Belgium.  The  principal  reason 
for  the  appearance  of  the  national  organization  (Federation 
Nationale  des  Societes  de  Libres  Penseurs)  is  to  be  found 
in  the  aggressive   policy   of  the  clerical  party,  the   char- 


ABRAM  SCHELL  (p.  800). 


BELGIUM.  Q25 

acter  of  which  can  be  gleaned  from  the  fact  that  since 
Sept.  20,.  1884,  when  clerical  school-laws  were  enacted,  the 
wages  of  thousands  of  teachers  have  been  reduced,  and 
hundreds  of  teachers  have  been  informed  that  their  ser- 
vices were  not  needed.  Over  nine  hundred  primary 
schools,  more  than  one  thousand  higher  schools,  and 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  kindergarten  schools 
have  been  closed,  whereby  nearly  fifty  thousand  chil- 
dren and  adults  have  been  deprived  of  a  chance  to 
be  educated.  At  the  close  of  1884  there  were  but 
ten  primary  (public)  schools.  Secular  teachers  often 
receive  no  regular  remuneration  for  their  services.  In 
1866  the  number  of  cloisters  and  inmates  of  same  were 
respectively  1,191  and  3,400 ;  in  1886  the  cloisters  num- 
bered 1,673  and  the  inmates  21,596.  Owing  maiuly  to 
the  agitation  of  Freethinkers,  a  Liberal  policy  has  now 
been  inaugurated,  and  in  the  budget  of  1894  the  sum 
allotted  for  education  is  as  follows:  Superif)r  education, 
1,923,260  francs;  middle-class  schools,  4,150,726  francs'; 
primary  education,  11,560,315  francs.  The  number  of 
public  schools  has  increased  to  9,314,  with  enrollment  of 
about  1,000,000  pupils.  Besides  these  there  are  many 
private  and,  of  course,  parochial  schools.  In  1886  organ- 
ized Freethought  consisted  (if  thirty-four  societies,  with 
an  aggregate  membership  of  4,300  individuals  ;  in  1892 
the  societies  numbered  123,  and  the  members  11,800  ;  in 
May.  1893,  there  were  134  societies,  with  17,000  members; 
in  October,  1893,  148  societies  with  17,636  members. 

The  organization  of  Freethought  in  Belgium  is  some- 
what similir  to  that  of  tlie  United  States.  There  is  a 
central  (national)  Federation,  which  consists  of  several 
provincial  federations,  which  again  are  subdivided  into 
local  societies.  The  most  important  of  these  provincial 
federations  is  La  Federation  Rationaliste  de  Charleroi, 
the  history  of  which  will  be  found  in  the  biographv  of  its 


626  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

fouuder,  Mr.  Jules  Des  Essarts,  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent Belgian  Freethinkers. 

The  Belgian  Freethought  Federation  is  not  only  one 
of  the  strongest  and  best  organized,  but  is  likewise  the 
most  aggressive.  It  brings  itself  constantly  before  the 
public.  Lectures,  celebrations,  congresses,  local  and 
national,  are  continually  taking  place.  A  healthy  enthu- 
siasm, a  will  to  work  for  the  cause,  are  visible  all  over 
Belgium.  Secular  marriage,  baptism,  and  funerals  are 
considered  the  moral  duty  of  each  Belgian  Freethinker. 
Contributions  which  before  found  a  resting-place  in  the 
coffers  of  the  church,  are  now  deposited  to  promote  Free- 
thought  agitation,  to  endow  the  Temple  of  Science  in 
Charleroi,  and  no  meeting  is  ever  held  but  several  francs 
are  dropped  in  that  little  box  for  orphans  of  Freethinking 
parents. 

The  National  Federation  has  a  central  organ,  "La 
Raison,"  edited  by  Mr.  Leon  Furnemont ;  but  besides 
this  there  are  several  Freethought  papers,  foremost  of 
which  stands  "  Le  Journal  de  Charleroi,"  and  "L'Aurore," 
both  of  which  are  dailies.  The  seven  demands  of  the 
Freethought  Federation  of  Belgium,  adopted  at  the 
national  congress  in  1885,  are  :  (1)  universal  suffrage ; 
(2)  obligatory,  free,  and  integral  education  ;  (3)  total  sep- 
aration of  church  and  state  ;  (4)  income  tax ;  (5)  arbitra- 
tion instead  of  war,  to  settle  international  disputes ; 
(6)  labor  reform  ;  (7)  republican  form  of  government.  To 
these  demands  the  congress  in  May,  1885,  at  Herstal, 
added  two  demands,  viz.:  (8)  the  equality  of  the  sexes  ; 
(9)  cremation.  The  Federation  indorses  the  C(nnmittee 
on  Moral  Laws,  and  forms  an  important  part  of  the  luter- 
ternatioual  Freethought  Federation.  Several  deceased 
prominent  Belgian  Freethinkers  have  had  monuments 
erected  to  their  memory,  the  payment  for  each  being 
secured  by  subscription,  and  the  unveiling  of  the  monu- 
ments have  been  invariably  the  occasion  of  a  great  cele- 


FRANCE. 


627 


bration  with  music,  flowers,  and  speeches.  Notable  among 
the  various  yearly  celebrations  is  the  children's  festival, 
which  takes  the  place  of  the  communion  celebration  of  the 
church.  One  of  these  festivals  held  by  Le  Circle  des 
Soirees  Populaires  Eationalistes,  at  Brussels,  May  28, 
1893,  was  participated  in  by  forty-two  children  and  wit- 
nessed by  over  two  hundred  grown  people.  Likewise  once 
a  year  each  society  holds  memorial  services  in  honor  of 
the  dead. 

.  Prominent  among  the  Belgian  Freethinkers  are  Napo- 
leon Navez,  Leon  Furnemont,  Adolphe  Deluc,  Emile  Goris- 
sen,  Jean  B.  Boichot,  Jules  des  Essarts,  Jean  Dons,  Hector 
Denis,  Alexis  Sluys,  Louis  Lamborelle,  Jos.  Nyns-Lagye, 
Oscar  Beck,  Joseph  Thirion  Hossignon,  Van  Petteghem, 
Reus,  and  others.  Among  prominent  Freethinkers  who 
have  died  during  the  last  five  years  we  must  mention  the 
philanthropist,  Charles  Dugardin,  in  honor  of  whom  a 
monument  was  uuveiled  on  Nov.  15,  1891,  at  Scbaerbeck; 
Paul  de  Jaer,  mayor  of  St.  Gilles  ;  Dr.  Cesar  de  Paepe, 
and  Desire  Brismee,  Freethought  lecturer.  The  latter 
two^have  been  honored  with  a  monument,  which  was 
unveiled  Dec.  25,  1892  ;  Desire  Lesaflfer,  a  monument 
for  whom  was  uuveiled  at  Oudenburg.  Dec.  14,  1891 ;  Abel 
Wart,  monument  unveiled  May  29,  1892,  at  Fayt. 

France. 

The  first  French  Revolution  dethroned  the  Catholic 
church,  but  it  did  not  destroy  her.  She  is  to-day,  as  be- 
fore, a  theocratic  institution,  a  fact  sui  generis.  The  power 
has  left  the  throne  and  is  lodged  in  the  majority.  The 
church  observing  this  has  thrown  herself  into  the  elec- 
toral battle,  only  to  find  that  to  gain  the  votes  it  is 
necessary  to  convince  the  voters  by  educating  them.  The 
arch  enemy  of  education  becomes  herself  a  teacher,  and 
endeavors  to  enter  the  public  schools  as  such.  Finding 
this  impossible,  she  avails  herself  of  the  principle  of  lib- 


628  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

erty  to  set  up  schools  in  opposition  to  those  of  the  state. 
The  great  statesman,  Gambetta,  designated  the  church,  or 
rather  clericalism,  as  "  the  enemy,"  and  as  such  she  is  re- 
garded by  the  genuine  French  republican  and  this,  with 
perfect  truth,  for  the  very  essence  of  Catholicism,  which 
is  but  theocracy  under  another  name,  is  diametrically  op- 
posed to  republican  institutions,  is  incompatible  with 
education,  and  blights  the  welfare  and  morality  of  society. 

In  the  above  few  lines  we  have  endeavored  to  present 
the  attitude,  past  and  present,  since  the  great  French 
Revolution,  of  the  church  toward  the  republic  and  Free- 
thought.  It  will  thus  be  understood  that  the  French 
republic  contains  a  state  church,  or  rather,  what  seems  the 
acme  of  absurdity,  three  state  churches ;  for  the  French 
government  salaries  three  religions,  which  reciprocally 
damn  each  other — the  Catholic,  the  Protestant,  and  the 
Jewish.  It  is  a  fact  that  cannot  be  disputed  that  the 
greater  part,  or  at  least  the  most  influential  part,  of  the 
population  of  France  has  broken  with  all  forms  of  relig- 
ion. This  is  especially  the  case  in  the  cities,  while  the 
rural  population,  even  if  the  head  of  the  family  never 
goes  to  church,  is  by  the  force  of  associations  of  the  past 
chained,  if  not  spiritually,  at  least  socially  to  the  priest. 
The  priest  has  become  a  disagreeable  and  necessary  evil, 
whicFi  cannot  be  disposed  of  at  a  moment's  warning,  but 
which  requires  generations  of  au  educated  population  to 
render  unnecessary. 

To  eilucate  the  people,  and  in  this  way  cause  the  dis- 
appearance of  tlie  priest,  must  be  the  oidy  aim  of  Free- 
tliought  in  France.  Fortunately  for  Fi-eethought  our 
French  brethren  are  capable  of  pursuing  a  forward  move- 
ment on  different  lines  of  reform  at  the  same  time. 
Social  reform  and  intellectual  liberation  go  hand-in-haud. 
Freethought  in  France  has,  by  its  alliance  to  social  reform, 
become  a  political  power.  The  resignation  of  Marshal 
MacMahon   as   presidpiit,  and  the   a>^OPndency  of  the   Re- 


FRANCE.  629 

publican  party  to  power,  ushered  in  a  new  era  in  the  his- 
tory of  maukiud — the  liberty  of  Freethought.  Since  then, 
although  the  battle  is  far  from  ended,  we  have  in  France  a 
"  golden  era "  of  Freethought.  With  the  exception  of 
Spain  and  Belgium,  there  is  not  a  country  in  which,  as  in 
France,  the  Freethinker  understands  so  fully  the  truth  of 
the  old  adage  :  "  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  lib- 
erty." Our  French  brethren  do  not  sleep.  Convention 
follows  convention  ;  congresses,  national  and  local,  take 
place  every  year,  and  such  events  as  baptisms,  marriages, 
and  funerals  are  made  the  occasion  of  public  demonstra- 
tions. And  not  satisfied  with  this,  special  festivals  to 
take  the  place  of  church  celebrations  are  held  every  once 
in  a  while.  Evening  schools,  Sunday-schools,  day  schools, 
run  on  Freethought  principles  and  disseminating  Free- 
thought  views,  are  held  in  every  city.  The  orphans 
are  not  forgotten,  nor  are  the  old  and  feeble ;  a  school  for 
the  former,  and  an  asylum  for  the  latter,  testify  to  the  fact 
that  Freethinkers,  too,  are  charitable.  Fly-leaves,  jour- 
nals, and  pamphlets  are  distributed  broadcast  over  the 
counti-y.  Lectures  are  given,  speeches  made,  and  when 
election  draws  near  only  such  candidates  as  are  known  to 
be  friends  of  liberty  can  command  a  Freethinker's  vote  ; 
and  behold  the  result :  in  1881  the  Freethinkers  of  France 
were  represented  by  185  members  in  the  House  of  Depu- 
ties ;  in  1885  the  number  had  increased  to  150 ;  while  in 
the  last  House  there  were  180  Freethinkers,  and  in  the 
present  238.  The  priest  has  been  made  to  leave  the  pub- 
lic schools,  which  are  examples  of  what  such  schools  should 
be,  for  within  their  walls  are  heard  no  prayers,  hymns,  nor 
Bible  reading.  Morality  is  taught  as  a  regular  branch  from 
text-books,  of  which  different  ones  are  in  use  in  the  various 
departments.  The  law  bringing  about  this  desirable 
state  of  affairs  was  passed  March  28,  1882.  We  will  here 
confine  ourselves  to  mention  of  the  two  text-books  which 
have  the  widest  circulation ;  they  are  Jost's  and  Braunig's. 


g30  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF    FREETH0U6HT. 

*'  Lectures  Practiques,"  which  is  used  in  eighty  depart- 
ments, and  "  Le  Tour  de  la  France  par  deux  enfants,"  by 
Bruno,  used  in  seventy-three  departments,  the  latter  of 
which  has  reached  the  two  hundred  and  nineteenth  edition. 
The  nearest  Bruno  comes  to  teaching  supernaturalism  is  the 
statement  that  we  should  show  reverence  to  "  la  cause 
premiere."  The  Freetliinkers,  however,  are  not  satisfied 
with  this,  and  to  produce  a  series  of  text-books  on  ethics 
for  the  different  schools,  which  will  do  away  with  the  above 
mentioned  and  various  minor  faults  of  text-books  in  use 
at  the  present  time,  is  the  aim  to  which  the  labors  of  Le 
Comite  d'Etudes  Morales  is  pledged. 

To  insure  the  spreading  of  Freethought  principles,  a. 
special  fund,  the  Penny  Fund,  has  been  established,  and 
the  money  collected  is  used  to  furnish  societies  and  indi- 
vidual Freethinkers  with  campaign  literature.  Secular 
marriages,  baptisms,  and  funerals,  are  considered  moral 
obligations  for  Freethinkers,  and  although  the  law  per- 
mitting secular  funerals  is  not  very  old,  yet  within  six 
years  after  its  realization,  out  of  56,773  funerals  in  Paris, 
10,580  were  secular,  while  in  the  arrondissement  of  Cha- 
ronne,  38  of  every  100  were  secular  ;  in  Poppincourt  and 
Berey,  25  of  every  800  ;  in  Opera  and  Passy,  8  and  9  of 
every  800. 

The  platform  of  the  French  Freethinkers,  as  defined 
by  their  last  national  congress,  held  Oct.  29,  1892,  at 
Salle  de  THarmonie,  rue  d'Angouleme,  Paris,  embodies^ 
the  restriction  and  final  annihilation  of  the  priest  in  so- 
ciety, the  equality  of  the  sexes  before  the  law,  a  pure 
scientific  and  philosophic  education  in  all  schools.  On 
questions  of  metaphysical  doctrines,  the  existence  of  a^ 
soul,  and  others  which  were  brought  forward,  so  as  ta 
favor  a  coalition  with  tlie  Spiritualists,  the  congress, 
with  but  one  dissenting  vote,  pronounced  in  favor  of 
Atheism  and  the  scientific  doctrines  of  Materialism. 

To  trace  back,  by   means  of  statistics,   the  growth   of 


MRS.   CAKULINK  A.   SOHELL  (j..   SOO). 


SPAIN.  631 

organized  Freetliought  in  France,  the  scope  of  this  work 
will  not  permit ;  suffice  it  to  state  that  April  19,  1891,  the 
Federation  consisted  of  145  auxiliary  societies,  and  130 
individual  members ;  April  17,  1892,  it  consisted  of  196 
auxiliary  societies,  and  237  individual  members  ;  in  Octo- 
ber, 1892,  the  societies  numbered  300  ;  while  in  April,  1893, 
it  had  increased  to  320  societies,  besides  310  individual 
members.  The  Federation,  however,  does  not  comprise 
the  organized  Freetliought  of  entire  France,  for  we  have 
the  Grand  Orient  (Masonic)  with  400  lodges  ;  the  lodge 
La  Fidelite,  at  Lill ;  the  Ligue  du  Bien  Public,  Paris,  ;ind 
the  Lisue  de  la  Protection  des  Femmes.     The  above-named 

CD 

societies  all  belong  to  the  Internationl  Freetliought  Fed- 
eration, as  do  the  following  journals  besides  the  regular 
Freetliought  journals  :  "  La  Revue  Socialiste,"  "  La  Lan- 
terne,"  "  La  Question  Sociale,"  "  La  Rappel,"  and  "  La 
Bulletin  Maconnique." 

Spain. 

With  the  exception  of  Russia,  we  do  not  know  of  any 
European  country  in  which  Freetliought  has  to  fight 
against  such  heavy  odds  as  is  the  case  in  Spain.  It  is 
no  longer  obligatory  upon  all  to  be  baptized,  confirmed, 
married,  and  buried  with  clerical  assistance,  and  we 
are  glad  to  say  the  Spanish  Freethinkers  fully  avail 
themselves  of  the  new  liberty.  Yet  the  church, 
although  officially  subservient  to  the  state,  does  still, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  govern  the  Spanish  people  with  a 
rod  of  iron.  The  present  unsettled  political  condition  of 
Spain,  the  numerous  workingmen's  riots,  the  Anarchistic 
outrages  and  plots,  are  used  by  the  church  to  cast  dis- 
credit upon  Freethought,  and,  at  the  same  time,  by  the 
state's  assistance,  suppress  it  when  possible.  This  latter 
is  done  by  making  the  terms  Freethinker,  Socialist,  An- 
archist, and  Republican  synonymous.  And  this  is  done 
so   much   easier   as  the   plurality  of  the   above-mentioned 


632  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

parties  are  Freethinkers,  and  therefore  at  the  same  time 
the  enemies  of  both  church  and  state.  A  strict  censor- 
ship of  the  press  is  established,  and  any  utterance  which 
can  in  any  possible  way  be  twisted  into  a  criminal  state- 
ment is  severely  punished.  Imprisonments,  fines,  and 
exile  are  the  rewards  given  to  the  friends  and  champions 
of  liberty.  This  is  so  much  more  feasible  as  the  igno- 
rance of  the  populace  is  surprising ;  only  a  small  percentage 
of  the  population  can  read  and  write,  while  the  number  of 
those  who  have  reached  an  intellectual  elevation  above  the 
prayer-book  and  their  own  name,  is  insignificant  compared 
with  that  of  those  who  can  neither  read  nor  write.  Al- 
though compulsory  education  is  demanded  by  law  of 
July  17,  1857,  yet,  in  1877,  the  percentage  of  those  who 
could  read  and  write  was  but  24.48.  Again,  educa- 
tion being  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  one  may  feel  assured 
that  no  dangerous  knowledge  is  ever  imparted  to  the  chil- 
dren. The  census  of  1887  estimates  the  entire  population 
to  be  16,634,345,  and  of  these  16,603,959  are  professed 
Catholics,  while  6,654  are  marked  as  Protestants,  and  4,645 
as  Freethinkers.  Official  statistics,  when  dealing  with  re- 
ligion, are,  however,  not  to  be  relied  upon,  and  it  remains 
a  fact  that  indifi'erentism  to  religion  is  very  prevalent, 
especially  among  the  male  population  of  the  maritime 
provinces,  while  the  females  of  all  classes  and  provinces 
are  hopelessly  pious.  Judging  from  the  adhesions  sent  to 
the  International  Fieethought  Congress  held  in  Madrid, 
1892,  we  believe  that  an  estimate  of  at  least  fifty  thousand 
professed  Freethinkers  in  Spain  is  not  any  too  high.  As 
we  have  intimated  above,  Freethought  in  Spain  is,  to  a 
large  degree,  mixed  up  with  social  science  and  politics  ; 
Freethought  papers,  pure  and  simple,  and  lecturers  that 
confine  themselves  to  Freethought  subjects  mainly,  are 
unknown  as  yet,  and  Avill  not  appear  until  liberty  in  Spain 
lias  become  a  fact. 

Wlien  Freethought  first  became  organized  in  Spain  wd 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.  683 

do  not  know,  but  as  early  as  1886,  there  existed  a  National 
Federation — Union  Espanola,  de  Librepensadores  de  la 
Liga,  Universal  Anti-Clerical,  which  consisted  of  100 
groups  in  Spain,  and  33  groups  in  Cuba  and  Gautemala, 
and  the  spiritual  welfare  of  these  133  groups  was  attended 
to  by  12  Freethought  papers.  In  1892  Spanish  Free- 
thought  was  represented  at  the  International  Freethought 
Congress  by  50  Freethouglit  journals,  250  Freethought 
societies  and  republican  groups,  150  Masonic  lodges,  and 
over  1,000  individuals  who  did  not  belong  to  any  of  the 
above  organizations.  It  is  worth  remembering  that  the 
International  Freethouglit  Congress,  which  began  under 
so  promising  auspices,  was  prohibited  by  the  police  on 
Oct.  15,  1892.  Freethought  in  Spain  numbers  among  its 
adherents  the  cream  of  Spanish  intelligenee — ex-ministers 
of  state,  deputies,  lawyers,  men  of  science  and  letters,  uni- 
versity professors,  editors,  etc. 

Austria-Hungary. 

The  Freethought  movement  in  Austria- Hungary,  like 
that  in  Germany,  is  divided  between  Free  Religious 
societies  and  Freethinkers'  societies.  The  Free  Religious 
society  movement  was  started  and  is  directed  by  Mr. 
Edward  Schwella.  The  biography  of  him  is  virtually  a 
history  of  the  Free  Religionists.  The  Free  Religious 
society  of  Vienna,  six  thousand  members  strong,  meets  at 
the  Albrecht  Durer  Hall  every  Sunday.  It  is  well-oflf 
financially,  and  pursues  an  incessant  but  not  aggressive 
warfare  against  the  church  through  lectures,  distribution 
of  pamphlets,  celebrations,  and  by  the  publication  of 
"Der  Lichtfreund,"  which  has  appeared  since  1886.  Not 
satisfied  with  compelling  Mr.  Schwella  to  confine  himself 
to  popular  scientific  lectures,  the  government  imposes 
upon  the  society  a  tax  of  about  fifty  cents  for  each  lecture 
delivered.  For  quoting  the  Bible  in  an  unorthodox 
fashion,  Eva    Lichtblau,   member  of    the    Free  Relii^ious 


634  FOUR  HUNDRED   TEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Society  iu  Silesia,  and  one  member  of  the  Vienna  society, 
Franz  Passdorfer,  have  been  sentenced  to  fourteen  days 
and  three  months'  imprisonment,  while  Mr.  Schwella 
himself  has  been  in  court  time  and  again  on  account  of 
his  lack  of  "  reverence  "  for  orthodoxy.  The  number  of 
Free  Religionists  in  Austria-Hungary  is,  according  to 
the  last  census.  18,000,  of  whom  about  8,000  are  in  Vienna 
and  its  suburbs. 

The  Freethought  Society  of  Vienna,  president  of  which 
is  Mr.  Wutschel,  constitutes  a  branch  of  the  German 
Freethought  Federation.  The  society  has  been  in  ex- 
istence but  little  over  a  year  and  numbers  about  four 
hundred  members,  chiefl}'  drawn  from  the  working  classes. 
When  the  society  was  formed  it  was  compelled  to  state  in 
its  constitution  that  it  would  not  in  its  lectures  and 
debates  touch  the  subjects  of  religion  and  politics.  Now, 
however,  it  has  received  permission  to  lecture  on  religion, 
but  "carefull}'."  The  society  is  in  a  flourishing  condition, 
and  its  membership  is  continually  increasing.  There  is 
another  Freethought  society  in  Vienna.  It  is  very  ex- 
clusive, consisting  of  ten  or  twelve  socially  well-to-do 
members,  who  shun  both  the  other  Freethought  society 
and  the  Free  Religious  society. 

The  agitation  by  Liberals  iu  Austria-Hungary  is  begin- 
ning to  bear  good  fruits.  Recently  the  emperor  signed  a 
bill  making  civil  marriage  compulsor}',  and  also  in  other 
directions  there  is  evidence  that  light  is  beginning  to 
penetrate  the  house  of  Hapsburg. 

Modern  Bohemia. 

For  nearly  two  hundred  years  after  the  disastrous 
Thirty  Years'  War,  Bohemia  laj'  crushed  and  prostrated. 
It  seemed  as  if  tlie  unhappy  nation  had  been  doomed  to 
complete  extinction,  but  the  Germanizing  measures  of 
Joseph  IT.  (1780-1790)  had  an  unexpected  effect;  they 
kindled  aflame  the  dormant  patriotism  of  a  host  of  Bo- 


BOHEMIA.  635 

liemian  scholars  who,  seeking  neither  glorj  nor  gain,  went 
to  the  people's  homes,  arousing  them  from  their  death- 
like sleep.  The  French  Revolution,  boldly  asserting  the 
rights  of  man,  broke  out  and  its  echo  was  heard  in 
Boljemia.  Towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  it 
became  evident  that  the  Bohemian  nation  was  still  alive 
and  could  not  be  stamped  out  of  existence  at  the  mere 
whim  of  a  monarch.  The  ideas  of  the  French  philosophers 
found  ready  adherents  in  the  country.  Josef  Jungman 
(1773-1847),  the  Nestor  of  the  modern  Bohemian  litera- 
ture, was  a  Deist,  and  a  liberal  tone  prevails  in  the 
writings  of  contemporary  authors,  most  of  whom  were 
patriotic  priests  with  whom  Bohemia  was  first,  religion 
second.  Indeed,  the  three  greatest  preachers  of  Free- 
thought  in  modern  Bohemia — Bolzano,  Klacel,  and  Smet- 
ana — were  all  priests  who  were  courageous  enough  to  tell 
the  trutli. 

Bernard  Bolzano  (1787-1848),  an  influential  teacher, 
was  a  realist,  a  philosopher,  who  rejected  the  super- 
natural garb  of  Christianity  and  kept  only  the  kernel  of 
its  ethics.  His  motto :  "  To  be  happy  and  to  make 
others  happ}'  is  the  duty  of  man,"  is  Freethought  in  a 
nutshell. 

Fi-:mcis  Matthew  Klacel  (1808-1882)  was  the  first  out- 
ritjlit  Atheist  among  Bohemian  authors,  and  his  "Ethics" 
(1847),  in  \vhich  he  entirely  di&i-egards  positive  religion, 
may  be  considered  the  first  Freetliought  wcn-k  in  modern 
Bohemia.  Persecution  drove  him  to  America,  where  he 
became  tlie  apostle  of  Freethought  among  his  countrymen 
in  the  United  States. 

Augustiu  S.  Smetana  (1814-1851),  an  idealist  of  the 
Hegelian  type,  taught  philosophy  at  the  University  of 
Prague,  but  was  deposed  on  account  of  his  liberal  views, 
whereupon  he  publicly  severed  his  connection  with  the 
Catholic  church  (1850),  a  step  of  far-reaching  conse- 
quences. 


^36  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

The  general  revival  of  democracy  iu  Europe  which 
culminated  in  the  revolutions  of  1848,  was  not  less  in- 
tensely felt  in  Bohemia  than  in  other  countries.  It 
brought  forth  great  orators  and  statesmen,  and  it  brought 
forth  the  greatest  of  Bohemian  Freethinkers,  Karel 
Havlicek. 

Karel  Havlicek  (1821-1855),  also  known  by  his  literary 
name  as  Havel  Borovsky,  is  one  of  the  noblest  characters 
that  Bohemia  has  ever  produced.  His  life  was  short,  for 
he  was  hunted  to  death  by  the  enemies  of  light  and 
liberty,  and  his  career  as  a  journalist  lasted  only  six 
years,  but  in  those  six  years  he  accomplished  more  than 
most  men  dare  to  hope  for  in  sixty.  It  is  to  him  that  the 
Bohemian  people  of  the  sixties  owed  their  political  educa- 
tion. In  his  "  National  News "  and  the  "  Slovan "  he 
waged  a  bitter  war  upon  despotism  and  hierarchy,  and 
his  words  had  more  weight  with  the  people  than  the 
Bible  itself.  Famous  are  his  "  Epistles,"  in  which  he 
pillories  the  enemies  of  democracy  and  Freethought  with 
an  unusual  keeness  of  satire.  Twice  was  he  tried  for 
alleged  high  treason  ;  twice  was  he  acquitted.  To  disarm 
the  stanch  Freethinker  the  government  resorted  to  a 
means  as  base  as  it  was  desperate.  On  a  cold  winter 
night  Havlicek  was  kidnaped  by  the  police,  dragged 
away  from  his  family,  and  imprisoned  at  Brixen,  Tyrol, 
and  not  released  until  shortly  before  his  death.  While  in 
prison  he  wrote  a  satire  in  verse,  entitled  "  The  Baptism 
of  St.  Vladimir,"  in  which  he  ridicules  the  belief  in  a 
personal  god,  efficacy  of  prayer,  and  the  rights  of  despots. 
The  Russian  czar,  Vladimir,  is  represented  as  having  had 
a  quarrel  with  the  old  Slavonic  heathen  god,  Perun,  whom 
he  orders  to  be  drowned,  whereupon  the  peasants,  seeing 
there  is  no  god,  refuse  obedience  and  will  not  support  the 
clergy,  who  then  urge  Vladimir  to  get  for  them  a  new  god 
at  any  cost,  else  they  will  starve.  Tlie  czar  then  adver- 
tises :  "  Wanted — a   god  ;  an    obedient  ij;od,"   and    various 


RUFUS  BUTTERFIELD  (p.   704). 


ROUMANIA.  637 

religious  sects  apply,  each  berating  the  others  and  ex- 
tolling its  own  god  or  gods.  This  great  satire,  repeatedly 
published,  and  his  witty  epigrams  have  made  many  a 
Bohemian  a  Freethinker. 

No  man  like  Havlicek  appeared  in  the  sixties,  but  the 
next  decade  saw  another  active  and  aggressive  champion 
of  Freethought.  It  was  Alfons  Stastny,  then  a  student  of 
philosophy.  His  chief  work  is,  "Jesus  and  His  Relation 
to  Christianity."  He  shows  Jesus  to  have  been  a  man,  and 
an  orthodox  Jew,  not  a  willing  founder  of  a  new  sect.  Mr. 
Stastny  is  still  living,  and  is  an  active  preacher  of  Free- 
thought,  especially  among  the  farmers. 

In  the  seventies  the  Bohemian  Freethinkers  were 
unusually  active.  Several  Freethought  papers  were  estab- 
lished ("Sotek,"  "Hus,"  "Svoboda,"  etc.)  and  many  Lib- 
eral books  published.  The  most  important  of  the  Free- 
thought  publications  of  that  time  have  been  the  '"  Epistles 
of  Freedom,"  established  in  1876  as  a  monthly.  They 
championed  Freethought  both  in  religion  and  politics. 

In  contemporaneous  Bohemian  literature  Jakub  Arbes, 
the  foremost  novelist,  and  Jaroslav  Urchlicky,  the  greatest 
of  Bohemian  poets,  are  preaching  Freetliought  in  prose 
and  verse.  The  learned  classes  are  Freethinkers.  The 
bulk  of  the  nation  is  divided  into  devout  Catholics,  in- 
different Catholics,  Protestants,  and  Freethinkers.  The 
Young  Chekhs,  who  have  swept  the  country  at  the  last 
election,  are  Liberals  and  anti-clericalists.  At  present 
thev  are  fighting  for  the  political  and  spiritual  freedom  of 
Bohemia — aye,  of  all  Austrian  people.  May  they  be  suc- 
cessful in  their  noble  struggle  ! 

EOUMANIA. 

There  is  no  Freethought  organization  in  Roumania. 
Skepticism,  however,  prevails  not  alone  among  educated 
people  but  to  a  large  degree  also  among .  the  working 
classes  in  the  cities.     It  must  no  be  supposed,  however, 


638  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

that  the  voice  of  Freethou<i;ht  has  never  sounded  in  the 
Koumaniau  desert.  Natural  sciences,  with  the  modern 
interpretations  of  same,  are  taught  in  the  Universit}'  of 
Bucharest,  and  scientitic  Agnosticism  and  Materialism 
are  made  public  through  essays  in  several  Liberal  journals. 
The  Socialistic  party,  which  is  very  strong  in  the  cities, 
is  practically  a  Freethought  party,  and  its  official  organ, 
"  Munca  "  ("  Work  "),  belongs  to  the  International  Free- 
thought  Federation. 

Among  prominent  Freethinkers  we  must  mention  Con- 
stantin  Mille,  Dr.  Russell,  and  Mr.  Jean  Nadejde.  The 
history  of  Freethought  in  Rouraania  is  closely  con- 
nected with  that  of  these  men,  especially  Mr.  Constantin 
Mille. 

Gekmany. 

The  sources  of  Freethought  in  Germany  are  vari- 
ous. Great  credit  is  due  to  the  two  great  naturalists, 
Carl  Vogt  and  Jacob  Moleshott,  both  ex-professors  at 
the  university  at  Gottengen,  who,  by  their  popular  books, 
have  opened  the  paths  of  Freethought.  In  1840  David 
Friedrich  Strauss  (Tubingen)  published  his  "  Life  of 
Jesus,"  in  which  he  proved  the  non-authenticity  of  the 
gospels,  and  the  myth-nature  of  Jesus.  The  influence  of 
this  work  was  marvelous.  Protestant  parsons,  like  Uhlich, 
Baltzer,  the  three  brothers  Wislicenus,  Dr.  Rupp,  etc.,  de- 
nied the  trinity  and  were  deposed.  They  left  the  church 
with  their  communities,  or  with  their  intelligent  members, 
and  founded  "  free  religious  communities."  In  1840  the 
Roman  Catholics  of  Germany  had  a  great  excitement. 
Bishop  Arnoldi,  of  Trier,  discovered  "  the  holy  coat  of 
Jesus,"  and  invited  the  faitliful  Catholics  to  come  and 
adore  the  holy  rags.  Millions  came,  but  thousands  of  in- 
telligent and  enlightened  Catholics  opposed  the  imposture. 
The  priest,  Johannes  Ronge,  wrote  a  public  letter  to  the 
bishop   charging  him   with   hypocrisy,   and    thousands  of 


GERMANY.  639 

Catholics  left  the  "  mother  church "  and  founded  new 
communities  under  the  name  of  "  German  Catholic  "  or 
free  religious  communities.  In  1850  these  communities 
believed  in  a  kind  of  Deism,  while  those  descending  from 
the  Protestant  church  had  developed  an  advanced  kind  of 
Unitarianism.  In  1859  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  free 
religious  societies  united,  and  are  now  Agnostic,  if  not 
Atheistic,  in  their  views.  There  are  about  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  societies,  with  an  aggregate  of  fifty-five  thou- 
sand members.  Some  are  small  and  poor ;  others  opulent, 
like  those  of  Frankfurt,  Offenbach,  Mainz,  and  Berlin,  pos- 
sessing houses  and  halls,  and  employing  a  stated 
lecturer. 

The  German  Freethought  Federation  was  founded 
April  10,  1881,  by  Prof.  Dr.  Biichner  and  Dr.  Specht  in 
Frankfort-on-the-Main.  Owing  to  the  hostile  attitude  of 
the  German  government,  the  Federation  has  experienced 
great  difficulties.  Each  year  a  congress  is  held,  which  is 
devoted  to  business  of  the  Federation,  to  lectures  and 
speeches.  The  Federation  consists  at  present  of  three 
iundred  and  fifty  members  (each  branch  society  counting 
for  one  member),  and  publishes  a  monthly  journal,  "  Frei- 
denker  "  (formerly  "  Menschenthum  "),  which  at  present  is 
edited  by  Dr.  Bruno  Wille.  Among  the  prominent  Free- 
thinkers are  Prof.  Dr.  Ludwig  Biichner,  author  of  "  Force 
and  Matter,"  who  is  president  of  the  federation ;  Dr. 
Specht,  "  the  most  hated  man,"  editor  of  "  Freie  Glocke," 
Dr.  Bruno  Wille,  Dr.  Titus  Voelkel. 

The  federation,  which  has  a  branch  society,  in  Vienna, 
Austria,  reaches  the  public  through  lectures,  pamphlets, 
:fly-leaves,  and  its  journals.  It  has  a  "Press  fund"  of 
over  eleven  hundred  marks.  The  federation  belongs  to 
ihe  International  Freethought  Federation,  so  long  as  the 
objects  of  the  latter  are  not  in  opposition  to  the  laws  of 
Oermany.  There  is  every  indication  that  the  German 
IPreethought  Federation  and  the  Free  Religious  societies 


640  FOUR   HUNDRKD   YKARS   OF   FREBTHOUGHT. 

will  combine  their  forces  to  resist  the  repeated  encroach- 
ments of  the  church. 

The  Free  Religious  Society  of  Berlin,  which  belongs, 
to  the  German  Federation,  has  a  "  Sunday-school  "  which 
has  existed  for  three  years.  During  the  last  year  the 
number  of  children  attending  has  increased  from  three 
hundred  to  live  hundred.  In  this  school  six  hours  of 
instruction  is  given  every  week,  and  the  books  used, 
which  are  written  by  Dr.  Wille,  are  furnished  free  of  cast 
to  children  of  parents  belonging  to  the  society,  while  out- 
siders can  procure  them  at  a  low  cost.  The  attitude  of 
the  German  Freethought  Federation  to  organized  Social- 
ism is  that  the  Federation  keep  apart  from  it,  as  nc^thing 
but  injury  is  done  to  the  cause  of  Freethought  by  the 
Socialists,  whose  Freethought  consists,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  in  simply  declaring  religion  a  "  private  "  busi- 
ness of  each  individual. 

Portugal. 

While  Portugal  can  boast  of  having  among  her  sons 
some  of  the  most  illustrious  Freethinkers  of  Latin  Eu- 
rope, besides  numerous  others  belonging  to  the  rank  and 
file  of  Freethought,  j-et  she  has  not  within  her  borders  a- 
single  distinct  Freethought  society,  nor  a  journal  devoted 
exclusively  to  Freethought.  The  majority  of  the  Free- 
thinkers of  Portugal  belong  to  the  Portuguese  division  of 
Grand  Orient  (French-Freemasonry  order),  which  at  the 
International  Freethought  Congress  in  Madrid,  1892, 
joined  the  International  Federation  to  the  number  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  lodges,  with  an  aggregate  member- 
ship of  more  than  ten  thousand.  They  were  repre- 
sented at  the  congress  by  Messrs.  E.  de  Abreu  and  Mogel- 
haes  Lima.  The  first  Freethought  journal  in  Portugal 
was  "  Revista  de  Estudo  Livres,"  Lisbon,  edited  by  Car- 
richo  Vidiera ;  it  was  succeeded  by  "ASemana  de  LovoLi,"^ 
the  most  radical  Freethought  journal  ever  published  in 


DENMARK.  641 

Portugal.  Besides  the  eminent  Freethinkers  named  above 
we  must  record  D.  Teixeira,  municipal  councillor  of  Lis- 
bon ;  D.  Jose  Jacintho  Nunez,  member  of  Cortes ;  D.  M. 
Veixeira  Bastos,  writer ;  and  D.  Theosophilo  Braga.  pro- 
fessor at  the  University  of  Lisbon,  all  of  whom  in  their 
writings  and  teachings  proclaim  absolute  liberty  of  con- 
science. 

The  population  of  Lisbon  is,  for  the  greater  part,  in- 
different to  any  religious  question,  while  in  the  north  and 
in  the  provinces  religious  fanaticism  is  flourishing.  There 
the  priests  govern  the  masses.  The  people  follow  the 
aristocracy,  which  donates  money'  freely  to  churches, 
schools,  asylums,  hospitals,  and  leaves  the  supervision  of 
all  these  establishment  to  the  clergy  and  the  Sisters  of 
Charity. 

Foremost  among  the  Portuguese  Freethinkers  stands 
S.  de  Mogelhaes  Lima,  who  was  born  at  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
May  30,  1850.  Perceiving  that  the  great  obstacle  to 
human  emancipation  is  religion,  he  proclaims  the  neces- 
sity of  Freethought,  and  in  his  works,  "  O  Papa  Peranti 
o  Seculo  "  (The  Pope  Before  the  Century),  and  "  Padres  e 
Reis  "  (Priests  and  Kings),  he  throws  the  gauntlet  to  the 
church.  In  1890  he  represented  Portugal  at  the  Inter- 
national Freethought  Congress  at  Paris. 

Denmark. 

Freethought  in  Denmark  is  as  yet  of  small  import. 
Although  there  are  numerous  Freethinkers,  and  skepti- 
cism is  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception,  yet  owing  to  the 
social  conditions  organized  Freethought  is  still  in  its 
infancy,  there  being  only  one  Freethought  society — 
Fritanker  Associationen,  in  Copenhagen.  On  Sundays  this 
societ}^  gives  lectures  which  are  very  well  attended  by 
the  laboring  classes.  The  government  exercises  a  strong 
censorship  over  the  press,  and  the  appearance  of  anti- 
orthodox  periodicals  and  articles  in  newspapers  and  mag- 


642  FOLU    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

azines  is  severely  punished.  In  1890  the  then  existing 
Freethought  journal,  "Tank  Sclv,"  was  suppressed  and 
the  editor  sentenced  to  imprisonment  at  iiard  labor. 
Prominent  among  Danish  Freethinkers  are  Dr.  George 
Brandes,  LL.D.,  and  his  brother  Edward  Brandes,  M.D., 
ex-member  of  Rigsdogen  and  editor  of  "  Dogens  Nvkede," 
both  of  whom  are  representatives  of  the  radical  Free- 
thinke4-s,  while  E.  L.  Larsen,  B.Tli.,  librarian  at  the  Great 
Royal  Library,  represents  that  class  which  does  not  wash 
religion  abolished,  but  wishes  it  subjected  to  a  revision, 
which  would  create  a  philosophy  that  allows  ample  space 
for  religious  feeling.  This  class,  however,  is  not  near  as 
numerous  as  the  radical,  to  which  most  of  the  scientific 
and  educated  belong. 

Switzerland. 

There  exist  several  Freethought  societies  in  Switzer- 
land, but  as  they  are  not  in  communication  with  Free- 
thinkers of  other  countries  and  have  effected  no  national 
union,  little  is  known  about  them.  There  are  but  two 
societies  which  belong  to  the  International  Freethought 
Federation  :  Libres  Penseurs  Polonais,  Geneva  ;  Societe 
de  Libres  Penseurs,  Geneva ;  Cli.  Fulpius,  president. 

Italy. 

There  is  no  national  Freethought  Federation  in 
Italy,  but  in  all  the  principal  cities  we  find  one  or  more 
local  Freethought  societies.  The  Italian  League  of  Free- 
thinkers is  no  more,  and  judging  from  the  reports  given, 
Freetliouglit  in  Italy  is  like  Methodism — it  exists  by 
virtue  of  frequent  revivals.  Societies  are  born,  only  to 
decay  in  the  course  of  a  few  3-ears.  The  reason  for  this 
is  to  be  found  parth*  in  the  national  character,  which 
tramples  in  the  dust  to-day  its  god  of  yesterday  ;  partly  in 
tlie  fact  that  Freethought  is  unknown  outside  the  cities; 
partly,  and  not  least,  in  the  extreme  illiteracy  of  the  popu- 


N.  D.  GOODELL  (p.   744). 


MEXICO.  643 

lation,  which,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  gradually  disap- 
pearing, owing  to  the  fact  that  the  government  has  taken 
upon  itself  the  supervision  of  public  instruction.  Still  the 
influence  of  the  clergy,  especially  in  rural  communities,  is 
very  strong  yet,  and  seriously  interferes  with  the  work  of 
reform. 

Although  prosecutions  of  Freethinkers  by  the  law  are 
very  rare,  yet  owing  to  the  non-organization  of  the  Italian 
Freethinkers,  several  Freethought  journals  have  been 
forced  to  cease  publication,  and  their  editors  indicted  for 
blasphemy,  but  never  sentenced  to  imprisonment.  Among 
journals  which  have  suffered  this  fate  we  will  mention 
"  Libere  Pensatore,"  published  at  Kome  by  Signor  Luigi 
Stefnoni,  and  the  magazine  "  Prometheus,"  while  Signor 
Novelli,  of  the  Florence  "  Vero  Monello  "  (True  Rogue), 
was  cheered  when  acquitted  on  the  charges  of  irreverence 
and  blaspliemy. 

Several  Freethought  societies  belong  to  the  Inter- 
national Freethought  Federation,  but  their  numerical 
streugtli  is  not  known  outside  Italy. 

Mexico. 

There  is  no  national  Freethought  organization  in 
the  republic  of  Mexico.  This,  however,  is  not  due  to  the 
lack  of  Freethinkers,  but  rather  to  the  unsettled  con- 
dition of  affairs  in  that  country.  Only  since  the  present 
president,  General  Parfirio  Diaz,  became  the  head  of  the 
states  has  the  republic  of  Mexico  enjoyed  any  kind  of 
peace.  Of  Freethought  societies  in  Mexico  four  only  have 
come  to  our  notice.  The  strength  of  these  societies  is 
given  from  twenty-five  to  sixty  members  each.  Besides 
these  exclusively  Freethought  societies  there  is  the  Grand 
Diete  Symbolique  Ecassaise,  comprising  one  hundred 
lodges,  and  fifty  Freemason  lodges,  belonging  to  the  Grand 
Orient  of  France,  all  of  which  joined  the  International 
Freethought  Federation  on  occasion  of  the  Madrid   Con- 


644  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

gress  in  1892,  as  was  the  case  with  fifty  dififerent  journals 
and  periodicals.  Hence  it  may  be  seen  that  Freethought 
is  well  represented  in  Mexico,  and  it  will  be  perfectly  safe 
to  estimate  the  number  of  organized,  outspoken  Free- 
thinkers at  ten  thousand  The  most  important  journals 
are  "El  Liberal,"  "  Zacaticas,"  "El  Universal,"  "El 
Monitor  Kepublicano,"  "El  Partido  Liberal,"  and  "El 
Nacional,"  the  latter  four  being  published  in  the  City  of 
Mexico. 

Prominent  among  Mexican  Freethinkers  are  General 
Porfirio  Diaz,  president  of  Mexico  ;  General  Riva  Palacio, 
embassador  of  Mexico  at  Madrid ;  Ignacio  Manuel  Alta- 
miro,  consul-general  of  Mexico  to  Paris  ;  D.  Manuel 
Payno,  consul-geEeral  of  Mexico  to  Spain  ;  Rafael  Spin- 
dola,  editor  of  "  El  Universal ; "  Senator  Apolinar  Cas- 
tillo, editor  of  "  El  Partido  Liberal ; "  Dou  Joaquin  Bar- 
anda,  minister  of  justice  and  education. 

If  Louis  XIV.  of  France  could  state  :  "  Je  suis  I'etat," 
then  with  much  more  truth  can  President  Diaz  say  :  "  I 
am  the  republic  of  Mexico."  President  Diaz  was  born  in 
1830.  He  received  a  military  education,  and  as  a  true 
friend  of  liberty  and  progress  he  joined  his  fate  to  that  of 
the  eminent  patriot,  Benito  Juarez.  His  military  glory 
was  crowned  when  he  on  May  5,  1862,  repulsed  the  French 
invaders  at  Pueblo.  His  countrymen  remembered  this, 
and  in  1876,  when  Mexico  was  yet  in  the  throes  of  revolu- 
tion, General  Porfirio  Diaz  was  elected  president.  Since 
then  he  has  filled  the  presidential  chair  thrice  for  four 
years,  and  on  Dec.  1,  1892,  he  was  by  an  overwhelming 
majority  elected  to  his  fourth  term.  In  spite  of  the 
strenuous  opposition  of  his  enemies  and  the  church,  he 
has  carried  out  all  the  great  measures  of  reform  which  he 
deemed  necessary  to  insure  the  progress  of  Mexico.  To 
mention  all,  or  even  most  of  his  reforms,  is  out  of  the 
question  here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  he  has  effected  a 
complete  separation  of  church  and  state.    He  has  deprived 


REPUBLICS  OP  CENTRAL  AND  SOUTH  AMERICA.  045 

the  clergy  of  tlie  control  of  all  educational  institutions, 
and  to  him  it  is  likewise  due  that  school  attendance  is 
made  compulsory,  and  a  great  number  of  new  schools 
have  been  established.  Mexico,  which  before  his  time 
had  but  one  thousand  public  schools,  can  now  boast  of 
over  six  thousand.  In  his  endeavor  to  enlighten  the 
people  he  is  ably  assisted  by  that  stanch  Freethinker,  and 
present  minister  of  education  and  justice,  Don  Joaquin 
Baranda,  ex-governor  of  Campeche.  President  Diaz  is 
very  democratic  in  daily  life.  He  walks  the  streets  un- 
attended, and  patronizes  the  horse-car,  when  his  own 
plain  carriage  is  not  at  hand.  Even  his  enemies  admit 
that  he  is  a  statesman  of  the  first  class,  endowed  with  both 
force  of  character  and  integrity.  He  joined  the  Inter- 
national Freethought  Federation  at  the  congress  held  at 
Madrid  in  1892.  He  is  a  great  worker,  an  honest,  sincere 
patriot,  and  Mexico  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  its 
chosing  as  president  the  Freethinker  General  Porfirio 
Diaz. 

The  Republics  of  Central  and  South  America. 

Freethought  in  these  countries  is  but  in  its  infancy. 
Not  that  the  numbers  of  Freethinkers  is  so  insignificant, 
or  that  they  cannot  boast  of  Freethought  societies  and 
journals,  or  point  with  a  pride  mingled  with  sorrow  to 
several  martyrs  to  the  cause  of  intellectual  liberty,  but  in 
none  of  these  republics  do  we  find  a  national  Freethought 
organization.  Hence  the  influence  of  Freethought  upon 
their  development  in  indirect.  Imprisonment,  fines,  sup- 
pression and  clerical  boycotting  of  Freethought  papers, 
prosecution  of  individuals,  are  the  rule  and  not  the  excep- 
tion. The  cause  for  this  state  of  affairs  is  to  be  found 
partly  in  the  uusf^ttled  political  condition  of  these  coun- 
tries, but  still  more,  we  think,  in  the  lack  of  primary 
education.  The  greater  part  of  the  population  cannot 
read,     hence    cannot    be    reached    by    those    omnipotent 


646  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

educators — the  secular  papers.  Freetbought  lecturers 
like  those  in  the  United  States  would  either  starve  to 
death,  or,  what  is  more  likely,  be  assassinated  by  some 
religious  fanatic.  Only  in  the  large  cities  do  we  find 
Freethought  societies  and  Liberal  papers,  and  to  the  cities 
are  also  confined  the  Masonic  lodges,  which,  so  far  as 
they  belong  to  the  Grand  Orient,  are  composed  of  Free- 
thinkers only.  Most  of  the  Freethought  societies  are 
established  by  and  composed  of  foreigners. 

Following  is  the  strength  in  the  various  republics  as 
reported  at  the  International  Freethought  Congress  at 
Madrid,    in    October,    1892. 

Central  America  and  West  Indies. — Guadeloupe  has  but 
one  society  :  The  Lodge  Antarcha.  St.  Domingo  :  The 
Lodge  Libertad,  Escuela  Normal,  Asociacion  de  Profes- 
ores  y  Artistas.  The  organ  for  these  Freethought  bodies 
is  "El  Boletin  de  Comercio." 

Cuba. — But  one  society  is  known  to  exist  on  that 
island  :  Victor  Hugo,  founded  in  1893 ;  but  there  are 
numerous  individual  Freethinkers,  owing  especially  to  the 
large  influx  of  foreigners.  The  local  Freethought  paper  is 
"  El  Esjieretu  del  Siglo,"  which  is  published  in  Santiago. 

Trinidad. — On  this  island  the  National  Secular  Society 
of  England  has  a  branch.  The  president  of  the  society 
is  Mr.  Edgar  Maresse-Smith,  while  the  secretary's  office  is 
filled  by  Mr.  Emanuel  dos  Santos,  who  is  likewise  the 
editor  and  publislier  of  "  Progress,"  the  local  Freethought 
joiirnal. 

Sa;n  Salvador. — Freethought  opinions  are  spread  in 
this  republic  by  the  journal,  "America  Central,"  pub- 
lished at  Santa  Anna. 

Guatemahi. — No  organized  Freethought  is  known  to 
exist  here,  but  there  are  hopes  of  better  times,  as  the 
journals,  "  La  Noticias,"  and  "El  Quetzal,"  which  belong 
to  tlie  International  Freethought  Federation,  are  waging  a 
steady  warfare  for  liberty  of  conscience. 


THE  LIBERAL  TRESS.  647 

Colombia  Republic.  — In  this  republic  Freetbought  lias 
fastened  its  roots  in  three  cities  :  Santa  Marta,  Popayan, 
and  Cali. 

The  Republic  of  Venezuela. — Freethought  in  Venezuela  is 
represented  by  the  Grand  Orient  National,  comprising 
forty  lodges  with  a  membership  of  over  a  thousand. 

Uruguay. — Freethought  in  Uruguay  is  represented  by 
the  Lodge  Giordano  Bruno,  Montevideo  ;  El  Club  Liberal, 
Montevideo,  and  by  the  journals  "La  Capital,"  ''El 
Estudio,"  and  "  El  Paysandu,"  all  published  in  Monte- 
video." 

Peru. — Of  Freethought  societies  we  have  :  The  Lodge 
Cosmopolita,  Trujillo,  and  three  journals  at  Lima. 

Argentine  Republic. — Among  tlie  different  states  of 
South  America,  Argentine  stands  decidedly  at  the  liead. 
Not  only  are  Freethinkers  numerous,  but  they  have  organ- 
ized themselves  in  all  the  large  cities.  Yet  owing  to  the 
diversity  of  nationalities  represented,  no  national  organ- 
ization has  been  effected.  Among  societies  we  must  men- 
tion the  Great  Provincial  Lodge  Bonaerense,  at  Buenos 
Ayres,  consisting  of  several  minor  lodges  with  an  aggre- 
gate membership  of  about  one  thousand. 

The  Liberal  Press. 

The  press  has  been  one  of  the  greatest  of  Freethought 
powers.  In  its  very  nature  it  is  for  agitation  and  progress. 
The  church  never  welcomed  the  press.  It  has  had  to 
fight  its  way.  The  cliurch  wanted  the  pulpit,  and  only 
the  pulpit,  for  communication  with  the  masses.  The  pul- 
pit could  be  kept  under  control,  and  be  made  to  express 
only  those  ideas  which  were  safe  to  the  ruling  powers. 
But  the  press  was  too  vast  and  manifold.  The  priest 
could  not  altogether  manipulate  it  to  his  advantage.  It 
must  break  forth  into  many  truths  dangerous  to  the 
church. 

The  newspaper,  in  its  very  nature,  is  secular.     It  treats 


648  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

religion  from  the  standpoint  of  a  good  item.  It  publishes 
sermons  just  as  it  publishes  the  report  of  a  murder  trial, 
to  please  its  readers'  curiosity.  If  religious  matter  is  stale 
and  old-fashioned,  it  has  no  chance  in  the  columns  of  a 
dail}-  journal.  It  must  be  fresh  and  spicy  and  newsy,  or 
it  goes  into  the  Avaste  basket.  The  newspaper  is  for  to- 
day, and  golden  harps  are  nothing  compared  to  a  street 
fight.  The  New  Jerusalem  would  be  interesting  only  as  a 
railroad  terminus ;  and  the  courts  of  heaven  would  be 
passed  by  for  a  divorce  court. 

All  literature  to-day  is  permeated  by  the  Freethought 
spirit.  This  is  especially  to  be  noted  in  the  popular 
novels.  Dickens  and  Thackeray  have  little  regard  for 
orthodoxy.  The  clergy  very  seldom  appear  with  any 
credit  to  their  cloth  in  the  pages  of  these  genial  satirists. 
The  most  widely  read  books  are  heterodox.  No  novel 
has  produced  a  greater  sensation  than  "Robert  Elsmere," 
and  there  never  was  a  more  skillful  impeachment  of  or- 
thodox doctrine.  The  "Story  of  an  African  Farm,"  which 
came  unheralded,  the  production  of  a  young  girl — a  soli- 
tary student  of  nature — has  found  its  thousands  of  readers. 
The  newspaper  poets  are  most  read  when  they  hit  some 
orthodox  humbug.  The  latest  results  of  Bible  criticism 
are  scattered  broadcast.  The  leading  articles  are  fre- 
quently bombs  in  the  orthodox  camp. 

The  Sunday  newspaper  is  a  great  agency  for  Free- 
thouglit.  It  makes  Sunday  a  secular  day — a  day  for  this 
worhl — and  what  is  going  on  in  it.  It  flashes  a  thousand 
beams  upon  the  "dim  religious  light"  which  vanishes 
away.  Having  no  telegraphic  communication  with  heaven, 
the  Sunday  newspaper  has  very  little  to  say  of  its  aftairs. 
The  transactions  of  the  broad,  bright  earth  itself  fill  its 
columns.  Science,  literature,  history,  fashion,  and  gossip 
are  there,  but  theology  takes  a  back  seat.  There  is  no 
meat  on  its  "dry  bones,"  and  they  are  left  to  the  pulpit, 
the  onlv  place  where  thev  can  liave  anv  sliow  of  success. 


W.   B.   BUTSFORD  ([x   700). 


THE  LIBERAL  PRESS.  649 

The  Sunday  newspaper  reaches  millions  of  readers, 
and  takes  the  place  of  the  once  popular  religious  service. 
The  newspaper  occupies  the  morning  hours ;  and  the 
afternoon  and  evening  are  generally  devoted  to  amuse- 
ments. 

Indeed,  so  widespread  is  the  secular  spirit  in  the  news- 
papers, that  many  Liberals  imagine  that  there  is  no  need 
of  any  distinctive  Freethought  journals,  which  is  a  very 
great  mistake,  and  shows  a  sad  ignorance  of  the  true  con- 
ditions of  the  world,  for  without  distinctive  and  determined 
Freethought  in  the  advance  that  which  has  already  been 
gained  would  be  lost.  The  newspapers  need  to  be  toned 
up,  for  they  have  no  ideal  purpose ;  they  seek  only  to 
please  the  multitude.  They  do  not  lead.  They  are  not 
devoted  to  principle.  They  are  simply  mirrors  of  the  age. 
They  are  simply  for  to-day — not  for  yesterday' ;  nor  for  to- 
morrow. While  they  neglect  the  priest,  they  also  neglect 
the  prophet.  The  editor  must  not  pierce  into  the  future  ; 
he  must  interpret   the  present  according  to  popular  fancy. 

There  must  be  pioneers,  those  who  plunge  into  the 
wilderness  and  blaze  the  path  of  progress.  There  must 
he  leaders  of  thought  who  see  far  off  the  dawning  which 
has  not  reached  the  multitude. 

There  must  be  the  press  committed  simply  and  solely 
to  Freethought,  to  its  high  ideals,  its  new  truths,  its  still 
unrecognized  principles,  which  must  hereafter  be  the  re- 
generation of  humanity. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  record  in  brief  the  history  of  these 
noble  journals ,  which,  amidst  sacrifice  and  martyrdom, 
have  kept  the  world  upon  its  onward  way. 

The  Boston  "  Investigator  "  is  the  oldest  Freethought 
journal  in  the  world,  and  for  over  sixty  years  has  waged  a 
persistent  fight  against  tyranny  and  superstition.  It  was 
founded  by  Abner  Kueeland  in  1831.  It  afterward  passed 
into  the  hauds  of  Seaver  and  Mendum,  whose  names  have 
been  made  illustrious  in  connection  with  this  great  journal. 


650  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

For  over  fifty  years  they  strenuously  battled  for  Free- 
thought.  There  was  no  uncertain  sound  with  the  "  Inves- 
tigator." It  proclaimed  Atheism,  science,  and  humanity. 
It  was  radical  and  uncompromising.  It  is  now  under  the 
charge  of  Ernest  Mendum,  who  abates  nothing  of  the 
perseverance  and  energy  of  his  father.  L.  K.  Washburn, 
the  editor,  is  a  noble  successor  to  Seaver.  He  is  amply 
furnished  for  leadership  in  the  editorial  field,  and  the 
power  of  the  "Investigator"  is  undiminished.  It  is  now 
published  in  the  Paine  Memorial  Building,  Appleton 
street,  Boston,  Mass.,  and  through  the  battles  and  fortunes 
of  the  eventful  past,  from  a  position  of  deserved  eminence 
it  hails  the  future  with  stanch  and  shining  columns. 

In  the  summer  of  1873  D.  M.  Bennett,  of  Paris,  III, 
got  into  a  discussion  on  prayer  with  two  clergymen,  which 
discussion  was  carried  on  through  the  local  papers.  The 
editor  of  one  of  these  was  unfair  toward  Bennett,  publish- 
ing his  antagonists'  articles  and  not  Bennett's.  This  de- 
cided Bennett  to  start  a  paper  of  his  own,  in  which  he 
could  say  what  he  pleased.  This  was  the  origin  of  "The 
Truth  Seeker."  September  1,  1873,  was  the  date  of  the 
first  paper.  Twelve  thousand  copies  were  issued  and  sent 
broadcast  over  the  land.  Four  numbers  were  published 
at  Paris,  111.  After  that  the  paper  was  published  in  New 
York.  It  is  now  the  largest  Freethought  paper  in  the 
world.  The  persecutions  endured  by  Bennett  rallied  the 
Liberals  of  the  country  to  its  support.  Bennett  was  the 
most  industrious  of  writers,  and  labored  from  morning  to 
night  for  the  success  of  his  paper.  He  was  absolutely 
fearless  in  the  expression  of  his  convictions,  and  this  was 
the  secret  of  his  triumph  over  so  many  difficulties.  At 
his  death  the  paper  was  in  the  front  rank  of  Freethought 
journals.  It  has  exercised  a  vast  influence  in  the  prog- 
ress of  radical  Liberalism.  Since  the  death  of  Bennett  in 
1882,  it  has  been  under  the  editorial  charge  of  E.  M.  Mac- 
donald,  who  was  with  Bennett  and  his  stanch  supporter 


THE  LIBERAL  PRESS.  651 

f 

through  all  "  The  Truth  Seeker's "  early  struggles.  He 
has  proved  himself  the  "  right  man  in  the  right  place." 
"  The  Truth  Seeker "  has  steadily  advanced.  It  has  a 
corps  of  able  contributors.  It  contains  correspondence 
from  all  parts  of  the  Freethought  field.  The  cartoons  of 
Heston  have  given  it  a  great  attraction.  In  connection 
with  the  paper  a  large  amount  of  the  best  Freethought 
literature  has  been  published.  "  The  Truth  Seeker  "  has 
won  a  solid  basis  and,  with  the  progress  of  Freethought, 
has  before  it  a  career  of  splendid  usefulness. 

H.  L.  Green  is  known  as  one  of  the  most  untiring 
workers  in  the  Liberal  ranks.  He  is  devoted  to  the 
cause.  The  "Freethinkers'  Magazine,"  a  monthly  period- 
ical, of  which  he  is  editor  and  publisher,  is  conducted  in 
a  spirit  of  the  broadest  intellectual  charity.  All  good 
thoughts  on  any  subject  are  welcome  to  its  pages.  Mr. 
Green  himself  is  a  radical  Freethinker,  but  he  tends  more 
to  the  constructive  than  to  the  destructive  work  of  Free- 
thought.  He  aims  to  bring  all  Liberal  minds,  of  whatever 
creed,  into  sj'mpathy.  His  magazine  has  a  wide  circula- 
tion, and  the  articles  contributed  have  a  high  order  of 
merit.     It  is  a  fine  auxiliary  to  the  weekly  press. 

And  so  also  is  tbe  "Independent  Pulpit,"  published 
and  edited  by  J.  D.  Shaw  at  Waco,  Texas.  This  is  an 
excellent  journal,  and  has  been  a  beacon  of  progress  in 
the  southwest.  Liberalism  owes  much  to  the  patient  and 
persistent  efibrts  of  Mr.  Shaw.  He  has  gathered  in  his 
"Pulpit"  a  choice  company  of  Freethinkers — scholarly, 
eloquent,  and  unawed  by  the  powers  that  be.  Scientific 
and  literary  articles  of  great  value  have  adorned  the  pages 
of  his  journak  His  earnest  and  thoughtful  mind,  trained 
by  man}'  experiences,  is  richly  equipped  for  a  field  which 
in  years  to  come  must  be  a  fruitful  one  for  Freethought. 

Mr.  Watts's  recognized  ability  and  energy  guaranteed 
that  "Secular  Thought,"  published  under  his  manage- 
ment at  Toronto,  Canada,  would  be  a  valuable  exponent 


652  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

of  Freethouglit  principles.  It  has  indeed  been  an  ardent 
and  able  contender  against  the  rigid  orthodoxy  which 
prevails  in  Canada.  "  Secular  Thought "  has  also  endeav- 
ored to  make  Freethouglit  a  practical  movement,  and  its 
constructive  principles  have  been  admirably  stated  in 
this  journal.  Mr.  J.  Spencer  Ellis,  who  has  succeeded 
Mr.  'V\atts  in  the  editorship,  has  pluckily  maintained  his 
post,  and  this  brave  paper  still  does  effective  work. 

,  The  "Ironclad  Age,"  formerly  the  Seymour  "Times," 
through  the  unique  genius  of  Dr.  J.  R.  Monroe,  has  been 
one  of  the  brightest  and  most  stirring  supporters  of  Free- 
thought.  Dr.  Monroe  had  no  patience  with  superstition, 
and  he  attacked  it  with  keen  argument  and  irony  and 
showed  no  mercy.  He  was  iconoclastic.  He  was  a  fighter 
and  he  did  splendid  work,  and  the  "  Ironclad  Age  "  will 
be  remembered  for  its  rattling  batteries  of  invective  and 
sarcasm. 

"  Freethought"  was  started  at  San  Francisco  in  1888, 
and  was  generously  supported  by  the  Liberals  of  the 
Pacific  coast.  A  great  work  was  accomplished  by  this 
paper.  Such  an  enterprise  was  needed.  Samuel  P. 
Putnam  and  George  E.  Macdonald  did  their  level  best  to 
to  make  it  succeed.  But  the  financial  problem  cannot 
alwaj's  be  triumphantly  solved.  The  population  of  the 
Coast  is  not  so  compact  as  that  of  the  East,  and  being 
changeable  and  scattered  through  wide  areas,  it  was  im- 
possible to  organize  a  sufficient  number  to  support  the 
paper  adequately,  and  "Freethought"  was  eventually 
consolidated  with  "  The  Truth  Seeker."  The  friends  of 
the  paper  can  be  proud  of  its  record,  for  while  it  did  send 
forth  its  message  it  was  a  living  one,  and  its  influence  is 
not  yet  lost. 

"Man,"  under  the  editorship  of  T.  C.  Leland,  was  every 
inch  a  man  and  dared  to  say  and  do  whatever  became  a 
man  ;  hut.  as  Mr.  Leland  said,  "  he  was  a  'Man  '  of  sorrows 
and  acqu.iintf'd  with  grief."     While  it  lusted  it  was  in  the 


THE  LIBERAL  PRESS.  653 

battle's  van,  and  spent  its  last  dollar  like  a  prince.     It 
was  consolidated  with  "The  Truth  Seeker." 

The  "  Eadical  Review,"  edited  by  George  Schumm,  is 
worthy  of  remembrance,  like  "  Freethought,"  for  it  main- 
tained a  noble  struggle,  but  was  obliged  to  succumb  to  the 
powers  of  an  empty  treasury. 

Chainey's  "Infidel  Pulpit  "  and  "  This  World  "  for  the 
time  being  was  glittering  with  promise,  but  the  editor  lost 
his  grip  on  the  material  world,  and  the  end  came. 

The  "  Chicago  Liberal,"  edited  by  Mrs.  M.  A.  Free- 
man, was  a  brave  little  sheet,  but  the  bank  account  was 
not  sufficient. 

"  Lucifer,"  and  "  Fair  Play,"  edited  by  Moses  Harman, 
and  E.  C.  Walker,  while  engaged  more  in  social  reform 
than  strictly  Freethought  work,  have  been  thoroughly 
anti-orthodox,  and  have  contributed  some  interesting 
pages  to  the  annals  of  Freethought  martyrdom.  "Lucifer" 
still  flames  on,  but  "  Fair  Play "  is  so  seldom  found  in 
this  world  that  it  went  the  way  of  the  impecunious. 

While  the  "  Open  Court  "  cannot  be  listed  as  a  radical 
Freethought  journal,  still,  under  the  editorship  of  Dr. 
Carus,  it  is  so  candid  and  scientific,  and  its  pages  are  so 
illuminated  with  learning,  that  it  must  certainly  be  ranked 
as  one  of  the  progressive  forces  of  the  Liberal  press. 

The  "  Index,"  while  under  the  editorship  of  Francis 
Ellingwood  Abbot,  did  some  valuable  work  in  the  eluci- 
dation of  the  scientific  method.  In  this  direction  Mr. 
Abbot  did  much  to  throw  the  sunlight  of  science  upon 
the  fogs  of  philosophy. 

"Liberty,"  edited  by  Benjamin  R.  Tucker,  is  to  be 
noted  as  the  representative  of  philosophical  Anarchy. 
While  Anarchy  is  necessarily  Freethought,  it  does  not 
follow  that  Freethought  is  necessarily  Anarchy.  Generally 
speaking,  Freethought  in  politics  is  Jeffersonian  de- 
mocracy, which  is  also  the  democracy  of  Thomas  Paine, 
namelv    that   the  state  is  a  necessity,  but   it  must  simply 


654  FOUR  HUNDRED   TEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

exist  as  a  police  power,  founded  upon  human  rights  and 
for  the  defense  of  human  right.  Freethought,  of  course, 
is  entirely  opposed  to  that  "  anarchy "  which  resorts  to 
force  and  violence.  "  Liberty "  is  a  stimulating  journal 
and  represents  that  which  should  be  thoroughly  under- 
stood by  every  political  student. 

The  "  Twentieth  Century  "  had  a  brilliant  existence 
while  Pentecost  was  in  the  flower  of  his  Freethought 
exuberance  ;  but  it  has  since  devoted  itself  to  economical 
questions  which  have  been  treated  with  marked  ability. 
It  is  no  longer  distinctively  Freethought. 

The  "Arena  "  has  uttered  many  a  clarion  note  for  free- 
dom. Its  success  is  an  indication  of  the  times ;  of  the 
manifold  tendencies  there  are  toward  Freethought ;  of  the 
unrest  that  is  in  the  people,  and  the  desire  for  something 
new,  especially  in  literature. 

In  England  there  was  Bradlaugh's  great  paper,  "  The 
National  Reformer,"  vigorous  and  defiant,  speaking  with 
trumpet  tones,  and  so  animated  with  the  spirit  of  the 
great  chief  that  it  could  not  survive  his  death. 

The  "  Freethinker,"  published  by  G.  W.  Foote,  strikes 
the  popular  vein.  It  is  edited  with  exceeding  aptness. 
Brief  and  terse  are  its  sentences,  and  going  straight  to 
the  mark,  the  gleam  of  wit  plays  about  its  solid  material. 

Tlie  "Agnostic  Journal,"  Saladin  editor,  can  boast  of 
the  splendors  of  philosophy  and  poetry.  Its  philosophy 
is  based  upon  poetry,  and  its  poetry  it  radiant  with  nature's 
life. 

The  "  Literary  Guide,"  C.  A.  Watts  editor,  is  certainly 
a  valuable  addition  to  Liberal  journals.  It  keeps  one  in 
communication  with  the  best  books  of  the  day,  and  the 
world's  progress. 

The  "  Liberator,"  Australia,  and  "  Progress,"  Trini- 
dad, West  Indies,  are  distinctive  Freethought  journals, 
worthy  of  mention. 

As  already  noted,  the  Liberal  journals  of  Europe  are 


JAROSLAV  VOSTRO\  SKY  (p.    814). 


THE  LIBERAL  PRESS.  655 

more  devoted  to  political  and  social  reform  than  to  pure 
Freethought.  The  editors  are  Freethinkers,  and  Free- 
thought  articles  are  published  ;  but  Freethought  as  such 
is  not  the  supreme  object  as  with  the  English  and  Ameri- 
can papers. 

Many  Freethought  journals  have  existed  but  for  a 
time ;  but  they  have  not  existed  in  vain.  They  have  left 
a  light  behind  them  ;  and  made  way  for  more  permanent 
efforts ;  and  the  great  Freethought  journals  of  to-day  are 
the  result  of  these  failures. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  journals,  in  addition  to 
those  already  named,  which  have  briefly  flourished,  and 
whose  memory  remains  : 

"Prospect^  or,  View  of  the  Moral  World,"  for  1804, 
Elihu  Palmer,  N.  Y.,  1804 ;  the  "  Comet,"  S.  J.  W.  Taber, 
N.  T.;  the  "Correspondent,"  Geo.  Houston  &  Co.,  N.  Y.; 
the  "Free  Enquirer,"  Robt.  Dale  Owen  and  Fanny  Wright, 
N.  Y.;  the  "Beacon,"  G.  Vale,  N.  Y;  the  "Age  of  Reason," 
Peter  Eckler,  N.  Y.;  the  "  Theophilanthropist,"  N.  Y;  the 
"  Liberal,"  Jas.  Walker,  Chicago ;  the  "  Regenerator,"  O.  S. 
Murray,  Ohio;  the  "Toledo  Sun,"  Toledo,  O.,  J.  A. 
Lant ;  "  Train  Ligue,"  Everywhere,  G.  F.  Train  ;  the  "  Free- 
thinker," Dr.  F.  Lees,  N.  Y;  the  "Iconoclast,"  Wash- 
ington, D.  C;  the  "Iconoclast,"  Indianapolis,  Ind.; 
"Evolution,"  "Man,"  the  "Scientific  Man,"  A.  K.  Butts, 
N.  Y;  the  "Magnet,"  the  "Harbinger,"  LaRoy  Sunder- 
land (Spiritualist),  Boston ;  "  Herald  of  Freedom,"  A.  J. 
Davis,  N.  Y.;  the  "Rostrum,"  Chicago,  Hull  &  Jamieson ; 
the  "Present  Age,"  D.  M.  Fox,  Lyons,  Mich.;  the  "Wel- 
come Guest,"  J.  L.  Hackstaff,  Coldwater,  Mich.;  the  "Rea- 
soner,"  G.  J.  Holyoake ;  the  "  Investigator/'  R.  Cooper  ; 
the  "Republican,"  "Atheist  and  Republican,"  "Christian 
Warrior,"  "Gauntlet,"  R.  Carlile  ;  "  Isis,"  edited  by 
the  Lady  of  the  Rotunda  ;  "  Cooper's  Journal ;  or.  Unfet- 
tered Thinker;"  "Oracles  of  Reason;"  the  "Black 
Dwarf,"  by  T.  J.  Wooler ;  the  "  Poor  Man's  Guardian,"  H. 


656  J''OUIl   IIUNDRKD  YKARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Hetherington  ;  the  "  Freethinker."  by  a  Society  of  Gentle- 
men ;  the  "  Secular  Chronicle,"  G.  H.  Eeddalls  ;  the  "  Sec- 
uhir  Life."  "  Secular  Eeview,"  G.   J.   Holyoake,  London, 

Englautl. 

The  International  Congress  of  Freethinkers. 

The  White  City,  the  most  beautiful  and  wonderful 
architectural  display  in  the  world  ;  the  vast  lake,  measure- 
less to  the  eye  as  the  ocean  itself ;  the  huge  metropolis, 
with  its  gigantic  buildings  and  enormous  factories  and  re- 
splendent parks  and  avenues,  covering  a  space  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy  square  miles ;  amidst  these  accumu- 
lated glories  of  the  "  Western  Empire,"  a  favored  spot, 
with  auspicious  promise,  gathered  the  World's  Interna- 
tional Congress  of  Freethinkers,  for  the  first  time  on  the 
American  Continent.  Surely  there  could  not  have  been 
more  delightful  and  animating  surroundings  for  this  great 
pioneer  assembly,  since  Freethought  itself  is  universal, 
sympathetic  with  all  that  Art  or  Poetry  can  give,  and 
breathing  inspiration  from  every  beauty  and  grandeur  of 
man's  advancement. 

And  this  was  a  notable  Congress  in  itself,  and  even 
without  such  magnificent  surroundings  would  have  been 
of  pre-eminent  interest.  The  Old  World  could  not  send 
many  of  its  representatives,  for  the  reason  that  most  of 
thera  are  in  the  heat  of  the  conflict  where  the}^  are,  and 
could  only  forward  the  messages  of  comradeship  ;  and  the 
immense  distances  and  cost  of  travel  would  not  allow 
those  who  have  sacrificed  almost  everything  for  fi'eedom 
to  leave  their  arduous  path.  The  veteran  of  Freethought 
is  generallv  on  the  picket-line,  or  in  the  wilderness  blazing 
the  path  of  human  progress  for  a  thousand  generations  to 
come,  and  hence  he  cannot  join,  from  his  far-away  scene 
of  toil,  those  more  fortunate  comrades  who,  for  a  few  days 
beneath  sunny  skies,  can  enjoy  the  jubilee  of  a  common 
brotherhood.      It  must  come   occa&ionallv — tliis   thrill  of 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  FREETHINKERS.  657 

comradeship — this  fraternal  and  splendid  association 
which  gives  new  courage  to  the  heart,  and  new  illumina- 
tions to  the  mind. 

This  was,  without  question,  the  most  representative 
Freethought  Congress  ever  held  in  America.  More  vari- 
eties of  Liberal  people  were  present — from  a  wider  terri  • 
tory  than  ever  before.  All  parts  of  the  United  States 
were  represented,  and  Canada,  England,  and  Australia. 
In  spirit  it  was  an  International  Congress,  although  hun- 
dreds of  friends  were  absent  whom  we  would  gladly  have 
welcomed  from  other  shores.  Those  who  were  present, 
however,  by  their  earnestness,  ability,  harmony,  and  deci- 
siveness of  action,  made  this  Congress  a  fitting  accompani- 
ment of  the  great  Columbian  celebration. 

Only  by  a  few  rapid  strokes  can  one  give  a  pen-picture 
of  this  animated  scene.  The  hall  was  beautifully  deco- 
rated. The  flags  of  every  nation  waved.  The  portraits 
of  Paine  and  Ingersoll  adorned  the  platform.  The  ban- 
ner of  the  Freethought  Federation,  all  the  way  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  blazed  in  the  center.  In  the  alcoves 
were  the  tables  of  the  New  York  "  Truth  Seeker,"  the 
Boston  "  Investigator,"  and  "  American  Sentinel,"  laden 
with  manifold  intellectual  dynamite,  and  their  own  illus- 
trated and  handsomely-printed  journals. 

It  was  a  beautiful  Sunday  morning.  At  an  early  hour 
friends  gathered,  and  many  were  the  greetings  before  the 
gavel  of  the  president  fell  and  the  crowded  assemblage 
was  called  to  order. 

John  J.  I.  Remsburg  gave  a  piano  selection.  John  is  the 
son  of  the  other  John — John  E.  Remsburg — and  nobly  and 
skillfully  in  music  does  he  render  the  ringing  Freethought 
utterances  of  his  famous  ancestry.  Judge  Waite — of  the 
American  Secular  Union — -presided  and  like  a  faithful 
sentinal  at  the  front,  he  pointed  out  the  dangers  and 
urged  the  attack.  ' 

Seated  on  the  platform  were  T.  B.  Wakeman,  Dr.  Foote, 


658  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Jr.,  Captain  Adams,  Charles  Watts,  John  R.  Charles- 
worth,  Frankliu  Steiner,  S.  P.  Putnam,  Susan  H.  Wixon 
and  Mrs.  M.  A.  Freeman.  A  letter  was  read  from  Colonel 
Ingersoll,  regretting  that  business  engagements  prevented 
him  from  attending  the  congress.  Of  course  the  name  of 
Ingersoll  was  welcomed  with  applause,  for  wherever  his 
genius  flames  it  is  for  freedom  and  humanity ;  and 
wherever  he  speaks,  he  speaks  to  all  the  world. 

S.  P.  Putnam,  of  the  Freethought  Federation  then 
said  :  "  Freethought  must  meet  the  combat — the  combat 
for  freedom,  fought  through  all  the  ages,  and  not  ended 
yet.  But  Freethought,  in  its  nature,  is  not  destructive. 
It  means  the  highest  and  grandest  progress  of  man.  It  is 
liberty ;  it  is  human  brotherliood.  With  man  we  must 
work.  With  man,  each  for  all  and  all  for  eacli,  we  win 
the  victory,  and  a  paradise  for  man  on  the  bosom  of  this 
green  earth  itself." 

Captan  Adams  followed  with  ringing  words,  which 
show  that  this  child  of  orthodoxy  has  reached  all  the 
breezy  hights  of  Freethought.  He  is  as  broad  as  the 
universe.  He  did  not  want  flags  in  the  sense  that  there 
should  be  any  limitntions  to  human  brotherhood.  He 
wanted  union  all  around — unity  of  the  race,  Canada  with 
the  United  States,  and  America  with  all  the  world.  He 
visited  E.  H.  Heywood  while  in  the  dungeon,  and  also 
when  liberated.  What  a  lesson  is  here !  Liberty  and 
justice  are  not  3'et  established.  We  must  work — tear 
down  and  build  up. 

Charles  Watts  then  stood  before  the  audience  as  the 
representative  of  seven  thousand  Freethinkers  in  England, 
members  of  the  British  Secular  Union.  Watts  has  a  warm 
place  in  the  hearts  of  our  countrymen,  and  he  received  a 
fitting  welcome  as  the  representative  of  Old  World  Lib- 
eralism. 

The  name  of  George  Jacob  Holyoake  is  always  a 
beloved   name    to  every  Liberal,  for   he  stands  for  Free- 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  FREETHINKERS.  659 

thought  iu  the  realm  of  toil,  as  well  as  in  the  world  of 
thought,  for  man  as  a  worker,  in  whose  interest  every  god 
and  every  priest  must  disappear.  His  letter  to  the  con- 
gress was  characteristic.  His  genial  wit  and  wisdom  was 
thoroughly  appreciated. 

Hermann  Boppe  made  a  short  and  eloquent  address  in 
German. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Edelweiss  Zither  Club  entertained 
the  audience  with  beautiful  music. 

Mr.  Boppe,  of  the  Milwaukee  "  Freidenker,"  gave  an 
elaborate  paper  on  "The  Morals  of  a  Republican  Concep- 
tion of  the  World."  It  was  a  series  of  arguments  for  a 
determined  and  enthusiastic  campaign  against  every  sort 
of  superstition.  Mr.  Boppe  is  a  vigorous  speaker,  and 
though  all  did  not  understand  the  language  in  which  he 
spoke,  the  eloquence  of  his  thought  was  expressed  in  the 
grace  and  earnestness  of  his  delivery. 

Mr.  T.  B.  Wakeman  was  at  his  best,  and  thundered  forth 
plenty  of  sound  logic,  philosophy,  hopes,  and  radical 
thoughts,  which  must  transform  the  world.  The  new 
trinity — Liberty,  Science,  and  Humanity — will  furnish  the 
condition,  the  means,  and  the  motives  of  the  higher  prog- 
ress and  civilization.  Christianity  is  a  fossil.  Study  it, 
but  not  use  it.  As  a  fossil,  it  is  valuable  ;  as  an  institu- 
tion, it  IS  in  the  way.  To  prepare  for  and  aid  the  incom- 
ing of  the  new  era,  is  the  fundamental  purpose  of  Free- 
thought,  of  Secularism,  and  of  every  interest  and  senti- 
ment which  has  brought  this  congress  together. 

Mr.  Remsburg  opened  the  evening  with  a  telling  lec- 
ture on  "Jesus  Christ,"  showing  that  we  did  not  know 
anything  about  the  founder  of  the  Christian  religion.  In 
fact,  he  was  a  mj'th.  Mr.  Remsburg's  dissection  of  the 
gospels  was  as  complete  as  critical  acumen  could  go. 

If  we  were  to  say  that  any  one  gave  us  th^  gem  of  the 
congress,  we  should  say  that  Wa?shbu»rn  did  so,  with  his 
delightful  sentences  touched  with  wit  and  fire,  his  charm- 


660  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

iiig  delivery,  and  clear,  expressive  voice.     It  was  oratory 
tliat  enchanted  the  audience  like  a  strain  of  music. 

Then  Watts  comes,  strong  as  a  Titan.  He  brings  with 
him  the  vernal  airs  of  England,  the  hum  of  its  vast  indus- 
tries, and  the  beat  and  throb  of  its  mighty  metropolis. 
While  representing  Old  England,  the  expansion  and 
glory  of  the  New  World  kindle  his  eloquence.  Watts  is 
cosmopolitan  by  nature,  and  is  at  home  on  every  soil.  He 
handles  his  subject  with  his  usual  felicity,  brilliant  logic, 
and  intellectual  breadth. 

John  1(.  Charlesworth  has  already  won  his  spurs,  and 
^t  that  late  hour  the  audience  were  willing  to  listen  to  his 
attractive  speech — a  plea  for  universal  liberty  and  justice. 

Monday  morning  opened  with  a  membership  of  one 
hundred  and  fift}-  for  the  congress — a  larger  membership 
than  any  congress  ever  before  held.  The  credentials  of 
the  foreign  delegates  were  read,  and  a  letter  from  Jeremiah 
Hacker,  urging  the  nomination  of  Ingersoll  for  the  presi- 
<lency — Jeremiah  Hacker,  who,  for  over  fifty  years,  has 
waved  our  colors  to  the  breeze. 

C.  B.  Reynolds,  now  laboring  on  the  distant  Pacific 
Coast  with  unflinching  courage,  sent  his  fraternal  greet- 
ings, "Ever  for  reason,  right,  and  truth."  Communica- 
tions were  also  received  from  J.  Spencer  Ellis,  Louis 
Levine,  and  S.  E.  Benson.  After  these,  Mrs.  Kinsella 
sung,  and  with  her  sweet  voice  added  to  the  delight  of  the 
occasion. 

Dr.  J.  L.  York  then  entertained  the  audience  with 
picturesque  Western  oratory. 

Saladin's  humorous  and  sparkling  message  from  across 
the  waters,  "  The  Two  Petticoats — Kate's  and  Ann's,"  was 
read.  The  sarcasm  of  this  unique  writer  is  always  mingled 
Avith  fact,  and  the  sword  of  the  oriental  conqueror  could 
jiot  flash  with  greater  precision  or  splendor. 

In  the  afternoon  the  stirring  words  from  G.  W.  Foote^ 
president  of  the  National  Secular  Societj^   England,  re- 


JAMES  FERGUS  (p.   724). 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  FREETHINKERS.  661 

ceived  a  hearty  welcome.  There  was  universal  regret  that 
this  fearless  and  knightly  champion  was  not  with  us,  who 
in  dungeon  darkness  has  flamed  the  light  of  liberty. 

J.  H.  Burnham  could  not  be  with  us,  but  his  speech 
was  read,  and  a  good  speech  it  was,  as  all  his  speeches  are. 

Mr.  Herman  Wettstein,  who  dives  down  to  the  ultimate 
atom  and  reads  its  secret,  gave  the  best  metaphysical 
treatise  of  the  Congress. 

David  S.  Cincose,  the  "  Colored  Bob  Ingersoll,"  next 
adorned  the  occasion.  As  Scipio  carried  the  war  into 
Africa,  so  Africa  now  carries  the  war  into  the  church,  and 
that  is  a  good  sign.  Our  friend  was  once  a  Baptist 
preacher,  but  his  baptism  did  not  go  deep  enough,  and 
he  has  come  out  a  Freethinker. 

Tuesday  morning  the  Freethought  Federation  opened 
session  with  flags  and  banners.  Secretary  Charlesworth 
read  his  report,  which  was  unanimously  accepted.  The 
banner  presented  by  the  Liberals  of  Boulder,  Colorado, 
through  Dr.  L.  Z.  Coman,  excited  much  admiration.  It 
depicted,  in  gold  and  blue  and  red  colors,  the  trials,  prog- 
ress, and  ultimate  victory  of  Freethought.  The  letters 
U.  M.  L.  flashed  the  motto,  "  Universal  Mental  Liberty," 
and  with  it  was  emblazoned  the  Era  of  Man,  which  era  is 
now  adopted  by  the  Federation.  The  old  officers  were  re- 
elected. 

In  the  afternoon  Franklin  Steiner  spoke  his  piece,  and 
spoke  it  well. 

A.  T.  Jones,  of  the  "American  Sentinel,"  followed  with 
one  of  his  keen  discourses,  which,  Avith  the  logic  of  facts, 
shows  the  enormous  dangers  by  which  we  are  confronted. 
T.  B.  Wake  man.  Captain  Adams,  and  quite  a  number  of 
others  spoke  upon  the  methods  of  Freethought  with  some 
difference  of  opinion,  but  the  good  nature  of  the  Congress 
was  not  disturbed. 

Tuesday  evening  was  Bohemian  evening,  and  it  went 
off  magnificently.     The   Bohemians   have  fought  through 


6C2  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

bloody  centuries  with  dazzling  heroism,  and  they  have 
not  given  up  the  battle  yet,  as  was  witnessed  by  the  elo- 
quent discourse  of  Frank  Zdrubek,  and  the  history  of 
Freethought  in  that  land  of  song  ami  romance,  given  by 
J.  J.  Krai.  As  for  music,  there  was  plenty  of  it  this  even- 
ing, and  it  made  the  heart  beat  high.  The  Edelweiss 
Zither  Club  poured  forth  its  delicate  strains  with  exquisite 
movement,  like  a  limpid  river  flowing  on  and  on  ;  while 
the  Bohemian  Orchestra,  like  the  sweeping  of  the  sea, 
with  grand  and  beautiful  melodies  made  the  animated 
scene  rich  with  inspirations.  S.  P.  Putnam  spoke  on  the 
"Eights  of  Man." 

Woman's  Day  was  such  a  glorious  success  that  it  can 
be  reported  only  by  the  sparkling  pen  of  woman,  and  we 
select  the  following  from  the  report  of  Miss  Wixon  : 

"  The  idea  of  a  Woman's  Day  was  suggested,  in  the 
first  place,  if  I  am  correctly  informed,  by  L.  K.  Washburn, 
editor  of  the  Boston  '  Investigator,'  a  true  friend  of 
woman,  and  promoter  of  her  interests. 

"Woman's  Day  dawned  bright  and  glorious.  It  opened 
like  a  flower  in  the  morning  light.  The  flush  of  the  dawn 
and  the  warmth  of  the  sun  lay  upon  it  like  a  benediction, 

"The  'Day'  was  sandwiched  in  about  midwa}'  of  the 
congress,  and,  like  a  gocxl  sandwich,  was  meaty  and  spicy. 
It  was  attractive  and  might  be  well  called  a  drawing  card. 
The  crowds  came  in  the  forenoon,  many  women  and  more 
men,  increasing  in  numbers  at  ever}^  session.  Tliey  who 
were  present  will  always  remember  the  occasion  as  a 
bright,  refresliing  oasis  along  the  way  of  life,  while  those 
who,  from  unavoidable  circumstances,  were  compelletl  to 
be  absent,  will  not  cease  to  regret  the  fact  as  long  as  they 
live.  People  came  hundreds  of  miles  to  be  present  on 
just  that  one  day,  since  they  could  not  remain  through  the 
entire  congress. 

"  The  women  had  the  rostrum  all  to  themselves,  and 
more  besides  ;    for    the    gentlemen    who    kindly  gave    up 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  FREETHINKERS.  663 

the  platform  for  the  day,  also  relinquished  many  frag- 
ments of  paper,  various  tooth-picks,  cuspidors,  some  dust 
and  disorder,  etc.,  the  accumulations  during  previous  days 
of  eloquence  and  enthusiasm.  I  hasten  to  say,  lest  it  be 
thought  that  the  gentlemen  of  the  International  Congress 
had  cause  to  use  the  cuspidors  on  the  platform,  that  the 
articles  in  question  were  simply  the  accessories  of  the.  hall, 
i.  e  ,  they  belonged  there.  The  women  merely  looked  at 
the  disordered  appearances  about  them,  exchanged  a 
glance  or  two,  and  smiled.  '  Men,  you  know,  are  not 
accustomed  to  picking  up  things,'  said  one,  with  ready 
willingness,  as  usual,  to  spare  the  feelings,  and  excuse  any 
shortcomings  of  a  brother.  And  then  it  was  owing  to  the 
negligence  of  the  janitor.     Of  course  it  was. 

"Among  those  seated  on  the  platform,  and  the  oldest  of 
the  ladies,  and  yet  one  of  the  youngest,  for  her  eighty 
years  sat  as  lightly  upon  her  intellectual  brow  as  a  wreath 
of  reil  roses,  was  Mrs.  P.  Van  Hoeter,  of  Grass  Valley, 
Cah  This  lovely  lady  is  well  known  among  the  valiant 
and  tireless  workers  for  the  dissemination  of  Liberal 
ideas.  She  came  all  the  way  from  the  Golden  Gate  to 
attend  this  congress,  to  meet  those  whose  names  were 
familiar  through  her  reading,  and  to  be  present  on 
Woman's  Day,  especially.  The  youngest  little  lady  pres- 
ent was  Miss  Marie  Lumley,  perhaps  eleven  or  twelve 
years  of  age.  She  was  from  Bath-on-the-Hudson,  a 
protegee  of  Robert  Wade,  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  is  remark- 
able for  her  Freethought  principles,  as  well  as  fine  elocu- 
tionary powers. 

"The  presiding  officer  on  Woman's  Day  was  Dr.  Juliet 
Severance,  and  she  was  one  of  the  best  officers  presiding 
in  the  whole  convention.  This  was  the  general  opinion. 
She  insisted  upon  good  order,  and  she  had  it.  Her  open- 
ing address  was  logical,  dignified,  and  convincing  to  all 
hearers  that  woman  had  something  to  say,  and  should 
have  the  jDrivilege  of  saying  her  say. 


664  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OP   FREETHOUGHT. 

"  Lillie  D.  White,  a  bright  and  charming  woman,  of 
Kansas,  gave  a  brilliant  address  on  '  The  Coming  Woman,' 
which  was  full  of  good  sense  and  telling  hits.  Mrs.  Ames 
filled  a  good  half  hour  with  many  strong  facts  and  sug- 
gestive thoughts. 

"  In  the  afternoon  of  Woman's  Day,  Dr.  Severance  had 
a  paper  on  reform  and  reformatory  movements,  entitled, 
'Woman's  Relation  to  Advanced  Thought' 

"  In  the  evening,  Yoltairine  De  Cleyre  gave  a  glowing 
tribute  to  Mary  Wollstonecraf t,  '  The  Apostlo  of  Woman's 
Freedom.'  Choice  language  and  well-turned  sentences 
reflected  the  speaker's  admiration  of  a  heroic  woman, 
who  was  much  misunderstood  and  underrated  in  her  time. 
"  Mrs.  M.  A.  Freeman  treated  '  Woman's  Day,'  and  right 
royally  did  she  explain  and  embellish  the  subject.  With 
many  irrefragable  facts  were  mingled  wit  and  satire,  very 
pleasing  to  her  hearers. 

'•The  editor  of  the  'Children's  Corner,'  in  her  address, 
showed  that  the  '  Progress  of  Woman  in  Four  Centuries ' 
had  not  been  marked  until  Freethouglit  began  to  break 
down  the  prison  ^alls  of  superstitipn  that  held  woman  a 
captive  for  so  many  long  years. 

"  Mrs.  Webb,  a  fair-haired  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  J. 
R.  Monroe,  in  modest,  gentle  tones,  read  an  excellent 
paper,  which,  combined  with  her  lovely  face  and  pleasing 
manners,  won  the  hearts  of  all  who  heard  her.  Several 
papers  were  read  at  various  times  during  the  three  sessions, 
from  those  who  found  it  impossible  to  be  present ;  notably, 
one  from  Addie  L.  Ballou,  of  California,  who  sent,  also,  a 
poem  ;  Mattie  P.  Krekel,  who  discussed  in  her  paper 
'Individuality  as  a  Factor  of  Human  Progress,'  and  Katie 
Kelim  Smith,  of  Oregon,  who  gave  keen  and  decisive 
reasons  why  Liberals  should  be  aggressive  but  not  in- 
tolerant. 

•'  Music  was  interspersed  freely  during  the  day  by  the 
Edelweiss  Zither  Club,  and  Mrs.  Kinsella,  the  charming 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  FREETHINKERS.  665 

singer,  who  responded  to  calls  during  the  entire  congress, 
and  certainly  sang  her  sweetest  notes  on  Woman's  Day. 

"  The  audiences  were  large,  several  times  crowding  the 
hall  and  galleries,  and  occupying  the  space  available  for 
standing.  Applause  was  generous  and  frequent.  What- 
ever doubts  as  to  the  ability  of  woman  may  have  been  in 
the  minds  of  some  beforehand,  they  were  all  dissipated 
long  before  the  close  of  Woman's  Day,  and  the  feeling  was 
general  that  the  rightful  place  of  woman  is  not  beneath  the 
feet  of  man,  nor  above  his  head,  but  by  his  side,  hand  in 
hand  with  him  in  every  great  cause,  in  every  high  endeavor, 
equal  sharer  of  life's  gifts  and  glories." 

On  Thursday  morning  the  American  Secular  Union 
■met.  The  report  of  Secretary  Mrs.  M.  A.  Freeman  showed 
progress  in  the  past,  hope  for  the  future.  The  old  officers 
were  unanimously  re-elected,  and  the  Union  marches 
forward. 

Otto  Wettstein  then  read  one  of  his  bristling  addresses — 
bristling  with  points  of  logic  like  so  many  bayonets. 

Thursday  afternoon  the  ringing  resolutions,  presented 
by  Captain  Adams,  were  unanimously  adopted.  C.  V. 
Ooff,  of  Nebraska,  called  attention  to  the  Freethought 
University,  which  he  hoped  might  bloom  upon  the  West- 
ern prairies. 

Thursday  evening  J.  D.  Shaw,  of  the  "  Independent  Pul- 
pit," gave  a  lecture,  in  which  he  picturesquely  described 
liis  own  evolution  of  thought,  from  the  pulpit  to  the  Free- 
thought  platform  and  press.  It  was  a  story  well  told, 
entertaining,  instructive,  broad,  and  wise,  and  genial  in  its 
criticisms  of  the  past,  and  hopes  for  the  future. 

Isaac  H.  Hourwich  followed,  with  an  address  throwing 
Tivid  light  upon  the  dark  scenes  of  Russia,  where  such  a 
battle  is  being  fought  with  noblest  heroism  and  terrific 
suffering. 

Friday  the  delegates  visited  the  World's  Fair,  gathered 
about  the  picture  of  Thomas  Paine,  listened  to  a  short 


666  FOIR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

address  by  John  E.  Remsburg,  and  in  spite  of  the  rainy 
day,  we  felt  that  ''this  old  world  was  growing  brighter." 

Saturday  evening  was  the  banquet,  and  there  was  a 
jolly  g;itliering.  Freethinkers  could  not  revel  in  much 
style  or  gorgeous  display  of  gold  and  silver  ;  but  all  the 
same  they  could  gather  around  the  campfire  and  be 
merrv,  and  even  if  the  feast  was  an  economical  one,  the 
surroundings  could  be  made  bright  and  beautiful  with 
an  intellectual  repast  and  the  "hopes  of  divine  liberty." 

The  largest  audiences  gathered  together  on  the  closing 
day,  Sunday,  October  8th. 

Moses  Harman,  the  sturdy  martyr  of  "  Lucifer,"  began 
the  s]ieeches.  Harman  is  a  rugged,  honest,  independent 
being,  just  the  man  to  do  and  dare  for  his  convictions,  and 
he  was  a  welcome  addition  to  the  International  Congress. 

Eemsburg  followed,  with  a  most  telling  address  on 
*'  The  Church  and  Slavery."  The  truths  he  uttered  should 
be  sounded  all  over  the  land,  until  the  church  shall  hang 
its  head  in  shame  of  its  base  and  cowardly  record. 

Mrs.  Freeman,  with  her  characteristic  gentleness,  keen- 
ness, earnestness,  and  boldness  of  thought,  won  deserved 
applause. 

Reuben  Rush,  from  Boston,  created  a  whirl  of  enthu- 
siasm. 

Prof.  J.  H.  Cook,  the  oldest  Freethouglit  lecturer 
present,  over  half  a  century  in  the  work,  made  a  speech 
which  all  were  delighted  to  hear ;  for  now  the  veteran  is 
feeble — though  it  seemed  for  the  time  being  as  if  all  the 
fire  of  youth  were  in  his  veins.  The  whole  audience  joined 
in  singing  "  Old  John  Brown,"  to  Freethouglit  rhymes, 
and  after  that  nearly  fifty  dollars  were  thro-wn  upon  the 
platform  for  the  benefit  of  this  war-worn  soldier. 

John  H.  Copeland,  of  Texas,  gave  a  fervid  speech,  and 
lired  the  Northern  heart  with  Southern  eloquence,  beneath 
the  glorious  stars  and  stripes.  Then  Dr.  Foote  was  called 
upon.      His   ])ersevering  and   heroic  work  is  known  to  alL 


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J.  p.   RICHARDSON  (p.  794). 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  FREETHINKERS.  667 

The  afternoon  session  opened  with  music  by  the  Misses 
Johnstone,  of  Hoopeston,  111.,  which  charmed  us  all.  Reso- 
lutions by  Mr.  Betts  were  presented,  also  a  communica- 
tion from  San  Antonio,  Texas,  followed  by  a  few  words 
from  Professor  Crowe.  Miss  Wixon  then  made  one  of  her 
fine  addresses.  We  are  proud  of  Miss  Wixon,  the  friend 
of  the  children,  she  is  so  thoughtful,  so  sympathetic,  so 
clear  in  vision,  so  graceful  in  expression,  so  courageous, 
and  yet  so  mild  and  persuasive.  No  wonder  that  the 
children  love  her,  and  we  all  honor  her.  Steiner  and 
Washburn  came  after.     The  afternoon  was  filled  with  gems. 

Sunday  evening  was  opened  with  a  letter  from  W.  H. 
Lamaster,  and  then  Captain  Adams  gave  a  lecture  on 
"Church  Bells;  What  are  they  Saying?"  Captain  Adams, 
from  his  wide  experience  on  land  and  sea,  with  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men,  a  man  of  the  world,  a  citizen  of 
the  universe,  has  a  taking  way  of  speaking,  a  breezv,  sailor- 
like manner  of  putting  things,  so  entirely  human  and 
common-sense,  that  he  makes  a  most  attractive  orator. 

S.  P.  Putnam  made  the  closing  addresses.  He  said  : 
"From  this  magnificent,  this  animating  Congress,  we  go 
forth  upon  the  fields  of  time  witli  brilliant  hopes  ;  with 
nobler  fellowship,  with  grander  impulses,  we  can  continue 
the  mighty  conflict,  handed  down  to  us  from  the  imme- 
morial past,  dark  and  terrific  at  times,  but  now  opening 
to  sunny  hights  and  splendid  victories,  so  that  afar  we  see 
the  day  of  triumph,  the  flag  above  the  cross,  truth  above 
superstition,  reason  above  faith,  character  above  belief, 
manhood  above  priesthood,  science  above  the  church, 
civilization  above  barbarism  ;  and  above  God,  Humanity, 

'*  Good  and  great  and  joyous,  and  beautiful  and  free." 

Of  course  among  these  pen-pictures  one  cannot  omit 
the  editorial  fraternity,  for  where  would  these  "  pictures  " 
be,  without  "  the  thoughts  that  breathe  and  words  that 
burn"  of  the  Liberal  press?     Macdonald  is  present,  and 


QQS  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

you  wouldn't  think  by  bis  youthful  appearance  that  he 
had  been  for  two  scorce  jears  in  the  Liberal  work, battling 
with  Bennett  from  the  very  beginning  of  "  The  Truth 
Seeker ;"  Ernest  Mendum,  also,  Avho  carries  forward  the 
banners  of  the  "  Investigator "  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  its 
illustrious  founders,  aided  by  the  genius  of  a  Washburn  ; 
Watts,  who  represents  the  press  of  the  Old  World  and  the 
New ;  J.  D.  Shaw,  who,  with  wonderful  tenacity  has  made 
Texas  and  the  South  an  illuminated  field  of  progress ; 
Harm  an,  beneath  whose  calm  exterior  burns  the  fire  of 
*'  Lucifer  ;"  Saladin  and  Foote  are  missed,  but  their  words 
and  the  blaze  of  their  dauntless  spirit  are  with  us ;  plucky 
Ellis,  too,  can  only  send  his  greeting ;  H.  L.  Green  sent 
his  message. 

The  Congress  closed  with  hope  and  felicity,  and  the 
broad  paths  of  human  progress,  more  beautiful  and 
golden-hued  and  sunny-skied  than  ever,  open  upon  the 
view,  and  the  magnificent  panorama  of  the  future  stretches 
away  and  onward  from  these  *'  pen-pictures "  of  the  In- 
ternational Congress  of  Freethinkers. 

The  following  resolutions,  introduced  by  Capt.  R.  C. 
Adams,  chairman  of  the  committee,  were  unanimously 
adopted  : 

''Resolved,  Tliat  as  in  1776  the  patriots  of  America 
declared  their  independence  of  the  king,  we,  the  Free- 
thinkers of  the  world  assembled  in  convention  in  Chicago 
in  the  year  1893,  do  hereby  declare  our  independence  of 
the  church. 

"We  denounce  the  church  for  securing  unjust  and 
injurious  laws  and  customs,  among  which  are  the  follow- 
ing: 

"  Exemption  to  itself  from  the  payment  of  taxes. 

"  The  use  of  public  money  for  its  ministers  and  sec- 
tarian institutions. 

"  The  use  of  the  Bible  and  religious  instruction  in  the 
public  schools. 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  FREETHINKERS.  669 

"  The  appointment  by  government  of  religious  festivals 
and  fasts. 

"  The  observance  of  the  Christian  Sabbath. 

"  The  control  of  birth  registration,  marriage  cere- 
monies, and  burial  rites. 

"  The  enforcement  of  edicts  of  Christian  morality  that 
are  opposed  to  natural  morality. 

"The  oppression  of  those  who  do  not  accept  its  dogmas. 

"  We  therefore  reaffirm  the  Nine  Demands  of  Liberal- 
ism as  expressed  in  the  constitution  adopted  by  the 
National  Liberal  League  at  Philadelphia,  July  4, 1876,  and 
we  pledge  ourselves  to  make  every  possible  effort  for  the 
emancipation  of  this  continent  and  of  the  world  from  the 
political,  religious,  and  social  tyranny  of  the  Christian 
church. 

"Resolved,  That  this  congress  recognizes  and  affirms 
the  supreme  value  of  a  right  education ;  and  that  for  the 
complete  establishment  and  triumph  of  Freethought  prin- 
ciples reliance  should  not  be  placed  solely  upon  present 
semi-Christian  instrumentalities,  liowever  well  furnished 
and  in  accordance  with  advanced  methods,  but  that  Free- 
thinkers hereafter  should  endeavor  to  establish  and  main- 
tain schools  upon  a  purely  secular  and  Freethought  basis. 

"  Therefore,  with  ample  means  and  endowments,  which 
it  is  hoped  will  sometime  be  at  the  service  of  Freethought, 
it  should  be  one  of  the  ultimate  objects  of  Freethinkers  to 
establish  a  Freethought  university,  and  for  this  purpose 
the  subject  should  be  thoroughly  discussed,  and  the 
interest  and  generosity  of  Liberals  aroused ;  also,  as  pre- 
liminary to  such  great  educational  institutions,  science 
Sunday-schools  should  be  established  wherever  possible, 
together  with  Freethought  reading-rooms,  libraries,  lec- 
ture courses,  social  and  literary  clubs.  The  time  has 
come  for  Freethought  to  depend  on  its  own  independent 
agencies  for  the  future  education  of  the  race. 

"Whereas,  It  has  been  tlie  blessing  of  the  civilized 


670  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

world  that  the  press  has  almost  wholly  taken  the  place  of 
the  pulpit  as  the  means  of  general  communication  among 
people,  and  has.  become  a  factor  of  enormous  power  in 
modern  life  ;  therefore  be  it 

^'Resolved,  That,  as  a  matter  of  vital  necessity,  those 
journals  devoted  to  the  spread  of  Freethought  should  be 
thoroughly  supported,  for  without  such  journals  it  is  im- 
possible to  carry  on  the  work  in  any  direction ;  it  is 
impossible  to  agitate  or  educate,  to  keep  open  the  lecture 
fields,  or  hold  successful  congresses.  The  influence  of 
such  journals  in  its  very  nature  is  far-reaching,  radical, 
and  constructive,  since  it  constantly  presents  Freethought 
from  all  over  the  world  in  its  most  varied,  interesting, 
and  advancing  aspects.  It  is  urged  upon  every  true  friend 
of  Freethought  to  support  these  journals — both  by  sub- 
scribing himself  and  obtaining  by  personal  effort  the  sub- 
scriptions of  others  in  his  vicinity — and  it  is  earnestly 
desired  that  during  the  coming  year  a  vast  combined 
movement  should  be  made  by  the  thousands  now  sub- 
scribing for  'The  Truth  Seeker,'  the  'Investigator,'  tlie 
'  Ironclad  Age,'  '  Secular  Thought,'  the  '  Freethinkers' 
Magazine,'  and  '  Independent  Pulpit,'  to  double  the  sub- 
scription lists  of  these  papers.  In  this  way  will  be  made 
one  of  the  greatest  advances  for  Freethought,  one  which  will 
be  permanent  and  extensive,  co-operating  with  and  making 
vastly  more  powerful  all  the  other  means  of  intellectual, 
moral,  social,  and  political  progress  which  is  the  supreme 
purpose  and  s])irit  of  Freethought. 

'^Resolved,  That  we  renew  the  demands  of  former  con- 
ventions of  Liberal  people  in  the  United  States  for  a 
strictly  secular,  impartial  enforcement  of  all  laws  by  the 
people  through  officers  paid  by  and  strictly  responsible 
to  the  people  and  to  one  else.  That  we,  therefore,  con- 
demn all  lynchings,  mob  laws,  Pinkerton,  white  caps, 
Comstock.  Parkhurst.  Gerry,  and  all  similar  irresponsible 
amateur    or    sectarian  societies   and  agencies,  as  utterly 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  FREETHINKERS.  671 

false  in  principle  and  opposed  to  orderly  government  by 
the  people.  That  the  very  existence  of  such  methods  is  a 
precedent  fraught  with  danger,  a  constant  menace  to  our 
government — state  and  federal — an  inevitable  cause  of 
distrust  and  demoralization  to  all  lawful  administration  of 
the  laws,  and  a  natural  source  of  blackmailing  and  cor- 
ruption. That  the  temporary  good  which  is  to  be  accom- 
plished by '  these  irresponsible  substitutes  for  the  law, 
whether  instigated  by  mobs  or  snobs,  or  bigots  or  monop- 
olists, is  sure,  in  the  long  run,  to  be  exceeded  by  the  evils 
resulting  from  them, 

^'Besolved,  That  we  not  only  express  our  sympathies 
with  the  working  and  producing  people  of  our  country, 
but  that  we  will  aid  them  in  every  way  in  our  power. 
That  in  so  doing  we  call  their  attention  to  the  fact  that  in 
this  country  and  all  over  the  world  the  churches  are  sup- 
ported and  run  by  the  oppressors  and  monopolists,  who 
use  them  as  their  allies  and  assistants.  That  any  real 
economic  or  industrial  emancipation  of  the  people  is 
practically  impossible  without  their  intellectual  and  relig- 
ious emancipation.  That  the  medicine-man  and  the  chief, 
the  king  and  the  bishop,  the  emperor  and  the  pope,  the 
monoplist  and  the  priest,  the  plutocrat  and  his  church, 
are  everywhere  but  twin  systems  of  authority — the  two 
halves  of  one  whole  of  temporal  and  spiritual  oppression 
— by  which  the  masses  of  the  people  are  repressed,  robbed, 
stupefied,  and  degraded. 

^'Resolved,  That  we  look  with  anxiety  and  alarm  at  the 
new  departure  which  has  been  taken  by  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  inaugu- 
rating a  state  religious  movement,  and  especially  at  the 
action  of  congress,  commencing  a  system  of  religious 
legislation. 

"  Objectionable  as  were  the  state  Sunday  laws,  a  United 
States  Sunday  law  is  a  hundredfold  more  objectionable, 
since    it   transfers    the    responsibility  from    a    particular 


^72  FOUR    IIUNDRKD   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

community  or  aggregation  of  communities  to  the  whole 
people  of  the  United  States. 

''Resolved,  That  we  stand  committed  to  the  most  unre- 
lenting opposition  to  all  such  laws,  and  to  every  law  look- 
ing however  remotely  toward  a  union  of  church  and  state. 

"Resolved,  That  the  action  of  the  highest  executive  of 
this  nation  in  proclaiming  as  law  the  decree  formulated 
in  secret  session  by  the  United  States  Senate,  whereby 
political  refugees  will  be  delivered  to  the  tender  mercies 
of  Russian  jurisdiction  on  accusation  of  Russian  police 
courts,  was  an  act  derogatory  to  manliood  and  contrary  to 
all  American  precedents  and  concepts  of  liberty  and  jus- 
tice and  deserves  the  condemnation  of  all  fair-minded 
men  and  women." 

The  Freethought  Federation  of  America. 

In  no  way  can  our  present  history  of  Freethought  or- 
ganization be  brought  to  a  close  more  fittingly  than  with  a 
sketch  of  the  Freethought  Federation  of  America. 

The  great  question  of  the  opening  of  the  World's  Fair 
of  1893  on  Sunday  created  an  immense  agitation  through- 
out the  country.  It  betokened  both  an  advance  and  a 
retrogression.  At  the  time  of  the  Centennial  Exposition, 
1876,  the  gates  were  closed  with  scarcely  a  protest.  It 
was  regarded  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  such  was  the 
advance  in  public  sentiment  by  1892  that  the  opening  of 
the  World's  Fair  on  Sunday  was  regarded  as  almost  a 
matter  of  certainty,  and  the  ecclesiastical  forces  felt  they 
must  put  forth  their  most  strenuous  efforts  in  order  to 
prevent  this  sacrilege,  as  they  termed  it.  Hence  ensued 
the  agitation.  Had  not  the  church  made  a  most  bitter 
fight,  the  gates  would  have  been  open  on  Sunday.  The 
fact  of  the  agitation  shows  the  progress  of  Freethought, 
The  success  of  the  church  party  in  its  political  methods 
shows  the  subserviency  of  the  politician  to  the  priest.  If 
the    church    party    had    not   bulldozed,    blackmailed,  and 


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THE  FREETHOUGHT  FEDERATION  OF  AMERICA.  573 

threatened  with  ballot-box  damnation  the  representatives 
of  the  people,  it  would  not  liave  won  even  the  jaartial  vic- 
tory that  it  did.  It  is  evident  that  the  church  party  is 
organizing  for  political  action  ;  that  it  is  determined  to 
rule  or  ruin — to  unite  churcVi  and  state,  with  the  latter  in 
entire  subordination  to  the  former.  This  policy  of  the 
ecclesiastical  part}^  was  made  manifest  in  the  passage  of 
tlie  rider  to  tlie  appropriation  bill  for  the  benefit  of  the 
World's  Fair,  in  which  the  gates  were  forbidden  to  be  open 
on  Sunday's,  otherwise  the  appropriation  was  invalid.  It 
is  well  known  that  those  who  voted  for  this  condition  to 
the  appropriation  did  so,  not  because  they  believed  in 
that  kind  of  legislation,  which  was  clearly  unconstitu- 
tional, but  because  they  feared  political  annihilation  at 
the  hands  of  the  church.  The  church  plainly  declared  to 
the  representatives  of  the  people,  "  Unless  you  vote  for 
the  closing  of  the  gates  of  the  World's  Fair  on  Sunday, 
the  church,  as  a  church,  will  use  its  utmost  endeavors  to 
defeat  you  at  the  polls."  The  following  resolution,  passed 
by  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Brighton,  N.  Y..  and  by 
churches  in  other  places,  indicates  this  determination  : 

"  Resolved,  That  we  do  hereby  pledge  ourselves  and 
each  other  that  we  will,  from  this  time  henceforth,  refuse 
to  vote  for,  or  support,  for  any  office  or  position  of  trust, 
any  member  of  Congress,  either  senator  or  representative, 
who  shall  vote  for  any  further  aid  of  any  kind  for  the 
World's  Fair  except  on  conditions  named  in  these  resolu- 
tions." 

The  conditions  thus  named  were  the  closing  of  the 
gates  on  Sunday. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  the  church  is  laying  its  plans  for 
tlie  attainment  of  au  ecclesiastical  political  power  in  this 
republic ;  in  fact,  to  change  the  very  nature  of  our  govern- 
ment, and  make  it  a  theological  government,  thus  abol- 
ishing the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Other  evidences  of  the   existence  of  a  religious  con- 


(374  FOUR   HUNDRED   YKARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

spiracy  to  overthrow  our  republican  liberty  are  the  follow- 
ing : 

The  pope's  Encyclical  thus  advises :  "All  Catholics 
must  make  themselves  felt  as  active  elements  in  daily  po- 
litical life  in  the  countries  where  they  live.  They  must 
'penetrate  ivherever  po-sfiible  in  the  administration  of  political 
affairs. " 

The  Natif)n;il  Reform  Association  is  pushing  the  fol- 
lowing amendment  to  the  preamble  of  the  Constitution  : 

"  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  devoutly  ac- 
knowledging the  supreme  authority  and  just  government 
of  almighty  God  in  all  the  aifairs  of  men  and  nations, 
grateful  to  him  for  our  civil  and  religious  liberty ;  and 
encouraged  by  the  assurances  of  his  word  to  invoke  his 
guidance,  as  a  Christian  nation,  according  to  his  appointed 
way,  through  Jesus  Christ,  in  order  to  form  a  more  per- 
fect union,"  etc. 

In  reference  to  this  amendment  the  "Christian  States- 
man "  says  :  "  To  be  perfectly  plain,  the  existence  of  a  Christian 
government  ivould  disfranchise  every  logically  consistent  In- 
fideir 

The  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union 
also  declared : 

"Resolved,  That  Christ  and  his  gospel,  as  universal 
king  and  code,  should  be  sovereign  in  our  government  and 
political  affairs." 

The  Rev.  Sam  Small,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  eccle- 
siastical party,  says  : 

"  I  loant  to  see  the  day  come  ivhen  the  church  shall  be 
the  arbiter  of  all  legislation — state,  national,  and  municipal ; 
luhen  the  greed  churches  of  the  country  can  come  together  har- 
moniously  and  issue  their  edict,  and  the  legislative  powers  shall 
respect  it  and  enact  it  into  laivs." 

These  declarations,  and  the  extraordinary  political 
power  of  the  church,  manifested  in  unconstitutional  legis- 
lation, to  force  the  closing  of  the  gates  of  the  World's 


THE  PRBBTHOUGHT  FEDERATION  OF  AMERICA.  675 

Fair  ou  Suuday,  and  tlie  further  proposal  to  enact  a  Na- 
tional Sunday  Law,  compelled  the  Liberals  of  this  coun- 
try, as  a  matter  of  self-defense,  to  organize  a  political 
force  in  accordance  with  the  IngersoU  Cincinnati  resolu- 
tions. The  issue  had  to  be  met,  and  could  be  met  only  in 
this  way.  While  action  in  courts  and  legislature  is  of 
first  importance,  there  must,  in  addition  to  this,  be  a 
direct  appeal  to  the  ballot  box.  The  peril  was  too  great 
for  Liberals  any  longer  to  remain  inactive.  They  must 
vote  their  principles. 

With  this  object  in  view  tlie  Freethought  Federation 
of  America,  on  Sept.  4,  e.m.  292,  sprang  into  being,  for  the 
special  purpose  of  organizing  a  Freethought  political 
party,  which  must  eventually  triumph  if  the  American 
republic  is  to  be  preserved  on  its  original  foundation. 

The  following  are  the  principles,  constitution,  and  by- 
laws of  the  Federation  : 

"Kf^ep  cliurcli  and  state  forever  separate." — Grant. 

"The  divorce  between  church  and  state  ought  to  be 
absolute." —  (jarfeld. 

'■  In  no  sense  whatsoever  is  this  government  founded 
upon  the  Cliristiau  religion." — Washington. 

"It  is  wicked  and  tyrannical  tt)  compel  any  man  to 
support  a  religion  in  which  he  does  not  believe." — 'Jeffer- 
son. 

''A  religion  whicli  depends  upon  the  state  for  its  sup- 
port is  for  that  reason  a  bad  religion." — Franldin. 

"There  is  not  a  shadow  of  right  in  the  general  govern- 
ment to  intermeddle  with  religion.  Its  least  interference 
would  be  a  most  flagrant  usurpation." — Madison. 

"Religion  can  be  directed  only  by  reason  and  convic- 
tion, not  by  force  or  violence." — Virginia  Declaration  of 
Bights. 

"Our  government  is  a  civil, not  a  religious  institution." 
—Report  of  the  United  States  Senate,  1829. 

"The  Constitution   gives  no  more  authority  to  adopt  a 


676  FOUR  HriNDRKD    YEARS  OF    FREKTHOUGHT. 

measure  affecting  the  ciniscieuce  of  a  single  individual 
than  of  a  whole  community." — Rej)ort  of  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, 1830. 

Constitution  and  By-laws. 

Preamble. —  Kealiziuq  that  the  safety  of  republican 
institutions  is  imperiled,  the  advance  of  civilization  im- 
peded, and  the  most  sacred  riglits  of  man  infringed,  by 
the  least  interference  of  the  state  in  matters  religious,  as 
instanced  by  the  recent  act  of  Congress  in  closing  the 
World's  Fair  on  Sunday,  we  hereby  organize  the  Free- 
thouglit  Federation  of  America  to  help  secure  throughout 
the  United  States  a  practical  compliance  with  the  princi- 
ples involved  in  the  Demands  of  Liberalism. 

Constitution. — Article  I. — This  organization  shall  be 
known  as  the  Freethought  Federation  of  America. 

Article  II. — {A)  The  general  object  shall  be  to  effect  a 
total  separation  of  church  and  state. 

{B)  As  specific  ol)jects,  in  order  to  accomplish  the 
general  object,  we  indorse  the  Demands  of  Libei'alism,  as 
follows  ; 

1.  We  demand  that  churches  and  other  ecclesiastical 
property  shall  be  no  longer  exempt  from  taxation. 

2.  We  demand  that  the  employment  of  chaplains  in 
Congress,  in  state  legislatures,  in  the  navy  and  militia,  and 
in  prisons,  asylums,  and  all  other  institutions  supported 
by  public  money,  shall  be  discontinued, 

3.  We  demand  that  all  public  appropriations  for  edu- 
cational and  charitable  institutions  of  a  sectarian  character 
shall  cease. 

4.  We  demand  that  all  religious  services  now  sustained 
by  the  government  shall  be  abolished  ;  and  especially  that 
the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools,  whether  osten- 
sibly as  a  text-book  or  avowedly  as  a  book  of  religious 
worslii]!,  sliidl  be  prohibited. 

5.  We  demand   that  the  appointment,  b}'  the   })resi(U:.fc 


CONSTITUTION  AND  BY-LAWS.  677 

of  the  United  States  or  by  the  governors  of  the  various 
states,  of  all  religious  festivals  and  fasts  shall  wholly 
cease. 

6.  We  demand  that  the  judicial  oath  in  the  courts  and 
in  ail  other  departments  of  the  government  shall  be  abol- 
ished, and  that  simple  affirmation  under  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  perjury  shall  be  established  in  its  stead. 

7.  We  demand  that  all  laws  directly  or  indirectly  en- 
forcing the  observance  of  Sunday  as  the  Sabbath  shall  be 
repealed. 

8.  We  demand  that  all  laws  looking  to  the  enforcement 
of  "  Christian  "  morality  sliall  be  abrogated,  and  that  all 
laws  shall  be  conformed  to  the  requirements  of  natural 
morality,  equal  rights,  and  impartial  liberty. 

9.  We  demand  that  not  only  in  the  constitutions  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  several  states,  but  also  in 
the  practical  administration  of  tlie  same,  no  privilege  or 
advantage  shall  be  conceded  to  Christianity  or  any  other 
special  religion ;  that  our  entire  political  system  shall  be 
founded  and  administered  on  a  purely  secular  basis  ;  and 
tliat  wliatever  changes  sliall  prove  necessary  to  this  end 
shall  be  consistently-,  unflinchingly,  and  promptly  made. 

Article  III. — Mode  of  Work. — The  means  to  be  em- 
ployed in  order  io  secure  compliance  with  the  foregoing 
demands  shall  be,  lectures,  conventions,  and  agitation 
through  the  rostrum  and  press. 

Arficle  IV. — Candidates  may  be  nominated,  if  thought 
advisable,  at  any  time  upon  the  platform  of  the  Federa- 
tion. If  no  candidates  are  nominated,  the  candidates  of 
all  other  parties  are  to  be  questioned  and  their  position 
ascertained,  and  if  in  opposition  to  the  demands  of  our 
movement,  the  political  power  of  this  Federation  shall  be 
used  against  them  wherever  available. 

Article  V. — This  Federation  will  not  necessarily  be  op- 
posed to  present  political  parties.  Members  of  all  parties 
can  become   members   of   tliis  Federation,   provided  they 


678  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

endeavor  to  make  the  Demands  of  Liberalism  a  part  of 
the  platform  of  the  party  to  which  they  belong  and  refuse 
to  vote  for  candidates  who  are  opposed  to  these  demands. 

Article  VI. — All  persons  indorsing  the  Demands  of 
Liberalism  and  desirous  of  propagatiug  the  principles  in- 
volved therein  ma}^  become  members  of  this  Federation 
by  signing  the  constitution,  or  sending  their  names  to  the 
secretary  for  that  purpose. 

Article  VII. — All  members  shall  be  allowed  to  vote  by 
mail  or  otherwise  upon  all  questions  affecting  the  work  of 
this  Federation,  the  same  to  be  submitted  to  them  by  the 
secretary  immediately  after  the  board  of  directors  have 
taken  action  thereon. 

Article  VIII. — Officers. — The  officers  of  this  Federation 
shall  consist  of  a  president,  two  or  more  vice-presidents, 
a  secretai'y,  and  treasurer.  The  president,  two  first  vice- 
presidents,  the  secretary,  and  treasurer  shall  constitute 
a  board  of  directors,  who  shall  be  intrusted  with  the  gen- 
eral management  and  control  of  the  Federation. 

Article  IX. — Election  of  Officers. — The  officers  shall  be 
elected  annually,  and  shall  hold  office  until  their  succes- 
sors are  elected.     All  elections  shall  be  by  ballot. 

Article  X. — The  duties  of  officers  shall  be  those  gen- 
erally pertaining  to  those  of  president,  secretar}-,  treas- 
urer, and  board  of  directors. 

Article  XI. — All  moneys  contributed  to  the  funds  of 
the  Federation  shall  be  used  for  practical  campaign  pur- 
poses and  for  the  distribution  of  Freethought  political 
literature. 

Article  XII — No  change  shall  be  made  in  this  consti- 
tution except  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  members  present 
at  any  regular  meeting  called  by  the  board  of  directors, 
notice  of  such  change  to  be  given  three  months  previously. 

Samuel  P.  Putnam,  elected  president  of  the  Federation, 
thus  outlined  its  practical  aims  : 

"The  Fi-eethouglit  Federation  is  not  to  take  the  place 


CHARLES  T.  HAYDEN  (p    750). 


CONSTITUTION  AND  BY-LAWS.  679 

of  useful  orgauizations  already  established,  but  to  advance 
upon  a  new  line  made  absolutely  necessai-y  by  the  recent 
action  of  congress.  Hitherto  there  has  been  no  effort  to 
make  Liberalism  a  voting  power.  It  has  not  been  thought 
necessary.  It  has  been  hoped  that  by  education,  by  agita- 
tion, by  petitions,  by  appeals  to  courts,  our  rights  might 
be  maintained.  We  have  trusted  that  politicians  had 
honor  and  courage.  We  have  been  disappointed.  We 
have  found  the  majority  of  them  to  be  fools,  hypocrites, 
and  cowards.  We  must  change  these  politicians.  We 
must  put  true  men  in  their  place.  We  can  do  tliis  only 
by  the  ballot. 

"  The  Christian  churches  have  forced  this  issue.  We 
must  take  our  position  and  fling  our  banner  upon  the 
political  field,  and  we  must  some  day  succeed,  or  it  is 
as  certain  as  that  the  sun  shines  in  the  heavens  that  this 
republic  will  be  destroyed. 

"  Understand,  we  do  not  vote  against  a  man  on  account 
of  his  religious  opinions.  We  do  not  vote  against  a  man 
because  he  is  a  Christian  ;  that  is  not  the  point  at  all.  It 
is  not  a  religious  war  upon  which  we  are  entering.  It 
is  altogether  another  matter.  I  do  not  vote  against  any 
man  on  account  of  his  religion.  I  vote  against  him  purely 
and  solely  on  account  of  his  political  acts.  I  vote  against 
him  because  he  votes  to  take  away  my  liberty.  I  vote 
against  him  because  he  uses  his  official  power  to  abolish 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  to  make  null  and 
void  the  constitution.  We  ask  no  candidate  about  his 
belief.  That  is  not  our  concern.  We  want  his  political 
record.  That  is  our  concern,  and  by  his  political  record 
we  approve  or  condemn.  We  are  organizing  to  defend 
human  rights,  not  to  attack  or  maintain  any  creed  what 
soever.  I  want  no  political  support  for  my  creed.  I 
simply  want  liberty,  and  I  want  every  man  and  woman, 
too,  to  have  the  same  liberty." 

The  following  were  elected  officers  of  the   Federation, 


(J80  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Sept.  4,  1892 :  S.  P.  Putnam,  president ;  H.  Coons,  N.  F. 
Griswold,  Samuel  Silverman,  vice-presidents ;  Geo.  L. 
Robertson,  treasurer. 

The  roll  of  membership  now  includes  over  thirty- five 
hundred  names  in  thirty  states  of  the  union.  This  was  the 
result  of  one  j-ear's  work.  Over  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
were  contributed  to  the  treasury.  President  Putnam  spent 
three  months  at  Washington  in  an  endeavor  to  change  the 
legislation  closing  the  World's  Fair  on  Sunday.  Tiie  city 
of  Chicago,  through  its  mayor  and  aldermen  and  repre- 
sentative citizens,  both  men  and  women ;  the  labor  organ- 
izations, and  the  Seventh  Day  Advent  churches,  and  the 
Liberal  Christian  churches,  and  the  Chicago  press  co- 
operated for  the  same  purpose.  Again  the  potent  power 
of  tlie  orthodox  ecclesiastical  party  was  manifested.  The 
constitutionality  of  the  law  was  not  allowed  to  be  dis- 
cussed before  the  committee.  The  Rev.  A.  T.  Jones  was 
called  to  order  because  he  introduced  a  constitutional 
argument.  The  constitution  was  simply  laid  aside.  The 
only  question  apparently  before  the  committee  was, 
Which  side  has  the  more  votes?  This  gave  the  orthodox 
party  a  vast  advantage.  They  were  already  entrenched  in 
established  legislation,  and  as  the  Constitution  could  not 
be  appealed  to,  there  was  little  hope  of  a  successful  plea 
for  justice.  The  gates  of  the  World's  Fair  were  opened 
on  Sunday  by  order  of  the  courts,  closed  afterwards  by 
order  of  tlie  <lirectory,  and  then  again  opened  by  order  of 
tlie  conns.  It  was  a  partial  victory  for  both  sides.  The 
question  \v;is  not  fairly  decided  on  principle  at  any  point. 

The  Fi-eethouglit  Federation  has  a  stanch  constituency. 
It  will  keep  at  work. .  Its  present  board  of  officers  are  : 
Samuel  P.  Putnam,  president;  John  R.  Charlesworth, 
secretary;  E.  C.  Reichwald,  treasurer;  Franklin  Steiner, 
K  F.  Griswold,  B.  A.  Roloson,  J.  M.  Peck,  I.  J.  Porter, 
vice-presidents. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

American  Biographical  Sketches. 

It  has  not  been  the  object  of  this  book  to  give  a  com- 
plete list  of  all  those  who  have  rendered  services  to  Free- 
thought.  It  is  impossible  to  do  this  except  in  a  volume 
specially  devoted  to  Freethought  biographies,  like  that 
excellent  work  by  J.  M.  Wheeler,  "A  Biographical  Diction- 
ary of  Freethinkers  of  All  Ages  and  Nations."  I  cannot 
even  mention  every  Freethinker  of  the  last  four  liundred 
years.  The  limits  of  my  book  forbid.  It  would  extend  to 
many  volumes  if  I  did  this.  I  have  been  compelled  to 
reject  much  valuable  material  even  in  the  direct  line  of 
this  Avork,  which  is  the  history  of  Freethought  as  a  move- 
ment. It  would  take  thousands  of  pages  to  give  in  detail 
the  movement  itself  through  tliese  centuries,  in  all  the 
spheres  of  human  activity.  I  have  been  constrained  by 
my  space  to  select  what  seemed  to  me  the  best  material 
with  which  to  give  a  comprehensive  view  of  Freethought 
in  its  greatest  triumphs.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that 
this  is  a  history  of  Freethought  and  not  of  Freethinkers. 
The  history  of  Freethinkers  has  been  given  before  better 
than  I  can  do.  My  purpose  has  been  to  define  and 
describe  the  movement,  mentioning  only  those  who  have 
been  in  some  manner  related  to  this,  not  intending  to  give 
their  full  biographies,  wliich  can  be  found  in  encyclo- 
pedias, but  to  show  how  they  have  contributed  to  the 
grand  result,  and  are  what  we  call  the  representative  men 
of  the  movement.     The  value  of  my  work  must  be  judged 


682  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FRKETHOUGHT. 

by  the  limits  of  its  space,  and  if  tlie  question  is  asked, 
Why  I  have  omitted  this  or  that  name,  the  answer  is 
that  I  could  not  do  otherwise.  I  had  to  condense  into 
one  volume.  I  believe  tliat  what  I  have  given  in  the  first 
part  is  necessary  to  a  full  understanding  of  the  progress 
of  Freethought,  but  at  the  same  time  I  could  have  given 
twice  the  material  I  have  if  I  had  the  place  to  put  it,  and 
for  the  same  reason  I  have  been  compelled  to  pass  by 
many  phases  of  Freethought,  those  of  a  social  and  indus- 
trial character  particularly.  If  all  the  material  I  have 
furnished  is  pertinent  to  Freethought  and  helps  to  an 
understanding  of  its  progress,  then  the  plan  of  the  book 
is  fully  carried  out,  and  the  omission  of  what  to  many 
might  seem  equally  important  matter  is  not  the  fault  of 
the  author,  but  the  compulsion  of  nature  itself,  for  he 
could  not  put  two  thousand  pages  into  one  thousand 
pages.  What  I  think  is  this — that  as  much  history  and 
explanation  and  development  of  Freethought  has  been 
given  in  these  pages  as  can  be  given  in  the  same  space. 
If  more  is  to  bo  given,  tiien  there  must  be  more  volumes, 
and  certainly  I  could  have  easily  written  several  volumes 
with  the  vast  and  splendid  materials  before  me. 

As  I  could  not  in  the  verv  nature  of  tilings  give  a  com- 
plete history  of  universal  Freethought,  neither  for  the 
same  reason  can  I  give  a  complete  history  of  organized 
Freethought,  but  I  have  crowded  as  many  facts  as  I  pos- 
sibly could  into  the  space  allowed,  and  I  believe  that  I 
have  given  a  presentation  of  Freethought  forces  through- 
out the  world  which  is  both  useful  and  encourafrinir.  I 
have  endeavored  to  be  accurate,  and  to  combine  as  far  as 
possible  into  one  vivid  picture  the  active  agencies  of 
practical  Freethought.  And  more  than  this  I  could  not 
do  in  one  volume. 

My  biographies  for  this  reason  are  different  from 
those  to  be  found  in  any  other  book.  They  do  not  take 
the  place  of  any  other  bio-ianhies.     Those  who  read  my 


AMERICAN  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.  683 

book  must  consult  other  books,  encyclopedias,  and  his- 
tories of  Freethought  and  Freethinkers  for  fuller  infor- 
mation. This  book  is  not  a  compilation.  It  is  not  made 
up  from  other  books,  and  cannot  take  the  place  of  otlier 
books.  This  book  is  an  interpretation  of  history^  which 
has  not  been  given  before,  at  least  in  the  same  line  of 
thought,  that  is,  of  Freethought ;  and,  as  I  have  already 
said,  it  is  to  be  judged  as  an  interpretation  and  not 
as  a  record  of  facts  and  persons.  This  book  will  have 
achieved  one  of  its  great  purposes  if  it  excites  such  a,n 
interest  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  that  he  will  read  other 
books  which  in  other  ways  have  recorded  the  progress 
of  civilization.  The  ver}^  object  of  this  book  is  to  give 
suggestions  and  ideas  by  which  other  books  can  be  studied 
with  clearer  light,  and  the  lives  of  all  Freethinkers  be 
better  understood. 

These  biographies  or  sketches  of  some  of  the  Free- 
thinkers of  the  world  are  for  the  purpose  of  giving  an 
illustration  of  Freethought  as  a  life  among  the  people.  In 
this  respect  the  plan  is  unique.  I  give  what  cannot  be 
found  elsewhere,  and  much  of  which  is  the  result  of  per- 
sonal acquaintance.  It  is  commonly  thought  that  the 
biographies  of  celebrated  persons  only  should  be  given, 
those  who  have  won  reputation  in  the  press  or  on  the 
platform.  These  are  of  course  brilliant  and  noble  illus- 
trations of  Freethouglit,  but  why  confine  ourselves  to 
these?  Freethinkers  are  in  every  sphere  of  human  effort, 
and  as  such  have  succeeded  in  life  ;  have  impressed  the 
community;  have  influenced  the  world  by  deed. 

It  is  this  that  we  want  to  know  about  as  well  as  Free- 
thought  literature  and  oratory,  for  literature  and  oratory 
spring  from  the  life  of  the  masses.  History  to-day  has 
ceased  to  be  a  history  of  kings  and  princes  and  so-called 
great  men,  and  has  become  a  history  of  the  people,  and 
the  history  of  Freethought  should  also  be  a  history  of 
Freethought  people.     We    need    to  get   acquainted   with 


684  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

the  rank  and  file,  those  soldiers  who  for  many  a  year  have 
carried  the  colors  of  Freethought  without  any  ofl&cial 
badge.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  want  to  know  something 
about  these  men  and  women,  whose  lives  never  will  be 
known  unless  they  are  known  in  the  pages  of  this  book, 
and  where  better  can  we  record  them?  That  is  my  idea 
of  Freethought ;  that  it  is  not  something  famous  simply 
in  literature  and  oratory,  but  it  is  a  mighty  life  among  the 
people  also,  and  is  everywhere  prev;dent  and  manifest 
in  the  paths  of  human  toil,  and  it  is  this  side  of  Free- 
thought  that  I  want  to  bring  forth,  for  it  is  interesting  and 
inspiring.  It  shows  that  Freethought  is  rooted  in  the 
soil  and  grows  with  the  growth  of  humanity  ;  that  it  is  a 
part  of  universal  human  nature,  and  is  not  merely  an 
intellectual  exhilaration  which  only  the  select  few  can 
enjo}'.  So  while  I  give  the  biographies  of  editors  and 
orators,  those  whose  names  shine  in  Freethought  journals, 
I  likewise  also  desire  to  give  the  biographies  of  those 
who  do  something  without  the  special  gift  of  language 
or  of  art,  whose  lives  to  a  certain  extent  are  silent 
and  yet  profoundly  influential  in  the  community,  and 
who  are  known  to  be  Freethinkers.  I  wish  to  include 
in  my  list  lawj-ers,  doctors,  merchants,  manufacturers, 
farmers,  men  of  business,  captains  of  industry,  workers, 
inventors,  who  especially  in  America  have  been  pioneer 
forces  ;  who  from  Maine  to  California  in  all  the  varied 
life  of  this  vast  new  world  have  pushed  to  the  front, 
have  won  success,  have  led  in  their  communities,  and 
whose  whole  life  lias  been  a  steady,  uncompromising, 
and  fearless  exhibition  of  Freethought  principles.  Of 
course  I  cannot  give  all — only  a  score  or  so  of  the 
hundreds  all  over  the  land,  but  I  would  like  to  illuminate 
n  few  points  in  our  great  continent  with  the  lives 
of  these  practicallv  successful  Freethinkers.  I  am  sure 
that  tliis  will  q-ive  an  insiorht  into  the  real  human 
excellence    of    Freethought    which    we    cannot    otherwise 


N.  C.   CKKKHK  (p.   712). 


ROBERT  C.   ADAMS.  685 

obtain,  and  will  make  more  valuable  and  instructive  our 
Freethought  literature  and  oratory.  I  have  endeavored 
to  combine  the  highest  results  of  Freethought,  its  phi- 
losophy and  science,  with  the  every-day  living  of  this 
world,  and  to  show  that  he  can  work  best  who  thinks  best ; 
that  Freethought  is  not  a  glittering  abstraction,  but  is  of 
tlie  fiber  of  humanity,  of  its  blood  and  brain.  It  is  for 
the  home,  for  labor,  for  society,  for  every  practical  relation 
of  human  life,  and  the  facts  of  these  biographies  will  show 
that  it  is  such — biographies  of  representative  men  in 
every  domain  of  man's  activity.  I  could  give  hundreds  of 
such  biographies,  for  I  know  these  men.  I  have  met 
them,  and  it  has  been  one  of  the  sources  of  my  unswerving 
confidence  in  radical  Freethought,  that  right  among  the 
people  it  has  been  such  a  constant  working  force  ;  that  it 
has  made  men  heroic,  honorable,  industrious,  and  success- 
ful in  every  position  of  human  life.  Freethought  does 
not  only  meet  the  highest  capacities  of  the  mind  of  man, 
but  it  ennobles  also  every  varied  path  of  toil.  It  kindles 
invention.  It  illuminates  industry.  It  makes  man  a 
better  worker.  It  invigorates  his  practical  life.  I  should 
not  write  these  biographies  except  to  thus  illustrate  the 
universality  of  Freethought,  for  biographies,  merely  as 
such,  especially  of  renowned  Freetliinkers,  have  been 
written  by  those  more  capable  than  myself.  Again  let  it 
be  understood  as  the  canon  of  criticism  that  I  intend  to 
give  not  a  record  but  an  interpretation  of  Freethought,  both 
in  world  history  and  facts  of  personal  life. 

Robert  C.  Adams. 

We  cannot  start  our  list  with  a  better  name  than  that 
of  Capt.  Robert  C.  Adams — a  name  honored  in  the  annals 
of  Freethought.  No  one  has  had  a  more  significant  ex- 
perience. It  is  a  lesson  in  evolution.  Captain  Adams 
was  born  in  the  very  heart  of  orthodoxy.  It  was  imposed 
upon  him  in  every  possible  way.     Through   the  teachings 


()8(j  Fo[-\{  i[i:ndiied  vkar.s  of  krkktikjuoht. 

of  beloved  parents  it  seems  as  if  every  fiber  of  his  being 
was  committed  to  the  Puritan  faith.  He  followed  it  with 
a  passionate  sense  of  duty,  aud  there  appeared  to  be  no 
escape  from  its  deep  aud  subtle  influences.  So  far  as  eu- 
vironmeuts  were  concerned  he  was  evidently  destined  to 
be  a  Calviuistic  clergyman. 

He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Nehemiah  Adams,  D.D.,  of 
Boston,  Mass.,  and  was  born  in  that  city  in  1839.  His 
father  was  an  eminent  expounder  of  the  old  faith,  elo- 
quent, learned,  refined,  and,  we  might  say,  absolutely  con- 
secrated to  his  religious  dogmas.  He  had  no  doubt. 
His  faith  was  perfect.  It  was  also  a  household  of  faith. 
There  was  no  glimmer  of  skepticism  in  that  orthodox 
fold. 

HI  health  forbade  the  boy  to  follow  his  scholarly  tastes 
and  religious  training,  and  adopt  the  profession  of  his 
father.  By  the  advice  of  the  family  physician  he  entered 
a  ships  forecastle  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  worked  his 
way  up  from  before  the  mast  to  the  command  of  some  of 
the  finest  ships  in  the  American  merchant  service.  His 
last  voA-age  was  in  the  ship  Golden  Fleece,  when  his 
father  and  two  sisters  accompanied  him  on  a  voyage 
around  the  world.  Captain  Adams  became  noted  for  his 
humane  treatment  of  sailors.  His  book,  "  On  Board  the 
Rocket,"  gives  realistic  pictures  of  sea-life,  and  his  efforts 
for  tlie  elevation  of  seamen. 

On  his  voyages  he  was  first  startled  by  a  discovery  of 
the  virtues  of  the  heathen  and  the  injustice  of  their  dam- 
nation ;  and  then  he  was  perplexed  by  the  differences 
among  Chi-istians  in  their  interjjretations  of  what  was 
claimed  to  be  a  divine  revelation,  which,  therefore,  ought 
to  be  intellicrible  to  all.  This  led  him,  without  reading  a 
skeptical  book,  to  see  the  truth  of  the  natural  origin  of 
religion.  The  force  of  early  training,  however,  influenced 
him  for  some  years  to  stifle  his  doubts,  and  he  plunged 
deeply  into  religious  work.     He  became  a  Sunday-school 


ROBERT  C.  ADAMS.  687 

superintendent  and  lay  preacher,  and  was  an  active  sup- 
porter of  a  sailor's  institute. 

At  last  the  evolution  philosophy  gained  his  attention 
and  confirmed  his  doubts  ;  and  the  force  of  his  convic- 
tions compelled  him  to  withdraw  from  the  church.  He 
startled  the  good  people  of  Boston  by  the  publication  of 
"A  Radical  Avowal "  in  1881.  Since  then  Captain  Adams 
has  been  one  of  the  foremost  Freetliought  speakers  and 
writers  in  America. 

His  "Travels  iu  Faith,"  published  about  twelve  years 
ago  by  the  Putnams  of  New  York,  is  a  vivid  account  of 
his  religious  experiences.  James  Parton  says  of  this 
book  :  ''  It  is  what  millions  of  the  English-speaking  races 
need."  It  is  certainl}'  a  story  of  mental  evolution  which 
is  characteristic  of  the  age.  There  never  was  a  more  con- 
scientious mind  than  that  of  Captain  Adams  ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  a  more  healthful  mind.  Every  step  was  care- 
fully taken.  The  logic  of  it  is  clearly  seen.  He  felt  he 
must  take  it.  At  the  same  time  no  one  was  ever  more 
reverent  toward  the  teachings  of  his  youth.  His  progress 
therefore  w^as  slow  but  sure.  It  is  a  progress  which  every 
honest  mind  must  make  if  born  into  the  old  faith  and 
born  also  to  think. 

There  Avas  a  rare  combination,  however,  in  the  case  of 
Captain  Adams,  which  makes  his  experience  especially 
valuable.  He  was  a  tender,  delicate,  scholarly,  sensitive 
child,  susceptible  to  the  soft  and  sweet  influences  of  home 
life,  and  also  to  inherited  tendencies.  It  was  not  easy  for 
him  to  break  away.  He  had  but  little  of  the  real  icono- 
clastic spirit.  He  was  a  home  boy,  loveable,  kind,  and 
gentle.  I  almost  doubt,  had  he  received  a  college  educa- 
tion, if  he  had  ever  left  the  ancestral  faith,  for  he  might 
have  eased  his  conscience  with  subtle  dialectics,  as  many 
scholars  do.  Fortunately  he  did  not  become  a  scholar, 
but  a  sailor.  This  frail,  emotional,  religious  child  left 
home   and  battled  with  the  storms  of  life.     He   came  in 


688  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    FRKKTHOUGHT. 

contact  with  uiiture,  with  humau  liutuie  and  physical 
ijiiture.  He  liad  a  natural  desire  to  be  best  in  whatever 
he  undertook,  and  hence  he  determined  to  be  a  lirst-class 
sailor.  The  inherited  Puritan  determination  took  this 
^vay,  and  he  excelled  in  his  chosen  work.  He  thus 
acquired  an  exjjerience  of  the  world  which  could  n(jt  have 
come  by  any  other  process.  His  university  was  the  broad 
ocean  itself.  His  teachers  were  the  winds  and  tides.  He 
saw  man  exactly  as  he  is.  He  saw  the  heathen,  the 
missionary,  the  merchant,  the  sailor.  He  knew  them.  He 
was  not  misled  by  books.  He  circumnavigated  the  glolie, 
and  that  is  a  bad  thing  for  theologies.  He  became  a 
citizen  of  the  world.  He  sounded  the  very  depths  of 
religion,  as  he  sounded  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  he  found 
nothing  upon  which  to  rely.  That  very  determination 
which  made  him  a  good  sailor  made  him  at  last  a  Free- 
thinker, and  gave  him  energy  to  overcome  the  almost 
irresistible  influences  of  childhood.  Captain  Adams  was 
not  a  born  Infidel.  He  was  made  an  Infidel  by  the  power 
of  thoujjrht  and  the  force  of  human  experience.  For  this 
reason  lie  represents  the  great  trend  of  modern  practical 
life,  the  out-door  and  working  life  of  liumanity.  His 
ske]iticism  is  that  skepticism  which  must  come  to  every 
man  who  frankly  considers  life,  and  yet  in  the  end  it  must 
be  a  constructive  skepticism,  since  it  is  not  at  heart  intel- 
lectual, but  practical  ;  that  is,  a  skepticism  which  is  the 
result  of  strenuous  combat  with  life  ;  a  healthful,  sturdy, 
cheerful  skepticism  which  takes  things  as  they  are,  but 
believes  in  the  power  of  man  to  make  them  better.  The 
writings  of  Captain  Adams  are  a  good  tonic.  They  brace 
a  man  up.  They  are  breezv,  lightsome,  vigorous  and 
radiant  with  humanity. 

After  fifteen  years  of  sea-life.  Captain  Adams  was 
married  to  an  English  lady  in  Liverpool,  and  after  that 
engaged  in  the  shipping  and  commission  business  in 
Montreal.     This    he    conducted    successfully    until    1882, 


STEPHEN  PEARL  ANDREWS.  689 

when  he  relinquished  the  business  to  partners  whom  he 
had  introduced  to  it,  and  has  since  devoted  himself  to 
phosphate  and  other  mining  enterprises,  in  which  he  is 
largely  interested.  All  the  time,  however,  he  has  been 
identified  by  voice  and  pen  with  Freethought.  Mrs. 
Adams  has  been  fully  as  radical  as  her  husband,  and 
accompanied  him  in  his  intellectual  advancements  with  a 
logic  as  uufiinching  as  his  own,  and  has  herself  con- 
tributed to  Freethought  literature  and  work.  His  son, 
Walter  Adams,  born  into  this  atmosphere  of  inquiry  and 
progress,  a  student  at  McGill  University,  accepts  with- 
out reserve  the  results  of  modern  science. 

C.  Fannie  Allyn. 
C  Fannie  Allyn  is  representative  of  the  rational  Spirit- 
ualistic movement  of  to-day.  She  is  a  Freethinker  and 
Secularist.  She  believes  in  the  freedom  and  advancement 
of  humanity  in  this  world.  She  really  believes  in  the 
motto,  '  One  world  at  a  time,"  although,  like  Thomas 
Paine,  she  "  hopes  for  happiness  beyond  this  life." 

Stephen  Pearl  Andrews. 
Stephen  Pearl  Andrews,  the  discoverer  of  the  unity  of 
law  in  the  universe,  or  Univer.sology,  was  born  at  Temple- 
ton,  Mass.,  March  22,  1812,  and  died  in  New  York  city, 
May  21,  1886,  at  the  age  of  seventy- four  years.  While  he 
was  yet  an  infant  his  father,  Rev.  Elisha  Andrews,  a  Bap- 
tist clergyman,  removed  to  Hinsdale,  New  Hampshire, 
where  Mr.  Andrews's  boyhood  was  passed.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Amherst,  and  at  nineteen  years  of  age  emigrated 
(as  was  then  said)  to  Louisiana,  where  he  studied  law  with 
an  elder  brother  who  had  preceded  him  there.  While 
preparing  for  admission  to  the  bar  he  supported  himself 
by  teaching  Greek  and  Latin.  He  married  Mary  Ann 
Gordon,  a  native  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  who  was  an  inmate 
of  tlie  young  ladies'  seminary  where  he  taught.  In  1839 
Mr.  Andrews  removed  to  Houston,  Texas,  where  he  entered 


690  KUUll    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Upon  lilt!  practiue  of  law.  His  purpose  in  goiug  to  Texas 
was  to  agitate  iu  favor  of  makiug  it  a  free  state.  His 
impetuous  aud  logical  eloquence  gained  for  him  a  wide 
repute  and  tiie  credit  of  standing  at  the  head  of  the  bar 
but  his  seemingly  reckless  and  fanatical  oiDposition  to 
slavery  aroused  a  feeling  so  intense  that  it  came  very  near 
costing  him  his  life.  His  career  in  Texas  furnishes  the 
only  instance  during  those  ominous  anti-abolition  times 
when  an  avowed  and  active  Abolitionist  of  northern  birth 
maintained  his  footing  in  the  midst  of  a  southern  popula- 
tion. In  1843,  however,  he  was  mobbed  and  finally  driven 
from  his  home  in  the  middle  of  the  night  on  the  alter- 
native of  being  hanged  if  he  was  found  in  the  city  within 
an  hour.  This  expei'ience  did  not  deter  him  from  his 
purpose.  He  went  to  England,  in  the  hope  that  with  the 
aid  of  the  British  Antislavery  Society  he  might  raise 
sufficient  money  there  to  pay  for  the  slaves  and  make 
Texas  a  free  state.  His  scheme  was  taken  up  and  favor- 
ably considered  by  the  British  government,  but  after 
months  of  consultation  the  project  was  abandoned  through 
fear  that  it  would  lead  to  war  with  the  United  States.  On 
returning  to  America  Mr.  Andrews  went  to  Boston  and 
became  a  leader  in  the  antislavery  movement  there. 
While  in  England  he  learned  of  phonography,  and  was  the 
founder  of  the  present  system  of  phonographic  reporting. 
He  removed  to  New  York  in  1847,  and  published  a  series 
of  phonographic  instruction  books  in  co-operation  with 
Augustus  E.  Boyle,  and  edited  two  journals  in  the  interest 
of  phonography  and  spelling  reform.  Mr.  Andrews  was 
a  man  of  vast  learning  as  well  as  a  remarkable  speaker, 
having  an  almost  unequaled  command  of  language  and 
facility  of  expression.  He  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
thirty-two  languages,  several  of  which  he  spoke  fluently. 
He  was  a  master  of  Greek  and  Latin,  a  thorough  Sanskrit 
and  Hebrew  scholar,  and  was  credited  with  being  the 
best   Chinese   scholar   in   tliis   conntrv  Avlien,  in   1854,  he 


11 KNKV    M.    TABKK,  (p.    SLU). 


STEPHKN   PEARL  ANDREWS.  691 

published  a  work  entitled  "  Diiscoveries  in  Chinese."  He 
was  the  author  of  a  system  of  teaching  languages,  and 
published,  in  collaboration  with  George  Batchelor,  a 
French  Instructor  which  has  been  widely  used.  As  a 
young  man  in  Louisiana,  he  believed  that  he  had  hit  upon 
the  germ  of  a  great  discovery — that  of  the  unity  of  all 
science  and  philosophy  ;  the  discovery,  in  a  word,  of  the 
unity  of  law  in  the  universe.  He  planned  also  at  that  day 
the  reform  of  English  orthography,  and  other  minor  enter- 
prises, which  he  afterward  endeavored  to  re;dize.  He 
came  later  to  the  study  of  the  great  thinkers  of  all  schools, 
and  he  proposed  no  less  than  to  found  the  ultimate  recon- 
ciliation of  them  all,  not  by  a  superficial  eclecticism,  but  by 
a  radical  adjustment  of  all  the  possible  forms  of  thought, 
belief,  and  idea.  The  same  principles  to  which  he  looked 
for  this  immense  result  furnish  also,  he  informed  us,  the 
basis  and  guidance  for  the  construction  of  the  scientific 
universal  language— the  one  language  which  he  believed 
is  to  replace  the  two  or  three  thousand  languages  which 
now  cover  and  cumber  the  earth.  This  universal  science 
he  denominated  Universology,  the  elements  of  which  are 
contained  in  a  large  work  called  "  The  Basic  Outline  of 
Universology."  The  new  language  he  called  Alwato  (Ahl- 
wah-to),  and  his  philosophy  at  large,  as  a  doctrine  of 
many-sidedness  and  reconciliation,  is  known  as  Integral- 
ism.  The  practical  institution  of  life,  which  he  advocated 
and  labored  to  inaugurate,  neither  mere  Individualism 
nor  mere  Communism,  he  called  the  Pautarchy.  His  con- 
tributions to  periodicals  are  numerous.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and 
of  the  American  Ethnological  society.  His  works  in- 
clude "Comparison  of  the  Common  Law  with  the 
Roman,  French,  or  Spanish  Civil  Law  on  Entails  and 
Other  Limited  Property  in  Ileal  Estate"  (New  Orleans, 
1839) ;  '•  Cost  the  Limit  of  Price  "  (New  York,  1851) ;  "  The 
Constitution    of  Government    in  the    Sovereignty    of    the 


692  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUG-HT. 

ludividual"  (1851);  "Love,  Marriage,  and  Divorce" 
(1853);  "Discoveries  in  Cliinese  ;  or,  Tlie  Symbolism  of 
the  Primitive  Cliaracters  of  the  Chinese  System  of  Writing 
as  a  Contribution  to  Pliilology  and  Ethnology  and  a 
Practical  Aid  in  the  Acquisition  of  the  Chinese  Lan- 
guage "  (1854) ;  "  Constitution  or  Organic  Basis  of  the  New 
Catholic  Church  "  (1860) ;  "  The  Great  American  Crisis,"  a 
series  of  papers  published  in  the  "  Continental  Monthly  "' 
(1863-64);  "A  Universal  Language"  ("Continental 
Monthly,"  1864) ;  "  The  Primary  Synopsis  of  Uuiversol- 
ogy  and  Alwato "  (1871) ;  "  Basic  Outlines  of  Universol- 
ogy  "  (1872)  ;  "  Primary  Grammar  of  Alwato "  (Boston, 
1877);  "The  Labor  Dollar"  (1881);  "Elements  of  Uni- 
versology  "  (New  York,  1881)  ;  "  Ideological  Etymology  " 
(1881)  ;  "  Transactions  of  the  Colloquium,  with  Docu- 
ments and  Exhibits"  (vols.  L  and  IL,New  York,  1882-83); 
"  The  Church  and  Religion  of  the  Future,"  a  series  of 
tracts  (1886).  His  unpublished  works  will  fill  several 
volumes.  His  manuscripts  have  been  collected  and 
arranged,  and  it  is  intended  that  they  shall  be  published. 
Mr.  Andrews  was  many  years  before  his  death  a  widower. 
He  had  four  sons,  two  of  whom  survive  him. 

R.  L.  Baker. 

Richard  L.  Baker  was  born  in  New  Brunswick,  Nov.  3, 
1827.  His  parents  were  of  English  stock  and  among  the 
early  settlers  of  this  part  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 
When  he  was  about  five  years  old  his  parents  removed 
to  the  United  States,  to  the  town  of  Houlton,  Maine, 
which  was,  at  that  time,  a  newly  settled  place.  His  oppor- 
tunities for  acquiring  even  a  common  school  education 
were  very  limited.  The  struggle  for  existence  at  that  time 
in  the  forests  of  Northern  Maine  was  paramount  to  every 
other  consideration.  His  mother  was  left  with  five  small 
children  to  support;  and  he  being  the  eldest  was  com- 
pelled, at  an  early  age,  to  earn  his  own  bread.     At  the  age 


GEO.  E.  BAXTER.  693 

of  eight  years  he  left  the  parental  roof.  He  labored  at 
anything  he  could  until  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  he 
learned  the  cabinet-maker's  trade.  After  two  years'  ap- 
prenticeship he  went  into  business  on  his  own  account, 
and  continued  until  1868.  In  1870  he  removed  to  Fort 
Fairfield,  Maine,  where  he  has  since  resided.  In  1877  he 
was  elected  selectman,  and  held  the  office  until  1884  He 
was  elected  sheriff  of  Aroostook  county  in  1879.  In 
1885  he  was  appointed  deputy  collector  of  customs.  In 
March,  1888,  was  again  elected  selectman. 

His  early  religious  education  was  in  the  Calvinistic 
Baptist  church.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four,  after  a  care- 
ful reading  of  the  Bible,  and  studying  its  moral  and  social 
effects,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  religion  was  the 
foe  of  mental  liberty,  and  the  church  the  invention  of 
priests ;  and  these  convictions  he  openly  declared  and 
maintained  for  half  a  century.  He  has  been  generous  in 
his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Freefchought.  He  organized 
the  Fort  Fairfield  Liberal  League,  of  which  he  is  now 
president.  He  built  Liberty  Hall,  and  gives  its  use  freely 
to  the  League,  and  has  made  Liberalism  a  power  in  this 
most  eastern  portion  of  the  American  republic  ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  he  has  been  a  leading  man  in  the  business  and 
politics  of  the  community. 

Geo.  E.  Baxter. 

George  E.  Baxtei-,  of  Perth  Amboy,  New  Brunswick, 
should  be  enrolled  among  our  working  Freethinkers. 
He  has  stood  at  the  front  with  the  Liberals  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country  both  as  a  speaker  and  a  writer.  He 
has  delivered  several  lectures  before  the  Fort  Fairfield 
Liberal  League,  and  has  joined  heartily  in  the  work  on 
this  side  of  the  line,  for,  as  he  himself  says,  "  there  are 
no  national  lines  in  Freethought."  He  has  contributed  to 
the  columns  of  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  "  Secular  Thought," 
and  other  Liberal  journals. 


t)94  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

■    W.  S.  Bell. 

William  S.  Bell  was  born  in  Allegheny  City,  Pa.,  Feb- 
ruary 16,  1832.  In  early  manhood  he  united  with  the 
Methodist  church  and  began  to  preach.  In  1858  he  gradu- 
ated from  Adrian  College,  Michigan,  and  became  a  preacher 
in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Having  outgrown  orthodoxy  after 
several  years,  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  medicine. 
In  1872  he  went  to  Harvard  Divinity  School  to  prepare 
for  the  Liberal  ministry.  In  1873  he  was  engaged  by  the 
Universalists  of  New  Bedford  to  supply  their  pulpit.  His 
sermons,  however,  were  not  of  "  the  good  old-fashioned 
Uuiversalist  style."  On  the  last  Sunday,  December,  1874, 
he  publicly  renounced  the  Christian  church.  Since  then 
lie  has  been  engaged  in  lecturing  before  Liberal  societies. 
He  has  published  several  books — "  The  Resurrection  of 
Jesus  ;"  "Anti-Prohibition  ;"  "An  Outline  of  the  French 
Revolution  of  1789,"  and  "The  Hand-Book  of  Free- 
thought." 

D.  M.  Bennett. 

During  the  period  between  1873  and  1882,  D.  M.  Ben- 
nett exerted  a  greater  influence  in  popularizing  Free- 
thought  than  any  other  man  has  done.  Men  of  greater 
personality  have  enjoyed  a  wider  circle  of  admirers  ;  their 
writings  have  had  a  larger  sale,  and  they  have  been  better 
known  to  the  world;  but  none  ever  accomplished  so  much 
in  so  short  a  time.  He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  the  township 
of  Springfield,  Otsego  county.  New  York,  December  23, 
1818.  In  one  of  his  autobiographies  he  remarks,  with  a 
touch  of  humor,  that  his  term  in  tJiis  troublous  world  be- 
gan two  months  sooner  than  it  should,  owing  to  his 
mother's  indiscretion  in  liftiniij  a  Dutch  oven.  At  the  aere 
of  twelve  years  he  weighed  but  fifty  pounds,  and  his 
frame  was  never  powerful.  He  had  four  years  of  school- 
ing ill   Cooperstown,  N.  Y.;  he  worked   in  a  printing-office 


D.  M.  BENNETT.  695 

and  in  a  wool-carcliug  establislimeut.     His  ambition  was 
to  be  a  doctor,  but  his  immaturity  was  against  liim.     At 
the  age  of  fifteen  he  joined  the  Shaker  community  at  New 
Lebanon.     Here   lie   rose   to  the    head  of  the  medical  de- 
partment, and  in  1845  was   physician  to   the  society.     Ou 
October  19,  1846,  he  married  the  demure  little  Shakeress, 
Mary  Wicks,  having  a  few  weeks   previously  quitted  the 
celibate  community.     Mrs.  Bennett  survives  her  husband 
and  is  still  living  with  relatives  in  the  state  of  New  Jersey. 
He  got  employment  in   a  drugstore  in  St.  Louis ;  after- 
ward he  embarked  in  the  drug  business  for  himself  and 
made  money.     In  1855-7  we  find  him   in  the  nursery  line 
at  Rochester ;  later,  a  traveling  salesman  and  collector  for 
a  seed  firm.     In  1859  he  began  the  manufacture  of  pro- 
prietary medicines  at  Cincinnati,  and  in  a  few  years  be- 
came wealthy.     Selling  out  his  establishment,  he  invested 
the   proceeds   in  various   ventures,   but   not   successfully. 
In  1865  and  '66  he  lost  $30,000.     Another  drug  store  which 
he  established  at  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  in  1868  was  abandoned 
on  account  of  dull  trade.     He  became  a  brick  manufac- 
turer on   Long  Island  ;  dropped  that  to  go   on  the  road 
again  as  a  commercial  traveler  ;   landed  finally  at  Paris, 
111.,  as   a  druggist,  and  thence   emerged   as   partner   in   a 
seed  firm.     Having    amid    his    varied    experiences    found 
time   to  devote    to  reading,  he   had  become  a  Freethinker, 
and  a  discussion  with  clerical  opponents  through  the  local 
papers  published  at  Paris,  when  he  was  not  accorded  fair 
play   by   one    of  the   editors,  determined  him   to  "  start  a 
paper   of    his  own   in   which    he   could    say    anything    he 
pleased."     Hence  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  the  history  of  which 
is  elsewhere  told.     As  an  editor  Bennett  proved  a  success. 
He  lacked  a  journalistic  education,  and  he  was  not  a  word- 
carpenter,  but  he    had  a  good   command  of  language  and 
was  perfectly  sincere  in  all  he  wrote.     His  writings  did 
not   cover   the  widest  field   of  discussion,  but  by  persist- 
ency  and    by  iteration   and    reiteration    he    produced    a 


(J96  FOUR   HU^UUEi'    YKAUtJ   UF   FKEKTHOUGHT. 

greater  impressiou  than  be  could  ever  Lave  done  by  scat- 
tering bis  blows  or  attempting  to  expound  tbe  universe. 
None  of  bis  readers  ever  failed  to  understand  wbat  be  meant. 
If  be  employed  an  unusual  word  be  at  once  proceeded  to 
explain  its  significance.     He  was  too  mucb  in  earnest  to 
attempt  writing  in  tbe  ligbter  vein,  and  be  was  unconscious 
of  tbe  bumor  tbat  some  of  bis  writings  contain.     His  style 
was  a  trifle  quaint,  but  it  was  effective.      Bennett  did  not 
belong  to  tbe  scbool  of  "  bigber  critics."     Tbe  plain  facts 
were  quite   satisfactory  to  bim,   and   be  preferred    tbem 
stated  in  Euglisb.     He  was  mucb  like  Paine   in  tbis  re- 
spect, and  if  cbarged  witb  barsbness  be  migbt  bave  replied 
witb  Paine  tbat  complaisance  toward  error  is  an  insult  to 
trutb.     As  a  writer   be   was  not   only  able   but  prolific. 
Somebody  once  advised  bim  to  read  more  and  write  less, 
but  be  answered  tbat  wben  tbe  trutbs  be  was  expounding 
bad  become  generally  accepted  it  would  be  time  to  look 
up  some  new  ones.     A  glance  at  bis  publisbed  books  sbows 
tbat  bis  industry  was  remarkable.     His  literary  and  jour- 
nalistic career  covered  only  tbe   period  between  1873  and 
1882.     One  year  of  tbis  time  be  spent  in  coufinement ;  one 
year  on  a  voyage   around  tbe   world,  and   one  season  in 
Europe.      Nevertbeless    be    found    time    to    write    "Tbe 
World's   Sages,  Tbinkers,   and   Reformers,"   a   volume  of 
1100    pages.     "  Tbe    Cbampions    of   tbe    Cburcb,"  a    still 
larger  work ;  "  Tbe  Gods  and    Religions   of  Ancient  and 
Modern   Times,"  two  volumes  of  a  tbousand  pages  eacb  ; 
"  An    Infidel   Abroad,"  eigbt    bundred  pages ;  "  A  Trutb 
Seeker  Around   tbe   World,"  four   volumes   of  about  750 
pages    eacb ;    tbe    Huraplirey-Bennett     Discussion ;     tbe 
Bennett-Teed  Discussion ;  tbe  Bennett-Mair  Discussion, 
besides    otber   discussions   and   unnumbered   columns    of 
editorial    matter    and    articles   for  "  Tbe    Trutb    Seeker." 
Adding  to  tbis  labor  be  attended  to  tbe  management  of  bis 
paper  and  business,  wbicb    be  did   so  well  that   altbougb 
be  began  witbout  capital,  tbe  settlement  of  bis  estate  left 


W.  C.  6iUUO0  (p.  809). 


]1KNRY   BIRD.  697 

his  widow  in  more  than  comfortable  circumstances.  Tlie 
books  he  wrote  aud  published  cover  almost  the  whole 
range  of  Freethought  literature.  The  tree  which  he 
phmted  has  not  failed  to  increase  and  bear  fruit,  and  the 
Truth  Seeker  Company's  catalogue  of  Freethought  and 
scientific  works  includes  a  thousaml  titles.  Incidentally  D. 
M.  Bennett  fought  and  won  the  fight  for  free  mails  and  a 
free  press,  albeit  through  martyrdom.  The  story  of  his 
battle  is  told  in  the  history  of  the  National  Defense  Asso- 
ciation in  this  volume.  He  died  near  the  close  of  his 
sixty-fourth  year,  Dec.  6,  1882,  and  the  good  that  he  did 
lives  after  him. 

Henry  Bied. 

Henry  Bird  was  born  in  1839,  at  Barston,  county  of 
Warwickshire,  England.  His  early  life  was  spent  on  a 
farm.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered  the  field  of  horti- 
culture, and  later,  the  department  of  floriculture.  He 
came  to  America  in  I860,  and  located  at  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  where  he  has  carried  on  business  since 
that  time.  His  parents  were  Episcopalians.  He  was 
brought  up  in  that  faith,  but  could  not  accept  the  dog- 
mas of  the  church.  He  became  a  Congregationalist,  and 
atteniled  the  Bedleville  x-Vvenue  Congregational  church, 
and  was  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  for  two  years, 
at  the  time  when  Hugh  O.  Pentecost  was  called  as  its 
pastor.  Trouble  soon  arose  through  Mr.  Pentecost's  Lib- 
eral views.  As  a  result  he  resigned.  Mr.  Bird  left  the 
church  witli  him,  and  was  one  of  his  most  ardent  sup- 
porters and  admirers  during  his  cai^er  as  a  platform  lect- 
urer. After  years  of  tlnmght  and  study,  taking  up  the 
science  of  evolution,  bf)th  as  a  student  and  lecturer,  Mr. 
Bird  became  an  Atheist.  He  has  been  president  of  the 
Newark  Liberal  League  the  last  three  years,  and  is 
heartily  in  accord  with  Liberalism  and  with  scientific  in- 
vestigation, where  "  the  other  side  "  can  be  heard,  and  rea- 


698  FOUll   HUNDRED   YEARS   0¥   FREETHOUGHT. 

son  is  not  subordinated  to  a  blind  dogmatic  faith.     He 
says: 

"  'Tis  your  prerogative  and  mine  to  doubt ; 
How  do  you  know  ?  is  trutli's  own  scout ; 
Facts  fear  no  foes,  the  truth  will  out, 
Though  crushed  will  rise,  and  error  rout." 

Mr.  Bird  has  been  a  most  thorough  student  of  the 
evolution  of  flowers,  and  his  lectures  on  this  subject  be- 
fore the  Newark  high  schools,  and  Liberal  and  scientific 
societies,  are  most  interesting  and  valuable.  It  is  a  pleas- 
ure to  visit  his  delightful  home,  and  roam  amidst  the 
beauties  of  nature  by  which  he  is  surrounded.  The  petal 
and  perfume  of  every  flower  is  for  Freethought.  Mr. 
Bird  is  radical  to  the  backbone,  but  he  believes  in  con- 
structive and  social  Liberalism,  and  the  Newark  Liberal 
League  under  his  administration  is  highly  successful. 
Mr.  Bird  is  ably  supported  by  Mr.  George  Gillen,  the 
present  secretary,  formerly  president,  whose  wife  is  a 
member  of  the  Booth  family,  known  for  their  devotion 
to  Freethought. 

Delos  a.  Blodgett. 

Delos  Abiel  Blodgett,  son  of  Abiel  D.  and  Sasan  (Rich- 
mond) Blodgett,  was  born  in  Otsego  county,  New  York, 
March  3,  1825.  He  is  of  New  England  parentage  and 
ancestry.  When  he  was  four  years  old  the  family  removed 
from  Otsego  county  to  Erie  county  in  the  same  state, 
where  they  settled  on  a  farm.  From  then  until  he  was 
twenty  years  of  age,  a  period  not  marked  by  any  special 
event,  he  resided  with  his  parents,  assisted  in  the  farm 
work,  and  attended  the  ilistrict  and  select  schools,  so- 
called.     This  comprised  his  (^pportunit}^  for  education. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  Mr.  Blodgett  left  home,  and  seek- 
ing employment  as  a  raftsman  and  boatman  worked  his 
way  down   the  Allegheny,  Ohio,  and  Mississsippi  rivers. 


DELOS  A.  BLODGETT. 


699 


and  finally  landed  in  New  Orleans.  Here  his  liealtli 
failed  him,  and  he  decided  to  return  north,  going  to  Mc- 
Henry  county,  Illinois,  to  which  point  his  parents  had 
removed. 

In  the  fall  of  1848,  having  in  the  meantime  regained 
his  health,  he  started  for  western  Michigan,  then  just 
coming  into  notice  as  an  important  lumbering  state.  He 
landed  in  Muskegon,  and  immediately  got  employment  in 
the  lumber  woods  in  that  vicinity.  Two  years  later  he 
entered  into  the  logging  and  lumber  business  on  his  own 
account,  and  from  that  time  his  career  has  formed  a  large 
part  of  tlie  history  of  the  development  of  western  Michi- 
gan. He  has  been  continually  and  extensively  engaged  in 
lumbering,  as  well  as  farming,  banking,  and  real  estate. 
He  still  has  large  holdings  of  timber  lands  in  Michigan, 
Washington,  Oregon,  and  most  of  the  Gulf  states,  and  is 
largely  interested  in  real  estate  in  Grand  Rapids  and 
Chicago.  Mr.  Blodgett  has  never  been  a  candidate  for  pub- 
lic office,  nor  a  member  of  any  secret  society.  Politically 
he  affiliated  with  tlie  Whigs  till  the  formation  of  the  Kepub- 
lican  party,  of  which  he  has  since  been  an  active  work- 
ing member.  In  religion  he  has  always  been  an  Agnostic. 
On  Sept.  9,  1859,  Mr.  Blodgett  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Jennie"  S.  Wood,  of  Woodstock,  111.,  who,  after 
over  thirty  years  of  happy  wedded  life,  passed  away  in 
October.  1890,  leaving  a  son,  John  W.  Blodgett,  and 
daughter,  Mrs.  Edwanl  Lowe,  both  of  Grand  Rapids. 
On  June  3,  1893,  Mr.  Blodgett  was  again  married,  this 
time  to  Miss  Daisy  A.  Peck,  daugiiter  of  the  late  Prof. 
William  Henry  Peck,  the  author,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 

One  who  lias  long  known  liim  says:  "Mr.  Blodgett  is 
a  man  alK)ut  five  feet  eight  and  one-half  inches  tall,  spare 
but  Avell-developed  frame,  a  blonde,  with  bright,  merry 
blue  e}es,  tlie  natural  accompaniments  of  a  nervou^ 
sanguine  temperament  and  a  friendly,  kindly  nature. 
Though   far   from   robust   in   physique  or   health,  he   has 


700  FOUR  hundrp:d  years  of  frekthought. 

been  an  imlefatigable  worker  all  his  life,  a  man  of  abound- 
in<^  activit}'  and  surprising  energy  in  whatever  his  hands, 
his  head,  or  his  heart  have  found  to  do.  To  his  marvelous 
industry,  as  well  as  to  his  business  sagacity  and  superb 
courage,  is  his  marked  business  success  due,  a  success 
tliat  has  left  no  rancor  in  the  minds  of  his  employes  or 
competitors  ;  a  success  that  has  never  been  at  the  expense 
of  anyone  else,  and  that  has  never  changed  his  manners  or 
his  kindliness  toward  others.  Mr.  Blodgett  is  an  Agnostic 
in  matters  of  religious  opinion,  a  stalwart  Republican  in 
political  faith,  and  a  capitalist  with  very  many  interests  to 
consider  ami  to  maintain,  but  these  interests  have  never 
closed  his  ears  or  his  hands  to  the  needs  of  his  fellow 
man  as  individiials  or  in  communities.  He  has  made  his 
great  wealth  the  means  of  conferring  inestimable  benefits 
and  happiness  on  others,  no  matter  what  their  religious 
or  political  creeds  might  be,  and  a  worthy  cause,  no  matter 
in  what  dej-tartment  of  charitable,  religious,  social,  educa- 
tional, or  political  work,  is  sure  of  his  prompt  and  generoiis 
assistance.  He  is  a  close  observer,  a  student,  a  man  who 
appreciates  the  scientific  and  otlier  progress  of  humanity 
in  an  unusual  degree,  especially  when  it  is  remembered 
that  he  had  no  opportunity  for  a  higher  education,  and 
has  always  been  so  actively  and  extonsively  engaged  in 
business.  His  library  is  a  favorite  resort  with  him.  He 
is  a  rare  friend,  firm,  reliable,  faithful,  a  man  who  gives 
his  friend  his  confidence,  and  who  wins  implicit  con- 
fidence in  return.  Such  ;i  man,  ^^ith  an  overflowing  share 
of  tlie  milk  of  human  kindness,  is  of  necessity  a  thou.chtinl, 
generous,  loving  husband  and  father,  for  with  him  family 
is  first;  friends,  his  community,  his  country,  tlie  world, 
next." 

Dr.  William  Botsford. 

I)i-.  William  Botsford  stands  high  in  the  medical  fra- 
ternity of  San  Francisco  as  a  phj^sician  of  unusual  ability. 


A.  J.  BOYER.  701 

He  is  the  direct  descendaut  of  an  old  English  family,  who 
stood  very  high  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of 
the  English  government  all  througli  the  eighteentli  cen- 
tury and  for  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Dr.  Botsford  was  born  in  Sackville,  New  Brunswick,  in 
1843,  and  spent  the  first  seventeen  years  of  his  life  at 
home.  He  graduated  from  the  Sackville  Academy  and 
then  entered  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  in  Philadel- 
phia, from  whicli  he  was  graduated  iu  March,  1867.  After 
receiving  his  diploma  he  was  appointed  resident  physician 
in  the  Philadelphia  hospital,  wdiich  responsible  position 
he  filled  acceptably  for  a  year  and  a  half.  He  then  re- 
moved to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  built  up  a  considerable 
practice.  For  many  years  he  was  visiting  pliysician  of 
tlje  Children's  Hospital  in  that  city.  He  went  to  San 
Francisco  in  1876,  and  lias  been  practicing  there  ever 
since.  The  reward  of  skill  and  devotion  to  his  profession 
lias  been  a  truly  enviable  position  in  the  medical  world. 

Dr.  Botsford  has  for  many  years  been  a  pronounced 
Freethinker,  and  has  never  been  afraiil  to  express  his 
opinions.  He  is  vice-president  of  the  California  Liberal 
Union,  and  generously  aided  '"  Freethought  "  in  its  .-strug- 
gles on  the  coast,  by  personal  effort  and  contributions  of 
money.  His  success  in  his  profession  does  not  spem  to 
have  been  injured  by  his  open  advocacy  of  advanced  prin- 
<'i])les.  The  majority  of  the  rapdical  profession  accept  tlie 
same  conclusions,  but  are  not  always  so  ready  to  declare 
tiieui.  or  to  support  them,  as  Dr.  Botsford. 

A.    J.    BoYER. 

Andrew  Jackson  Boyer  was  born  near  the  village  of 
B/Oxbury,  Franklin  county,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  5th  of 
August,  1839.  He  was  a  Christian  in  early  life,  but  he 
soon  began  thinking  for  himself,  and  during  the  years  of 
his  mental  evolution  passed  through  all  the  grades  of  un- 
fold ln^•tlt,    abandoning   first    tlie    orthodox   hcdl,   then    the 


702  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

authenticity  of  the  Bible  and  the  divinity  of  the  mythical 
Christ,  halting  for  a  time  upon  the  fascinating  threshold 
of  the  Spiritualistic  philosophy,  reading  and  thinking,  and 
thinking  and  reading,  until  finally  all  the  clouds  of  super- 
stition were  banislietl  from  his  mental  vision. 

Mr.  Boyer  became  a  printer  and  a  journalist,  and  soon 
found  himself  engaged  ill  the  publication  of  Freethought 
and  reform  papers.  During  the  exciting  years  of  the  agi- 
tation of  the  subject  of  Woman  Suffrage,  from  1868  to 
1871,  he  published  the  "  Woman's  Advocate  "  in  Dayton, 
Ohio,  which  he  devoted  to  social  and  political  equality  of 
the  sexes. 

After  this  he  widened  his  sphere  of  action  and  began 
the  publication  of  the  "  Nineteenth  Century  "  in  Chicago, 
a  radical  reform  journal,  which  was  discontinued  after  the 
great  fire.  For  two  days  after  the  fire  he  was  in  posses- 
sion of  the  only  type  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  during 
these  two  days  issued  the  only  daily  or  other  newspaper 
in  that  city,  copies  of  the  unique  little  papers  being  ex- 
hibited as  curiosities  at  the  World's  Fair  of  1893. 

He  then  removed  to  Denver,  Colorado,  and  there 
founded  what  is  now  known  as  the  "  Daily  Times,"  one  of 
the  leading  and  best  daily  journals  in  that  city.  He  began 
this  journal  in  the  interest  of  Horace  Greeley  for  presi- 
dent. He  pushed  on  later  to  the  Pacific  coast,  where  he, 
in  company  with  a  Mr.  Dewes,  founded  the  present  great 
daily  newspaper  in  Oakland — the  "Tribune."  In  all  of 
these  enterprises  he  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  wield 
his  trenchant  pen  m  behalf  of  Freethought,  and  in  1875 
he  began  the  publication  of  the  "  Pacific  Liberal,"  which 
he  devoted  to  "Freethought,  radical  reform,  and  the  secu- 
larization of  the  state,"  and  by  means  of  which  he  vigor- 
ously spread  the  principles  of  Secularism  throughout  the 
coast  states  and  territories.  During  his  residence  in 
California  he  published  also  the  "  Daily  Statesman;"  in 
Sacramento,  the  "Dailv  Gazette  ;"  in  the  same  city,  and  in 


F    L.  OSWALD  (1.    781) 


J.  H.  BURNHAM.  7O3 

San  Francisco,  the  "  Commercial  Advocate,"  the  "  Mission 
Mirror,"  autl  the  ''American  Patriot."  During  the  past 
decade  he  has  lived  in  Washington,  D.  C,  where  he  is  in 
government  employ,  but  he  still  devotes  himself  to  Free- 
thought  work. 

^  Dr.  T.  L.  Brown. 

Dr.  Titus  L.  Brown  was  born  Oct.  16,  1823,  at  Hills- 
dale, N,  Y.  He  studied  at  the  Medical  College  of  New 
York,  and  graduated  at  th3  Homeopathic  College,  Phila- 
delphia. He  settled  at  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  where  he  had 
a  large  practice.  In  1877  he  was  elected  president  of  the 
Freethinkers'  Association  of  New  York  state.  He  died 
August  17,  1887.  He  was  a  pronounced  Materialist,  but 
was  always  Liberal  and  progressive  in  his  opinions.  He 
was  a  welcome  attendant  at  Freethought  meetings,  into 
which  he  eufused  the  ardor  of  his  genial  personality  and 
radical  thoughts. 

Dr.  G.  W.  Brown. 

Dr.  George  William  Brown  was  born  in  Essex  countj', 
N.  Y.,  October,  1820.  At  seventeen  years  of  age  he  was 
expelled  from  church  for  repudiating  the  dogma  of  an 
endless  hell.  He  edited  the  "  Herald  of  Freedom,"  Kan- 
sas. In  1856  bis  office  was  destroyed  by  a  pro-slavery 
mob,  his  type  thrown  into  the  river,  and  himself  and  others 
arrested,  ^^u t  were  released  without  trial.  He  is  at  present 
living  at  Rockford,  lU. 

J.    H.    BURNHAM. 

J.  H.  Burnham  must  be  ranked  among  the  ablest  lect- 
urers and  writers  in  the  Freethought  field,  ile  formerly 
occupied  a  prominent  position  in  the  Methodist  church, 
and  was  one  of  its  most  popular  exponents.  He  surren- 
dered his  pulpit  in  obedience  to  his  intellectual  convic- 
tions, and  has  since  devoted  himself  to  the  pioneer  work 


704  FOUR  HIINDUKD  YEARS  OF  FREKTHOUGHT. 

of    Liberalism.     He   is   at    present   residing  at   Saginaw, 
Mich. 

W    H.  BuRU. 

William  Henry  Burr  was  born  April  15,  1819,  on  the 
ver^e  of  the  Adirond;i<;k  wilderness,  New  York,  at  a  place 
called  Stump  City.  It  is  now  named  Gloversville.  In 
1838  Mr.  Burr  graduated  at  Union  College.  In  1815  he 
began  the  study  of  phonograph}-,  which  he  successfully 
pursued.  He  was,  from  1865  to  1869,  one  of  the  official 
corps  of  House  reporters,  Washington,  D.  C.  In  1869  he 
voluntarily  resigned  and  devoted  himself  to  literary  pur- 
suits. He  champions  the  claim  that  Thomas  Paine  wrote 
the  Letters  of  Junius  and  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence ;  and  that  Francis  Bacon  was  the  author  of  Shak- 
spere's  plays  and  poems.  He  has  contributed  many 
articles  to  Freethought  journals,  and,  while  a  Spiritualist, 
is  a  thorough  radical  on  religious  questions 

K.    BUTTERFIELD. 

Rufus  Butterfield,  of  Sacramento,  California,  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  that  great  state,  was  born  in  Jefferson 
county,  N.  Y..  Nov.  13,  1817.  He  was  left  an  orphan  at  an 
early  age.  He  was  brought  up  in  the  Methodist  persua- 
sion. When  he  began  to  think  for  himself  he  discarded 
the  whole  orthodox  creed.  In  1849  he  went  to  California, 
and  l>y  liis  btisiness  enterprise  has  aided  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  resources  of  the  country.  He  has  been  an 
outspoken  Freethinker,  and  has  supported  the  cause  with 
voice  and  pen  and  money.  He  is  one  of  the  vice-presidents 
of  the  California  Liberal  Union,  and  was  an  ardent  ally 
of  Putnam  and  Macdonald  in  the  publication  of 
"Freethouglit."  He  is  a  pioneer  in  every  sense  of  the 
word — for  liberty  and  justice,  as  well  as  in  the  marvelous 
material  advancement  of  tlie  Golden  state. 


0.  CHILD.  705 

O.  Child. 

Orlando  Child  was  born  at  Pomfret,  Vt.,  Jan.  2,  1812. 
After  receiving  a  common  school  education  in  his  native 
town  he  attended  the  academy  at  Fredonia,  N.  Y.  At  the 
age  of  twenty  he  started  west  and  touDd  employment  as  a 
clerk  in  a  mercantile  house  iu  Pittsburg,  and  later  on,  in 
Burlington,  Ohio.  Then  he  taught  school  two  3"ears  at 
Hiujgiug  Rock,  Ohio.  From  liere  he  traveled  on  horse- 
back up  what  is  known  as  the  Kanavva  Ridge  to  the  cele- 
brated salt  works.  He  spent  some  time  iu  Chihcothe  and 
in  Monticello,  Va.,  the  home  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  site 
of  the  university  founded  by  this  immortal  Freethinking 
statesman — thence  "on  to  Richmond,"  From  Richmond 
he  went  to  New  York  city,  and  after  the  great  fire  in  1835, 
he  took  a  trip  south  in  the  employ  of  Horace  Greeley,  in- 
tending to  reach  the  west  by  the  way  of  New  Orleans,  but 
was  stopped  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  account  of  the  hostility 
of  the  Indians  in  Florida. 

In  1836  he  located  in  Putnam  county.  111.,  at  the  newly 
platted  town  of  Granville,  where  an  academy  was  in  prog- 
ress of  building,  and  taught  its  first  school.  Here  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  lady  whom  he  married  in 
1837.  He  made  his  experimental  double  rotary  saw  mill 
which  was  patented  in  1852. 

In  1855  he  came  to  M(dine  and  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  his  newly  patented  saw  mills,  and  built  a  steam 
saw  mill  which  burnt  down  in  1856,  and  then  went  into 
general  mercantile  business.  Mr.  Cljild  invested  in  real 
estate  in  Moline,  which  proved  very  profitable.  He  has 
resided  there  ever  since  going  into  business.  The 
rotary  saw  mill  which  he  patented  in  1852  is  now 
in  use  all  over  the  world,  and  has  rewarded  the  inventor 
with  a  competency.  He  has  since  patented  an  improve- 
ment in  mechanical  movement,  the  importance  of  which. 
like  many  other  great  inventions,  will  not  be  appr-sciated 


70G  FOUll    IIL'NUUKU    YKARS    OF    FUKKl'llOUtiHr, 

uutil  after   Ins  deatb,  as  he    is   now  past  eighty  years  of 
age. 

Mr.  Child  was  brought  up  to  regard  Christianit}-  as  a 
sacred  truth.  He  stuck  to  it  honestly  until  he  reached  the 
position  of  Sunday-school  superintendent.  Eealizing  the 
responsibility  of  his  position  he  began  to  think  the  matter 
over  conscientiously.  He  investigated  and  became  a  cou- 
tirmed  Freethinker.  He  has  had  six  children,  of  whom 
only  one  remains.  The  hiSS  of  his  children  convinced 
him  that  there  could  not  be  a  loving  God  ;  and  he  ceased 
to  worship.     He  devotes  himself  to  humanity. 

Converse  Close. 

Converse  Close,  of  Grattaii,  Mich.,  Avho  has  recently 
died,  has  for  nearly  half  a  century  been  upon  the  roll  of 
Freetliiukers.  He  had  for  many  years  been  an  invalid, 
but  never  failed  to  encourage  the  work  of  Free- 
thouglit.  He  contributed  many  articles  to  "The  Truth 
Seeker"  and  other  Liberal  journals.  In  a  somewhat 
orthodox  community  he  won  respect  by  his  unliincljiiig 
devotion  to  radical  principles.  He  believed  in  the  future 
of  Freethought  ;  that  it  was  a  power  in  man's  heart  and 
brain  to  eventually  make  tlie  real  paradise  of  this  world. 

Wm.  Emmette  Coleman. 

William  Emmette  Coleman  was  born  June  19,  184:3.  at 
Shadwell,  Albemarle  cc^uuty,  Virgiida.  In  1854,  when 
eleven  years  old,  he  left  school  to  assume  the  duties  of 
assistant  liVirarian  in  the  Richmond  public  library. 

Ill  1859,  at  sixteen,  came  the  turning  point  of  his  life 
— his  contact  with,  and  acceptance  of,  the  philosophy  of 
Modern  Spiritualism.  He  renounced  forever  the  errone- 
ous principles  till  then  cherished  by  him,  and  became  a 
radical  non-Christian  Spiritualist,  which  he  is  at  this  day. 

Reared  in  the  midst  of  African  slavery  he  saw  the 
enormity  of  the  institution,  and  was  in  full  sympathy  with 


WM.    RMMKTTR  COLEMAN. 


707 


Wm.  Lloyd  Garrisou  aud  other  reformers.  At  tlie  same 
time  he  became  an  advocate  of  universal  snflfrage,  prison 
reform,  peace  and  temperance  reforms,  total  separation  of 
church  and  state,  etc. 

Since  ten  years  of  age  he  had  an  abiding  interest  in 
the  drama.  In  1862  he  secured  a  position  in  the  Rich- 
mond theater.  In  1865  and  1866  he  was  regular  weekly 
correspondent  of  the  New  York  "Clipper"  and  New  York 
"  Mercury."  He  dramatized  several  novels  for  the  stage  ; 
notably,  in  1864,  "East  Lynne,"  which,  being  producecl  in 
1867  in  New  York  city,  was  declared  by  the  press  a  good 
adajitation  of  that  famous  Dovel. 

In  1867  Mr.  Coleman  was  appointed  by  Gen.  J.  M. 
Scofield,  first  as  registration  officer-at-large  for  Scott 
county,  Va.;  and  then  as  president  of  the  board  of  regis- 
tration for  Bland  county.  In  1869  General  CanbA'  ap- 
pointed him  assistant  chief  clerk.  In  1883  he  was  made 
chief  clerk  in  the  ofiice  of  the  quartermaster  at  the  Pre- 
sidio of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  which  position  he  now  holds. 
Ill  1871  he  was  married  to  Wihnot  Bouton,  of  New 
York,  a  lady  of  education  and  refinement,  beloved  bv  all 
who  knew  her,  an  earnest  Spiritualist  and  reformer.  She 
died  in  1882. 

Sunda}-,  Sept.  5.  1875,  at  Jayne  Hall,  Philadelphia, 
Mr.  Coleman  listened  to  a  debate  on  the  question,  "Does 
Nature  Disprove  the  Bible  God  ?"  Up  to  this  time  Mr. 
Coleman  had  never  taken  part  in  a  public  debate.  Being 
dissatisfied  with  the  manner  in  which  the  affirmative  of 
the  question  was  upheld,  the  thought  occurred  to  him 
tliat,  on  the  succeeding  Sunday,  he  might  offer  more 
weighty  and  effective  facts  antl  arguments  on  that  side  of 
the  question,  which  he  did  ;  and  the  subject  matter  was 
afterward  published  in  "Truth  Seeker  Tract,"  number  55. 
From  that  date  his  general  literary  career  may  be  said  to 
Lave  commenced. 

A  short  time  after  this  he  left  Philadelphia  for  Lea- 


708  *'OUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

venwortb,  Kansas,  aud  published  a  tract  upon  "The  Rela- 
tionsliip  of  Jesus,  Jehovah,  and  the  Virgin  Mary," 
number  79  of  "Truth  Seeker  Tracts;"  also  "Who  Was 
Jesus  Christ  ?"  number  129  of  same  series.  He  subse- 
quently prepared  "  One  Hundred  and  One  Reasons  why  I 
am  not  a  Christian  Spiritualist,"  an  elaborate  examination 
of  the  two  systems  of  thouglit — Christianity  as  viewed  by 
Christian  Spiritualists,  and  rational  Spiritualism. 

He  was  the  Kansas  representative  in  the  Centennial 
Congress  of  Liberals  at  Philadelphia,  July,  1876,  thus  be- 
ing a  charter  member  of  the  National  Liberal  League.  In 
1879  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Leavenworth  League. 

Mr.  Coleman  is  a  believer  in  organic  evolution,  as  en- 
tirely harmonious  with  rational  Spiritualism.  He  has 
given  attention  to  various  branches  of  science.  In  1879 
he  gave  three  lectures  on  Darwinism  and  the  Evolution 
of  Man,  before  the  Leavenworth  Academy  of  Science ; 
also  two  lectures  on  Spectrum  Analysis ;  and  again 
tlie  Parallelism  between  Biologic  and  Philologic  Evolution. 

During  the  last  few  years  Mr.  Coleman  has  been 
specially  interested  in  Orientalism,  including  the  lan- 
guages, literature,  religions,  and  antiquities  of  India, 
China,  Persia,  Assyria,  Babylonia,  Egypt,  Arabia,  Judea, 
etc.  He  has  also  been  a  student  of  comparative  philol- 
ogy, comparative  mj'tholog}-,  and  comparative  theology, 
the  result  of  his  researches  appearing  in  his  essays. 

From  its  first  inception  in  America  Mr.  Coleman  has 
opposed  the  teachings  of  Theosophy  as  expounded  by 
Madam  Blavatsky  and  others.  He  lias,  on  all  occasions, 
asserted  tliat  the  so-calleil  feats  of  magic  claimed  to  be 
performed  by  Madam  Blavatsky  and  the  Indian  adepts 
were  sleight-of-liand  tricks — mere  jugglery. 

Mr.  Coleman  is  quick  to  detect  the  weak  points  in  an 
argument,  and  his  writings  and  debates  are  a  criticism  of 
what  he  regards  as  sophistries  and  fallacies.  The  frauds 
in  materialization,  and  other  phases  of  so-called  Spiritual- 


■-'TV      *??  *': 


Mi^' 


~1 


.^f** 


/ 


MATTIE   F.   KRKKKL  (p.   756). 


LUCY  N.  COLMAN  709 

ism,  he  mercilessly  excoriates.  Altliouf^li  bold  and  vifyor- 
ous  as  a  writer,  personally  lie  is  mild  and  retiring.  "  No 
compromise  with  error,  the  truth  must  prevail,"  seems  to 
be  the  motto  of  his  endeavor. 

Lucy  N.  Colman, 

Lucy  N.  Colman  was  born  July  26,  1817.  At  eighteen 
she  was  married  to  John  M.  Davis,  of  Dighton,  Mass. 
At  twenty-four  she  was  a  widow,  and  married  again  when 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  and  became  a  mother  at  twenty- 
eight.  She  says:  "I  always  like  to  write  the  word 
'  Mother  '  with  a  capital  M.  To  me  it  is  the  most  wonder- 
ful word  in  all  the  language  ;  it  means  joy  that  can  never 
be  equaled.  I  can  never  forget  the  ecstasy  that  came  over 
me  when  I  first  looked  in  the  face  of  my  child,  and  knew 
that  it  was  mine,  but  with  the  joy  came  the  remembrance 
of  the  slave  mother's  agony  as  she  looked  upon  her  child 
and  knew  its  fate." 

This  is  the  key-note  to  Mrs.  Colman's  life.  She  was 
thorouo;hly  devoted  to  the  autislavery  reform.  She  was 
with  Garrison,  Phillips,  Frederick  Douglass,  and  others, 
and  earned  the  reputation  of  an  earnest  Abolitionist. 

After  several  years  of  married  life  her  husband,  Mr. 
Colman,  was  killed  on  the  New  York  Central  railroad. 
He  was  buried  from  Corintliian  Hall,  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
Andrew  Jackson  Davis  officiating  at  tlie  funeral.  Mrs. 
Cohuan  was  at  tliat  time  a  Spiritualist.  Slie  had  given  up 
the  church  because  of  its  complicity  with  slavery.  She 
renounced  even  the  Unitarian  and  Universalist  creeds. 
Mrs.  Colman  was  for  some  years  a  school-teaclier  and 
labored  earnestly  for  reform,  especially  for  the  abolition 
of  corporal  punishment,  and  to  some  extent  succeeded. 
But  she  began  to  think  that  she  must  speak  for  tlie  slave. 
She  consulted  with  Amy  Post,  who  declared  herself  ready 
to  plan  a  campaign.  Tlie  first  meeting  was  held  in  a 
Presbvterian  church.     It   was   a   success,   and    from   that 


710  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

time  on  Mrs.  Colman  continued  in  the  work.  She  labored 
for  awhile  in  Michigan  and  found  a  good  home  with 
Samuel  D.  Moore  and  his  wife.  Mr.  Moore  is  well  known 
ill  the  Liberal  ranks  to-day,  and  has  been  a  persistent 
worker  for  Freethought. 

Mrs.  Colman  found  in  her  labors  everywhere  that  the 
church  was  the  "  bulwark  of  slavery."  If  attacked  by 
mobs  she  generally  found  that  ministers  of  the  gospel  were 
the  ringleaders.  Her  life  was  an  adventurous  one,  and  her 
"  Reminiscences  "  are  exceedingly  interesting,  showing  how 
great  was  the  conflict  for  liberty  in  those  days.  Mrs.  Col- 
man is  radical  in  every  direction.  She  is  opposed  to 
ivldte  slavery  as  well  as  to  black  slavery,  and  has  devoted 
herself  to  woman's  rights  as  well  as  to  the  rights  of  man. 
She  is  a  radical  Freethinker,  having  outgrown  super- 
stitions of  every  kind.  She  has  not  lost  her  interest  in 
any  living  question.  She  has  had  a  busy  and  eventful 
career ;  has  mingled  with  the  world,  among  its  great 
characters  and  great  movements,  and  has  done  her  share 
fco  bring  about  the  great  gains  of  the  present  time.  She 
has  shown,  what  a  woman  can  do  who  has  self-reliance, 
energy,  and  devotion  to  truth  and  right.  Her  name  shines 
in  the  annals  of  progress. 

J.   A.   CONANT. 

Joseph  A.  Conant  is  a  descendant  of  Roger  Conant,  the 
first  governor  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  in  Waldo 
county,  state  of  Maine,  June  5,  1830.  His  mother  died 
when  he  was  eight  years  of  age.  His  father  removed  to 
Aroostook  county,  Maine,  in  1843,  and  Joseph,  in  1845, 
when  fifteen  years  of  age,  followed,  taking  stage  from 
B;ingor  to  Houlton,  and  then,  with  his  luggage  on  his 
back,  made  his  way  on  foot  forty-two  miles  through  the 
almost  pathless  wilderness  to  Presque  Isle,  and  thence 
<M<j:ht  niilfs  fni-tlier  ou  to  what  is  now  the  town  of  Fort 
Fairfield,  wlifv-  lii-;  fatlioM-  liad   made  the  new  home.      His 


J.  K  COOK.  711 

school  privileges  after  this  were  very  limited.  His  father 
was  a  Universalist,  and  for  many  years  the  son  adopted 
that  faith  until  he  read  Ingersoll's  lectures,  which  showed 
something  better  than  even  Liberal  Christianity.  Mr. 
Conant  became  especially  disinclined  to  any  religion  when 
he  found  his  own  Universalist  paper,  "  The  Gospel  Ban- 
ner," publishing  as  original  Ingersoll's  lecture  on  '*  Lib- 
erty for  Man,  Woman,  and  Child."  He  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  out-and-out  Liberalism  was  the  most  honest 
affair. 

Mr.  Conant  married,  when  nineteen  years  of  age,  Julia 
Ann  Johnston,  and  has  had  nine  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Mr.  Conant  built  a  log  hut,  cleared  away  the  native  forest, 
and  is  now  the  owner  of  hundreds  of  acres  of  finely  culti- 
vated land.  In  those  old  days,  and  not  so  very  old,  after 
all,  they  used  to  thresh  out  the  grain  by  hand,  and  haul  it 
through  the  woods  with  horse  and  sled  and  then  take  a 
boat  nine  miles  to  the  mill  where  it  was  ground.  All 
these  early  hardships  were  endured,  but  Fort  Fairfield  and 
its  vicinity  is  now  one  of  the  loveliest  portions  of  the 
eastern  country.  Mr.  Conant  and  all  his  family  are 
stanch  Freethinkers.  They  are  members  of  Fort  Fairfield 
Liberal  League,  and  in  themselves  constitute  quite  an 
array  for  Freethought.  There  are  children  and  grand- 
children now  settled  about  the  old  homestead. 

J.   H.   Cook. 

Prof.  J.  H.  Cook,  now  of  Kansas,  has  had  a  long,  hard, 
and  eventful  life.  He  was  born  in  1819,  in  Connecticut, 
amidst  blue  laws  and  Methodist  revivals.  He  was  en- 
dowed with  an  active  brain  and  an  insatiable  love  for 
knowledge.  "Could  I  have  heard  the  truth,"  he  says, 
"  when  a  boy,  instead  of  inhuman  falsehoods,  I  should  not 
have  been  cheated  out  of  life  as  I  was  for  twenty  years." 
The  first  ten  years  of  his  life  he  suffered  great  hardships — 
no  shoes  to  his  feet,  and  often  but  a  roasted  potato   and 


712  1"'UUU    liUNDRKD    YKARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

salt  to  eat.  At  ten  he  went  to  the  poor-house,  where  he 
was  abused  and  nearly  starved  by  a  pious  tyrant.  He  was 
then  "  bound  out,"  he  says,  "  to  an  aristocrat  who  treated 
me  like  a  slave.  I  took  to  my  heels  for  liberty,  and 
traveled  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  barefooted.  I 
began  to  go  to  school  at  thirteen,  three  months  in  the" 
winter,  and  my  pjreat  memory  and  love  of  knowledge 
astonished  all.  After  that  I  was  a  driver  on  the  canal, 
like  Garfield.  I  was  an  Abolitionist  in  1830,  almost  as 
early  as  Garrison.  I  was  a  land  reformer  and  Fourierite 
in  1840,  a  woman  suffragist  and  dress  reformer  in  1848, 
and  after  that  I  was  in  the  Avhole  round  of  reform.  When, 
in  1835,  I  discovered  that  the  '  brain  is  the  organ  of  the 
mind,'  theology,  priestcraft,  and  all  their  fearful  concom- 
itants fled  from  me,  and  ever  since  I  have  been  an  Atheistic 
liumanitarian,  at  great  cost,  however,  with  personal  insult 
and  often  peril.  Forty  years  ago  my  doors  and  windows 
were  twice  smashed  in  at  midnight,  and  I  had  to  flee  for 
my  life.  I  have  been  a  writer,  a  teacher,  and  a  lecturer 
for  more  than  forty  years.  I  was  a  Spiritualist  for  over 
forty  years,  but  science  now  compels  me  to  be  a  Monisfc 
and  a  Secularist." 

Mr.  Cook,  it  will  be  seen,  has  had  a  varied  ex- 
perience, and  suffered  much  for  Freethought.  He  is  now 
in  old  age  and  poverty.  A  clear  conscience  has  been  his 
only  reward  for  a  long  life  of  toil. 

N.  C.  Creede. 

N.  C.  Creede,  now  of  California,  was  born  fifty-one 
years  ago  in  Indiana,  and  while  yet  a  child  emigrated  to 
Iowa.  He  crossed  the  Missouri  river  for  the  first  time  in 
1860,  and  has  been  west  of  that  river  ever  since.  He 
served  as  a  United  States  scout  on  the  plains  of  Nebraska, 
Wyoming,  Colorado  and  Dakota  for  about  seven  years, 
and  was  in  a  number  of  battles  with  the  Sioux  and  other 
hostile  tribes.     While  so  engaged    he  held  the  position 


THOMAS  CURTIS.  713 

of  first  lieutenant.  He  was  in  the  Black  Hills  long  before 
the  gold  excitement.  Since  1870  he  has  lived  most  of  the 
time  in  Colorado,  following  the  life  of  a  prospector  and 
miner.  He  has  found  four  good  mining  camps,  the  last 
one  of  these  being  Creede,  which  is  well  known.  He  has 
been  a  famous  huntei',  and  killed  all  kinds  of  game, 
such  as  bear,  elk,  moose,  antelope,  deer,  mountain  lion,  as 
well  as  a  few  Indians.  Like  the  typical  westerner,  he 
is  fond  of  hunting,  fishing,  prospecting,  and  traveling.  Out 
of  his  many  mining  deals  he  has  saved  in  hard  cash  half  a 
million  or  more,  and  among  his  comrades  and  associates, 
where  they  judge  a  man  by  what  he  is,  he  has  the  name  of 
being  honest,  trustworthy,  truthful,  and  charitable. 

He  lias  been  a  Freethinker  and  Liberal  ever  since  he 
was  old  enough  to  read  and  reason.  He  has  no  patience  to 
listen  to  anything  that  is  superstitious  or  orthodox.  He 
does  not  believe  in  life  after  death,  nor  in  any  super- 
natural providence.  Death  ends  this  conscious  state,  and 
there  is  no  God  to  worship  and  no  devil  to  fear.  Mr. 
Creede  has  been  a  generous  supporter  of  the  Freeth ought 
movement.  He  has  not  failed  to  give  aid  when  aid  is 
needed.  He  uses  his  good  fortune  for  the  advancement  of 
liuraanity.  He  is  representative  of  western  genius  and 
pluck,  Avhich  believes  in  this  world,  and  in  happiness  here 
and  now,  and  which  has  gemmed  the  mountains  and  val- 
leys of  the  Great  West  with  the  signals  of  progress,  and 
which  conquers  nature  for  man  in  the  spirit  of  liberty  and 
fraternity. 

Thomas  Curtis. 

Thomas  Curtis,  now  of  San  Francisco,  formerly  of 
Philadelphia,  we  must  enroll  among  our  best  speakers  and 
brightest  poets.  He  is  materialistic  and  scientific,  but  he 
sees  the  real  beauty  of  life,  and  that  it  needs  neither 
"God"  nor  "immortality"  to  make  it  any  more  glorious 
than  it  actually  is.     He  has  given  up  all  the  angels  and 


714  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

fiuds  iu  man  himself  the  greatest  good.  For  about  fifty 
years  ou  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  with  sturdy  inde- 
pendence and  brilliant  thought,  he  has  been  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  reformers. 

O.  T.  Dayies. 

Owen  Thomas  Davies  was  born  in  South  Wales,  Great 
Britian,  Feb.  7,  1820.  He  left  Liverpool  Oct.  17.  1850, 
for  America.  He  lauded  at  New  Orleans  November  23d 
of  the  same  year.  He  went  to  St.  Louis  and  engaged  in 
coal  mining,  and  afterward  to  Caseville,  111.,  where  he 
pursued  the  same  business.  His  invention,  which  lessens 
the  dangers  of  mining,  is  used  to  this  day  at  the  latter 
place.  He  left  Caseville  in  April,  1854,  and  went  to  Salt 
Lake  City,  but  he  remained  but  a  little  while  in  this  place, 
or  in  the  Mormon  faith.  From  this  time  on  he  was  a 
Freethinker.  He  went  to  California  July  4,  1856,  and 
settled  at  Brighton,  Sacramento  county,  where  he  resided 
until  his  death,  adding  both  by  his  labors  and  inventions 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  Mr.  Davies  possessed  a 
line  mechanical  genius.  He  was  a  typical  pioneer,  and 
carved  out  his  own  fortune  by  his  energy  and  ability. 
He  died  November  22,  1893. 

Wm.  Denton. 

William  Denton  was  born  in  Darlington,  Durham 
county,  England,  January  8,  1823.  When  three  years  of 
age  he  was  sent  to  a  small  school,  where  he  was 
taught  to  read.  At  four  he  could  read  the  Bible, 
and  was  then  transferred  to  the  British  Penny  school, 
Darlington.  His  parents  were  Methodists,  and  he  soon 
found  his  way  into  the  Library  of  the  Methodist  church, 
making  himself  familiar  with  its  doctrines  and  discipline 
at  a  very  early  age.  In  1833  he  joined  the  Temperance 
Society  in  Darlington,  and  was  soon  recognized  as  an 
earnest  worker  among  his  associates  in  favor  of  total  ab- 


FRANKLIN  STKINER  (p.  (807). 


WAl.   DENTON.  7]_5 

stineuce,  a  work  iu  which  he  contiuued  through  life. 
Though  not  yet  twelve  years  old  he  took  an  active  in- 
terest iu  the  issues  which  led  to  the  great  secession  from 
the  Methodist  church  in  1834,  vigorously  maintaining  the 
rights  of  the  laymen  as  opposed  to  the  usurpations  of 
ecclesiastical  authority. 

At  fourteen  years  of  age,  apprenticed  to  learn  the 
trade  of  machinist,  working  ten  hours  a  day  in  the  shop, 
young  Denton's  time  for  study  was  very  limited.  But  he 
joined  the  Shildon  Mechanic's  Institute,  attended  its 
scientific  lectures,  and  with  the  works  of  Lyell  and  others 
in  one  hand,  and  the  rocks  and  fossils  that  he  gathered 
from  the  Shildon  railway  tunnel  in  the  other,  he  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  geological  knowledge  of  his  later  life. 
In  1839  he  joined  the  Metiiodist  Associt^tion  church,  and 
at  once  began  to  speak  from  its  platforms.  Leaving  the 
shop  before  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship  in  1842, 
he  entered  the  Normal  school,  Baro  road,  London,  as  a 
student,  and  a  few  months  later  was  appointed  teacher  of 
a  school  in  Newport,  Monmouthshire.  Having  been  dis- 
missed from  this  school  for  the  heresy  of  believing  there 
exists  a  basis  of  facts  for  the  claims  of  Mesmerism,  he 
was  invited  to  act  as  assistant  teacher  in  one  of  the 
schools  of  Camberwell,  London.  He  accepted  the  invita- 
tion and  received  the  appointment ;  but  the  principal  of 
that  school  was  a  Calvinist ;  their  theories  clashed  at  once, 
and  Denton  was  not  permitted  to  remain.  He  then  ob- 
tained a  situation  as  clerk  in  the  New  Cross  office  London, 
of  the  Southeastern  railway  company,  and  some  months 
later  was  transferred  with  the  New  Cross  offices  to  Ashford 
in  Kent.  Here,  as  in  London,  Newport,  and  elsewhere,  he 
was  seldom  without  an  appointment  to  lecture  on  week- 
day evenings,  or  to  preach  on  Sundays.  But  the  fashion 
of  his  religion  was  becoming  considerably  modified,  and 
ortliodoxy  began  to  growl  its  disapproval  of  some  of  his 
sentiments.     At  length   he  announced  an  open-air  lecture 


716  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

on  "  The  Hireliug  Ministry,"  and  Christian  forbearance 
could  endure  no  more.  The  ministers  threatened  to  de- 
maud  his  dismissal  from  the  railway  service  should  he 
persist  in  the  attempt  to  speak  as  announced.  He  replied, 
"They  can  do  as  they  like."  Special  constables  were 
sworn  in  to  prevent  the  lecture.  Crowds  had  gathered  to 
listen.  The  lecture  commenced.  Dragging  him  from  the 
chair  on  which  he  stood,  the  constables  attempted  to  take 
him  off,  he  continuing  his  lecture  as  they  shoved  him 
along.  "  Come  up  to  my  room,  Denton,  and  speak  from 
the  window  !"  said  a  friendly  voice  at  his  side.  The  crowd 
caught  the  word  and  in  a  moment  lifted  his  light  form 
from  the  hands  of  the  constables,  carried  him  on  their 
shoulders  to  the  house  and  to  an  upper  window,  where, 
for  an  hour  and  a  half,  he  continued  his  lecture  to  the 
crowd  below.  But  the  ministers  kept  their  word.  They 
demanded  his  dismissal  from  the  railway  service  "  solely 
on  the  ground  of  his  having  promulgated  erroneous  relig- 
ious doctrines  in  the  neighborhood,"  wrote  the  railway 
superintendent.  In  time  their  demand  was  complied  with, 
and  he  at  once  prepared  to  come  to  America. 

He  landed  at  Philadelphia  on  the  last  of  September, 
1848,  obtained  a  school  in  the  neighborhood,  and  in  the 
following  spring  sent  for  his  parents,  his  two  sisters,  and 
Miss  Caroline  Gilbert,  the  young  lady  who  had  promised 
to  become  his  wife.  In  a  few  weeks  after  their  arrival,  lie 
and  Miss  Gilbert  were  married.  As  had  been  his  practice 
in  England,  so  it  was  here.  The  time  at  his  disposal  he 
devoted  to  writing,  lecturing,  debating,  and  study. 

One  year  after  his  marriage  the  sudden  and  unlooked- 
for  death  of  his  wife  wrecked  his  hopes  and  prostrated 
liis  energies.  It  was  impossible  for  him  to  forget ;  but  the 
necessity  for  exertion  compelled  him  to  hide  his  sorrow 
in  his  own  heart.  He  could  not,  however,  remain  where 
all  that  he  saw  reminded  him  of  his  great  loss.  He  went 
to  Western  Virginia,  entered  a  school  near  Guyandotte, 


WM.  DENTON.  717 

and  soon  sent  for  his  now  enfeebled  parents  and  younger 
sister,  Lizzie  (his  older  sister,  Anne,  preferring  to  remain 
for  a  time  in  Philadelphia).  They  were  hardly  settled  in 
their  new  abode  when,  his  antislavery  sentiments  becom- 
ing known,  he  was  threatened  with  mob  violence  if  he  did 
not  keep  silent  on  the  subject.  This  he  could  not  do  and 
remain  face  to  face  with  the  monstrous  iniquity.  He  went 
to  Ohio,  obtained  a  school  near  Dayton,  and  again  sent  for 
his  family.  In  August,  1851,  his  father  passed  to  the 
"  unseen  shore,"  and  in  the  following  February  he,  with 
the  remaining  members  of  his  family,  commenced  experi- 
mental investigations  in  Spiritualism.  With  his  sister 
Anne  (afterward  Mrs.  Anne  Denton  Cridge),  who  was 
now  with  them,  as  medium,  his  departed  father,  wife,  and 
other  loved  ones,  gave,  it  was  believed,  unmistakable  evi- 
dence of  their  continued  life,  their  abiding  affection,  and 
their  occasional  presence  in  the  home  circle. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  these  investigations,  his 
sister  Anne  being  the  sensitive,  Mr.  Denton  commenced 
experiments  in  psychometry  with  results  that  greatly  sur- 
prised him. 

Having  written  "  Common  Sense  Thoughts  on  the 
Bible,"  his  first  pamphlet,  he  went  to  Cincinnati,  was  en- 
gaged as  teacher  in  one  of  the  gity  schools,  put  his  manu- 
script into  the  hands  of  a  printer,  and  continued  his  inves- 
tigations. A  few  weeks  later  the  death  of  his  mother, 
whom  he  tenderly  loved,  would  again  liave  shrouded  his 
life  in  gloom  had  not  spirit  existence  and  spirit-return 
now  become,  to  his  understanding,  at  least,  indisputable, 
living  verities. 

In  August,  1854,  Mr.  Denton  was  married  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  M.  Foote,  at  that  time  an  employe  on  "  The 
Type  of  tlie  Times,"  a  phonetic  journal  edited,  printed,  and 
published  by  the  Longley  brothers  at  their  office  in  Cin- 
cinnati. In  the  following  spring,  being  very  feeble  from 
years  of    confinement    in    school,   and    over-work   out   of 


718  FUUil    IIUNDRKD    YKAllS   OJ^'    FRKKl'llOUG tiT. 

school,  lie  went  ou  a  tour  to  Texas.  Before  leaving  he 
was  unable  to  walk  eveu  a  few  blocks  iu  towu  without  be- 
comiug  greatly  exhausted.  On  his  return  at  the  end  of 
three  months  he  had  walked  over  thirteen  hundred  miles, 
studying  the  geology  of  the  state,  and  had  thereby 
thoroughly  recovered  his  health.  Finding,  on  his  return, 
that  his  school  in  Cincinnati  had  been  given  to  another  in 
his  absence,  he  engaged  a  school  in  Covington,  Kentucky, 
but  had  hardly  commenced  teaching  there  when  he  was 
dismissetl  on  a  charge  of  Infidelity.  He  now  abandoned 
school-teacning  and,  from  this  time  on,  studied,  investi- 
gated, wrote,  explored,  and  lectured  almost  without  ceas- 
ing. Believing  natural  science  to  be  the  only  sure  and 
steadfast  foundation  on  which  to  erect  the  temjDle  of  Free- 
thought,  Mr.  Denton's  lectures  embraced  a  wide  range  of 
subjects,  involving  scientific  inquiries  relating  to  human 
progress. 

In  1856  he  was  associated  with  John  Patterson  in  edit- 
ing "  The  Social  Revolutionist,"  a  radical  journal,  as  its 
name  indicated.  In  the  following  year  he  joined  witli  his 
brother-in-law,  Alfred  Cridge,  and  his  sister,  now  Mrs. 
Anne  Denton  Cridge,  in  editing  and  publishing  a  small 
eight-page  paper  called  "The  Vanguard." 

The  summer  of  1858  Mr.  Denton  spent  in  Kansas  ;  and 
in  December  of  that  year,  at  Chagrin  Falls,  Ohio,  was 
held  his  much  misrepresented  discussion  with  Prof,  (after- 
ward United  States  president)  James  A.  Garfield,  on  the 
subject  of  man's  origin.  In  some  respects  this  was  the 
most  notable  of  his  discussions,  particularl}^  so  from  the 
fact  that  a  few  months  later  Charles  Darwin  gave  to  the 
Avorld  his  great  work  on  the  "Origin  of  Species,"  corrob- 
orating, by  its  wealth  of  carefully  recorded  observations, 
tlie  evidence  presented  by  Mr.  Denton  in  that  debate  in 
support  of  the  affirmative  of  the  following  proposition  : 
"  Man,  animals,  and  vegetables  are  the  product  of  spon- 
taneous   generation    and    progressive    development ;    and 


WM.   DENTON.  yiy 

there  is  no  evidence  that  there  was  auy  direct  creative  act 
ou  this  planet."     Professor  Garfield  had  the  ne^^ative. 

The  two  succeeding  years  he  spent  principally  in  lect- 
uring. He  also,  during  this  time,  carefully  studied  the 
oil  districts  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  and  experimented 
much  in  psychometry.  Then  came  the  war,  with  its  fright- 
ful horrors,  and  even  the  most  thoughtful  grew  deaf  to 
all  announcements  of  any  other  topic  for  their  considera- 
tion. The  first  year  of  this  time  he  spent  mostly  in 
studying  the  lead  region  of  northern  Illinois  and  southern 
Wisconsin,  giving,  comparatively,  few  lectures.  Going 
through  Canada  in  the  following  autumn  and  winter,  he 
lectured  in  the  principal  cities  and  towns  of  the  Dominion, 
and  came  to  Boston  in  the  spring  of  1863.  In  all  these 
journeyings  his  wife,  with  the  two  children  they  then  had, 
was  with  him,  and  with  her  help  he  was  collecting  material 
for  the  "  Soul  of  Things,"  the  first  volume  of  which  he 
published  in  June  following  his  arrival  in  Boston.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  months  of  several  succeeding  years  he 
was  more  or  less  occupied  with  the  mining  interests  of 
different  companies  requiring  his  services  in  exploring, 
examining,  and  reporting  ou  mines  and  mineral  properties 
in  various  localities,  among  which  were  Canada,  New 
Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  northern  Illinois,  southern  Wis- 
consin, Lake  Superior,  Tennessee,  Colorado,  California, 
and  ot]uers. 

Mr.  Denton  had  now  located  in  Wellesley,  Mass.,  and 
in  1868  he  published  "Our  Planet."  In  1871  he  issued  a 
small  volume  entitled  "  Iladical  Rliymes."  In  1872  he 
published  "  The  Irreconcilable  Records  ;  or,  Genesis  and 
Geolog3"."  In  this  year  he  also  collected  and  published 
in  one  volume  ten  of  his  more  radical  lectures  on  relig- 
ious  subjects,  giving  it  the  name  "  Radical  Discourses." 
In  1873  he  issued  Volume  II.  aud  in  1874  Volume  III. 
of  "The  Soul  of  Things."  He  believed  that  the  line  of 
investigations,   which    led    to  his   writing  these  volumes. 


720  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   EREKTIIOUG  HT. 

reveals  to  us,  as  no  other  line  of  iuvestigation  can,  the 
limitless  extent  of  that  realm  which  psychometrj  shall 
yet  open  to  human  attainments  in  knowledge.  In  1877  he 
published  "  What  Was  He  ?  or,  Jesus  in  the  Light  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,"  and  in  1881,  just  before  leaving 
home  for  Australia,  he  published  "Is  Darwin  Right?  or, 
the  Origin  of  Man."  In  this  volume  is  given  the  sub- 
stance of  nearly,  or  quite,  all  the  arguments  used  by  him 
in  the  discussion  with  Mr.  Garfield.  The  pamphlet, 
"  Garrison  in  Heaven,"  was  published  for  him  after  he 
left  this  country. 

On  the  22d  of  February,  1881,  accompanied  by  his 
second  son,  Shelley  W.,  for  assistant,  Mr.  Denton  left 
home  for  Australia,  filled  previously-arranged  lecture  en- 
gagements on  the  way  through  this  country,  and  left  San 
Francisco  for  Melbourne  on  the  5th  of  June  following. 
On  leaving  home  Mr.  Denton  did  not  propose  to  be  absent 
more  than  two  and  a  half  or  three  years.  He  wished  to 
make  a  study  of  the  Australasian  quarter  of  the  globe  as 
far  as  his  time,  and  the  circumstances  of  his  stay  there, 
would  permit,  make  a  brief  visit  to  China  and  Japan,  and, 
returning,  stop  to  fill  lecture  engagements  in  India  and 
on  the  island  of  Java,  then  home  by  way  of  England,  with 
a  brief  greeting  to  his  relatives  and  friends  still  living 
there.  Reaching  Melbourne  on  the  4th  of  July,  Mr. 
Denton  and  Shelley  remained  in  that  country  until  the 
1st  of  December  of  that  year,  spent  about  a  month  in 
Tasmania,  and  commenced  lectures  in  New  Zealand  in 
January,  1882.  They  were  here  joined  by  the  oldest  son, 
Sherman  F.,  and  remained  in  these  islands  until  July  fol- 
lowing, when  they  went  toLjerlier  to  Australia,  and  Mr. 
Denton  again  lectured  through  that  countr}^  closing  there 
in  June,  1883.  They  spent  a  few  days  on  the  islands  off 
the  coast,  and  left  for  New  Guinea  early  in  July.  Here 
Mr.  Denton  expected  to  leave  his  two  sons  while  he  should 
visit  China  and  Japan,  all  to  meet  again  in  Batavia,  Java, 


MATTIE  A.  FREEMAN  (p.   733). 


WM.  DENTON.  721 

where  he  was  to  commence  lectures  in  the  following  Sep- 
tember. On  arriving  at  New  Guinea,  however,  he  saw  so 
much  of  interest  that  he  soon  decided  to  abandon  his 
previous  purpose  and  devote  the  time  at  his  command  to 
a  study  of  New  Guinea  and  its  native  inhabitants.  For 
this  purpose,  bidding  farewell  to  his  sons,  whom  he  left 
at  a  native  village  near  the  coast,  he  joined  an  exploring 
party,  sent  out  by  a  Melbourne  company,  in  their  attempt 
to  cross  the  mountain  ranges  and  reach  the  eastern  coast 
by  land.  When  the  party  had  ascended  to  regions  where 
the  foot  of  the  white  man  had  never  before  trod,  and 
where,  but  for  the  tops  of  a  few  other  and  intervening 
mountains,  they  could  probably  have  sighted  the  coast 
they  sought  to  reach,  they  were  attacked  by  fever,  were 
obliged  to  return,  and  in  doing  so,  in  the  mountain  fast- 
nesses of  that  lofty  range,  Mr.  Denton  succumbed  to  the 
fever,  the  fatigue  and  exposure,  and  on  the  26th  of  August, 
1883,  a  more  than  ordinary  life  was  extinguished.  Hardly 
able  to  continue  their  own  homeward  journey,  his  com- 
panions wrapped  him  in  his  blanket  and  buried  him  in 
the  mountain  near  the  spot  where  he  died,  at  a  native  vil- 
lage named  Ber-e-ga-bad-i. 

Captain  Armit,  the  leader  of  the  exploring  party,  in  his 
report  of  their  unfortunate  expedition  made  to  the  Mel- 
bourne company  on  his  return,  wrote  :  "Mr.  Denton  was 
the  beau  ideal  of  a  traveling  companion,"  and,  had  he 
known  him  in  these  relations,  he  miglit  have  added,  of  a 
son  and  brother,  of  a  husband  and  father,  as  well.  He 
did  not  believe  the  world  is  to  be  redeemed  by  coercion, 
but  by  the  culture  of  intelligence — the  spread  of  knowl- 
edge. He  never  shrank  from  the  expression  of  a  truth 
because  it  was  unpopular,  nor  from  the  performance  of  a 
duty  because  of  its  being  unpleasant,  but  he  believed  that 
all  real  duties  would  be  pleasures  if  we  rightly  understood 
our  obligations  to  ourselves  and  to  others.  He  believed 
in  being    lionest,   in  being  truthful,  in   seeking  to  know 


722  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

what  is  right,  in  order  to  do  what  is  right,  and  to  this  be- 
lief his  whole  life  was  conformed.  Professor  Denton  left 
four  sons  and  a  daughter  who,  with  his  wife,  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth M.  F.  Denton,  are  still  residents  of  Wellesley,  Mass. 

J.  Spencer  Ellis. 

James  Spencer  Ellis,  editor  of  "  Secular  Thought,"  was 
born  in  London,  England,  June  15, 1838.  His  parents  both 
belonged  to  Derbyshire  families.  Previous  to  settling 
in  London,  his  father  had  been  a  Congregational  minister, 
and  preached  occasionally  in  London  ;  his  mother  was  a 
very  pious  Christian  lady,  belonging  to  the  well-known 
Harrison  family  of  Derbyshire.  In  1850  young  Ellis  went 
to  live  with  an  elder  brother,  J.  Harrison  Ellis,  at  Ply- 
mouth, England,  who  was  a  Freethinker,  a  friend  of  G.  J. 
Holyoake,  Robert  Cooper,  and  other  leaders  of  Free- 
thought,  and  he  thus  became  familiar  with  the  earlier 
phases  of  Secular  advocacy  in  England,  almost  insensibly 
imbibing  the  new  philosophy,  which  effectually  ousted 
what  little  germs  of  orthodoxy  he  had  acquired  in  the 
Sunday-school  of  his  childhood.  At  Plymouth  his  brother 
soon  apprenticed  him  to  the  printing  business,  which  he 
he  has  followed  from  that  da}^  to  this.  At  the  end  of  four 
years,  in  June,  1854,  Le  made  his  way  to  London.  Taking 
"up  his  residence  here  with  another  brother,  after  a  few 
years  he  secured  a  position  on  the  London  "Times," 
where,  in  various  capacities,  he  remained  for  about 
thirteen  years.  In  July,  1876,  he,  Avith  his  wife  and  five 
children,  arrived  in  Toronto,  and  he  has  remained  there 
ever  since. 

When  Mr.  Watts  arrived  and  settled  in  Toronto,  and 
began  negotiations  for  starting  "  Secular  Thought,"  few 
printers  would  undertake  to  print  an  "  Infidel "  journal. 
Mr.  Ellis,  however,  though  he  was  at  that  time  printing 
three  religious  papers,  on  being  applied  to,  at  once  agreed 
to  undertake  the  work,  and  he  has  continued  to  print  the 


MATTHEW  FARRTNGTON.  723 

journal  from  that  day  to  this.  Mr.  Ellis  assisted  Mr. 
Watts  in  the  conduct  of  the  paper,  and  when  the  latter, 
in  the  early  part  of  1891,  decided  to  return  to  England,  he 
left  it  in  charge  of  Mr.  Ellis.  At  the  Ciinadian  conven- 
tion in  September,  1891,  the  state  of  affairs  was  fully 
placed  before  the  delegates,  who  unanimously  decided  to 
support  the  new  editor.  Early  in  1893  Mr.  Ellis  made  a 
tour  of  Canada,  from  Victoria,  B.  C,  lecturing  in  the  prin- 
cipal  cities,   and    met   with   a   cordial    reception. 

Matthew  Farrington. 

This  honest,  clear-headed  humanitarian  was,  I  believe, 
born  in  the  state  of  New  York.  At  all  events,  he  spent 
his  early  life  there,  and  was  active  in  the  antislavery 
cause.  More  than  once,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  he  found 
himself  in  danger  from  proslavery  mobs.  In  those  days 
"  gentlemen "  did  not  scorn  to  stoop  to  violence  when 
doing  the  work  of  the  slave  power,  as  Garrison  found 
when  led  through  the  streets  of  Boston  ornamented  with 
a  hempen  necklace.  Matthew  Farrington  was  not  one  to 
shrink  from  the  advocacy  of  truth  and  the  defense  of  the 
oppressed  because  the  truth  was  unpopular  and  the  lib- 
erties of  the  victims  of  greed  fraught  with  peril  to  limb 
and  life. 

For  many  years  Mr,  Farrington  was  a  tower  of  strength 
to  the  Freethought  cause  in  Iowa.  People  knew  that  he 
could  be  trusted,  that  he  would  not  lie,  that  he  would 
meet  his  financial  obligations.  Outspoken  Freethinker 
that  he  was,  he  found  no  difficulty  in  an  orthodox  com- 
munity in  getting  a  position  as  teacher  in  the  public 
schools.  Cultivating  his  farm  in  summer  and  teaching  in 
winter,  he  accumulated  a  modest  competence,  and  raised 
to  manhood  and  womanhood  a  small  family  of  children 
who  are  an  honor  to  their  parents.  He  was  for  a  long 
time  an  active  officer  in  a  mutual  insurance  company  in 
Bremer  county,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  it  served  ita 


724  FOUR   HUXDRED    YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

uiembeis  well — unlike  so  many  institutions  of  that  kind. 
Matthew  Farrington  was  long  president  of  the  Liberal 
League  of  Northern  Iowa  and  also  of  the  Iowa  State 
League.  The  first  named  society  was  one  of  the  strongest 
organizations  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States,  and  it  owed 
very  much  of  its  usefulness  to  the  indefatigable  labors  of 
its  president  and  his  unblemished  reputation  as  a  man. 
He  thoroughly  understood  the  fundamental  principles  of 
Freethought.  He  believed  in  liberty  of  speech,  press,  and 
communication.  It  was  a  matter  of  pride  with  him  that 
he  had  never  tasted  intoxicating  liquors,  and  yet  he  was 
a  most  determined  opponent  of  prohibition.  He  stood 
for  the  equal  rights  of  -svoman,  and  the  elevation  of  the 
laborer.     He  was  an  honor  to  Freethought. 

James  Fergus. 

James  Fergus  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Glassford, 
Lanarkshire,  Scotland,  on  the  8th  of  October,  1813.  His 
parents  were  well-to-do  farmers,  owning  some  real  estate  ; 
his  father  a  rigid  Presbyterian,  his  mother  rather  Liberal. 
After  receiving  a  common  school  education,  mostly  of  a 
religious  character,  he  spent  his  time  on  the  farm,  noted 
only  for  doing  everything  well  and  a  fondness  for  books, 
until  he  Avas  nineteen,  when,  seeing  little  chance  in  his 
native  country  for  a  young  man  to  rise  in  the  world,  and 
longing  for  less  restraint  and  more  liberty  and  equality, 
he  sailed  for  America.  He  reached  Canada,  where  he 
spent  three  years  in  a  Quaker  settlement  and  learned  the 
trade  of  a  millwright.  Getting  involved  in  some  political 
trouble  just  before  the  Canadian  rebellion,  he  left  for  the 
United  States.  He  spent  one  summer  on  a  public  work 
at  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin  ;  a  few  weeks  at  Milwaukee,  then 
an  embryo  town  of  a  thousand  inhabitants  (1836) ;  passed 
through  Chicago,  where  he  was  oiffered  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land,  now  in  the  center  of  the  city,  at  $8 
an   acre,  on   time  ;  spent  the   winter  of  1836-7   at  Buffalo 


JAMES  FERGUS.  725 

Grove,  near  Dixon's  Ferry  ;  from  there  went  into  central 
Iowa,  then  known  as  the  "  Blackhawk  Purchase,"  making 
his  home  at  what  is  now  Sabula ;  built  and  superintended 
powder  mills  at  Savanna,  Illinois ;  engaged  in  the  foundry 
business  at  Moline,  first  in  the  company  with  D.  B.  Sears, 
then  at  the  same  place  and  at  Rock  Island  with  Gen.  N. 
B.  Buiord,  being  the  acting  and  practical  partner.  Ill 
health  compelling  him  to  quit  the  business,  he  was  for 
some  time  of  the  firm  of  Wheelock  &  Fergus,  paper 
manufacturers,  Moline.  Finally,  he  moved  to  Minnesota 
in  1854.  In  company  with  Wm.  Sturgis  and  Calvin  A. 
Tuttle  he  laid  out  the  town  of  Little  Falls,  on  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  a  hundred  miles  above  St.  Anthony  Falls ; 
helped  to  build  a  dam  and  bridge  across  the  Mississippi 
at  that  place  ;  owned  the  town  of  Fergus  Falls,  failed  ;  went 
to  Colorado,  thence  to  Montana  by  way  of  Minnesota  and 
the  James  L.  Fisk  expedition  of  1862,  driving  his  own 
team  from  Little  Falls  to  Baunack.  He  acted  as  the  first 
recorder  of  Alder  Gulch  at  Virginia  City  ;  was  the  first 
county  commissioner  appointed  in  the  territory  for  Madi- 
son county  ;  was  for  many  years  a  citizen  of  Lewis  and 
Clark  county,  where  he  served  nearly  two  terms  as  com- 
missioner, three  terms  in  the  legislature,  and  is  now  a 
citizen  of  Fergus  county,  which  is  named  in  honor  of  him, 
with  his  home  north  of  Fort  Maginnis,  where  he  is  en- 
gaged in  raising  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  from  that 
county  ;  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  and  a  Freethinker  in 
belief.  His  main  characteristics  are  a  natural  aptitude 
for  mechanical  enterprises,  a  sturdy  independence  of 
thought,  a  strict  integrity  of  purpose,  and  a  love  of  study 
and  good  books. 

Mr.  Fergus  is  a  thoroughly  honest  man.  His  character 
is  as  sturdy  as  the  mountains  of  his  chosen  home.  With 
his  children  and  children's  children  near  him,  a  genuine 
pioneer   he  lives,  respected   and  loved  by  all  who   know 


726  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

him.  Through  all  the  years  of  his  varied  career  he  has 
never  concealed  his  Freethought  and  radical  convictions. 
He  has  made  many  public  speeches  in  the  legislature  of 
Montana,  and  other  places,  against  religious  intolerance. 
He  was  elected  first  president  of  the  Montana  Pioneer 
Association,  an  honor  which  still  crowns  his  busy  and 
useful  life. 

Edward  Bliss  Foote. 

There  are  several  biographies  extant  giving  the  career 
nearly  or  quite  up  to  date  of  the  well-known  physician 
and  medical  author  whose  portrait  appears  in  this  vol- 
ume. (See  "Men  of  Mark,"  "American  Biography,"  C. 
Edward  Lester's  "American  Advancement,"  the  "National 
Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography,"  and  "The  World's 
Sages,  Thinkers,  and  Reformers.")  In  this  sketch  we 
shall  speak  only  of  Dr.  Foote's  record  as  a  Liberal,  pre- 
facing it  with  a  brief  glimpse  of  his  earl}'  environment. 

Edward  Bliss  Foote  was  born  in  the  village  of  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  Feb.  20,  1829.  Village  it  was  at  that  time, 
although  it  has  since  become  one  of  the  largest  and  hand- 
somest cities  of  the  "Buckeye  State."  While  in  his 
infancy,  his  father,  Herschel,  and  his  mother,  Pamelia, 
removed  to  a  small  village  seven  and  one-half  miles  to 
the  westward  of  Cleveland,  where  stood  the  first  church 
that  was  built  on  the  Connecticut  Western  Reserve. 
Around  or  near  this  church  edifice  clustered  a  neighbor- 
hood of  eastern  people,  most  of  whom  were  from  the 
staid  old  state  of  Connecticut.  Herschel  Foote  was  the 
village  merchant,  the  postmaster  and  the  squire.  His 
home  was  literally  a  free  hotel  for  ministers,  school 
teachers,  and  singing  masters.  On  one  Sunday  three  of 
the  Beechers  were  entertained — Dr.  Lyman,  Dr.  Edward, 
and  the  Rev.  William  Beecher.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Foote  were 
choristers  at  the  one  Presbyterian  church.  Libraries 
were  little   thonglifc  of  by  the  pioneers  of  Ohio.     On   the 


KATIK  KKIIM  SiMITK  (p.   805). 


EDWAllD  BLISS  FOOTE.  727 

book-shelves  of  the  Foote  family  could  be  found  "  Pil- 
grim's Progress,"  "  Watts  on  the  Mind,"  Fox's  "  Book  of 
Martyrs,"  and  similar  religious  publications,  but  no  such 
volumes  as  Paine's  "Age  of  Reason,"  or  the  works  of 
Hume  or  Voltaire.  The  young  doctor  was  taught  to 
regard  Paine,  Hume,  and  Voltaire  as  frightfully  vicious 
men.  The  term  "  young  doctor "  is  used  advisedly,  for 
the  subject  of  this  narrative  was  called  "  Doctor  "  in  the 
neighborhood  when  he  was  in  pantalettes,  for  the  reason 
that  when  asked  as  to  what  would  be  his  occupation  when 
he  grew  to  manhood,  he  always  replied  that  he  would  be  a 
physician ;  but  with  the  limited  opportunities  at  that 
time  in  that  sparsely-settled  region,  the  prospect  of 
acquiring  the  necessary  equipment  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession was  not  encouraging.  At  twelve  years  of  age  the 
young  doctor,  in  the  absence  of  any  religious  revival, 
became  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and,  true 
to  his  disposition  to  perform  well  his  part  in  every  cause 
in  which  he  enlists,  his  attendance  upon  the  weekly 
prayer  meetings  was  regular  and  punctual. 

About  this  time  the  boy  became  deeply  interested  in 
the  biography  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  when  he  learned 
that  Dr.  Franklin  obtained  pretty  much  all  of  his  pre- 
liminary education  in  the  printing-office,  lie  conceived 
the  idea  of  apprenticing  himself  to  the  art  of  the  printer. 
Parental  objections  were  manifested  for  manifold  reasons, 
but  in  the  face  of  great  opposition  the  first  opportunity 
presenting  itself  was  eagerly  seized  by  the  youth  of 
fifteen  and  one-half  years.  In  the  printers'  composing- 
room,  away  from  the  atmosphere  of  the  pious  home,  evolu- 
tion began,  and  that,  too,  without  the  aid  of  Liberal  liter- 
ature, for  the  early  settlers  of  Cleveland  were  mostly  a 
devout  people.  After  serving  a  three-years'  apprentice- 
ship in  a  newspaper  office  and  acquiring  in  the  meantime 
considerable  facility  with  the  pen,  he  became  the  editor 
of  the  first  paper  published  in  New  Britain,  Connecticut. 


728  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

About  this  time  the  Eochester  and  Stratford  knockings 
occasioned  no  little  excitement  throughout  the  country, 
and  the  secular  press  was  generally  disposed  to  ridicule 
them  ;  but  Editor  Foote  took  the  position  in  his  editorials 
that  investigation  rather  than  ridicule  was  in  order. 
Without  becoming  a  Spiritualist  he  has  ever  maintained 
the  right  of  the  new  faith  to  exist.  When  Theodore 
Parker  was  filling  Music  Hall  in  Boston  every  Sunday 
with  an  enthusiastic  and  admiring  audience,  Foote  was  a 
resident  of  New  York,  and  although  the  "  Hub  "  was  not 
then,  as  now,  a  suburb  of  New  York,  he  found  the  time 
and  means  to  visit  Boston  now  and  then  to  listen  to  the 
great  independent  Unitarian  preacher.  The  young  doctor 
became  a  liberal  Unitarian,  and  later,  in  New  York, 
attended  upon  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  O.  B.  Frothing- 
ham,  who,  like  Parker,  was  a  liberal  Unitarian.  It  was 
while  entertaining  the  Unitarian  belief  that  Dr.  Foote 
wrote  his  far-famed  "Plain  Home  Talk,"  and  this  fact 
accounts  for  all  in  the  pages  of  that  book  which  has  a 
pious  flavor.  Since  writing  that  work  its  author  has 
become  an  Agnostic. 

When  D.  M.  Bennett  started  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  a 
warm  and  lasting  friendship  sprang  up  between  the  Doctor 
and  the  Infidel  editor.  The  mother  of  the  present  editor 
of  the  paper  founded  by  D.  M.  Bennett,  Mrs.  Macdonald, 
went  about  among  the  handful  of  Liberals  in  New  York 
and  sought  help  for  the  new  paper.  Dr.  Foote's  con- 
tributions were  not  withheld,  and  the  fearless,  able,  and 
industrious  editor  had  his  full  sympathy. 

In  1872  the  first  Comstock  bill  was  presented  in  the 
New  York  legislature.  This  bill  Dr.  Foote  opposed  with 
both  argument  and  mone}'.  Alone  he  battled  with  this 
new  kind  of  legislation.  When  he  found  the  bill  had 
passed  both  branches  he  submitted  his  objections  in 
writing  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Dix,  but  he  subsequently 
found  that  the  governor's  signature  to  the  bill  was  dated 


EDWARD   BLISS   FOOTB.  729 

on  the  same  day  on  which  his  letter  was  written.  After  a 
law  of  this  character  found  its-way  into  the  statutes  of 
the  Empire  state,  it  was  a  comparatively  easy  matter  on 
the  part  of  the  Comstock  people  to  procure  the  passage  of 
a  similar  bill  in  Congress,  creating  through  the  postal 
regulations  an  odious  censorship  of  the  press.  This  was 
effected  in  the  winter  of  1872-73,  and  in  1874  Comstock 
retaliated  upon  Dr.  Foote  for  his  opposition  to  his  meas- 
ures by  arresting  him  on  the  charge  of  violating  the  postal 
laws.  In  this  suit,  before  Judge  Benedict  of  the  United 
States  circuit  court  of  the  southern  district  of  New  York, 
in  1876,  Dr.  Foote  was  fined  $3,500  for  having  sent  through 
the  United  States  mails  an  innocent  pamphlet  treating 
on  physiological  subjects  and  advocating  the  right  of 
married  people  to  regulate  the  size  of  the  family  through 
the  use  of  contraceptics.  Shortly  after  this  came  the 
arrest  of  E.  H.  Heywood  and  D.  M.  Bennett,  charged  with 
violating  the  postal  laws.  Liberals  are  familiar  with 
these  trials  and  their  outrageous  results.  Then  came  the 
formation  of  the  National  Defense  Association  to  oppose 
the  Comstock  laws  and  their  odious  enforcement.  Ever 
an  active  member  of  this  association,  Dr.  Foote  has  con- 
tributed freely  to  its  support  and  given  much  of  his  time 
in  carrying  out  its  objects.  At  his  residence,  No.  120 
Lexington  avenue,  the  association  set  in  motion  the  pre- 
liminaries which  led  to  the  immense  and  enthusiastic 
gathering  at  Chickering  Hall  to  welcome  D.  M.  Bennett 
on  his  release  from  Albany  prison.  The  Doctor  was  a 
member  of  the  committee  sent  to  receive  Mr.  Bennett  as 
he  emerged  from  the  somber  atmosphere  of  his  cell.  It 
was  also  at  Dr.  Foote's  residence  that  the  association  met 
to  devise  means  to  send  the  eloquent  and  persuasive 
Laura  Kendrick  to  Washington  to  plead  for  the  release  of 
Ezra  H.  Heywood  from  Dedham  jail,  and  her  mission  was 
a  success.  Dr.  Foote  was  one  of  the  monument  com- 
mittee after  the  grand  old  man  Bennett  passed  away,  and 


730  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

when  the  trustees  of  Greenwood  cemetery  sent  a  message 
to  the  committee  that  the  inscription  designed  for  the 
monument  would  not  be  permitted,  Dr.  Foote  was  among 
those  of  his  colleagues  who  stood  firmly  for  no  com- 
promise. He  was  in  favor  of  putting  the  inscriptions  deep 
in  the  granite  even  if  the  block  had  to  be  excluded  from 
the  cemetery.  He  would  join  in  purchasing  a  site  for  it 
just  outside  the  cemetery  where  it  would  forever  be  in 
view  of  the  narrow-minded  guardians  of  the  noted  burial 
ground.  The  monument  was  set  up  in  Greenwood,  and 
the  inscriptions  as  originally  prepared  were  conspicuously 
imprinted  upon  it  without  the  least  modification.  In  all 
of  Moses  Harman's  troubles  Dr.  Foote  has  been  the  per- 
secuted editor's  fast  friend  and  has  given  him  no  small 
amount  of  financial  support.  The  doctor  also  contributed 
largely  to  aid  Bradlaugh  and  Besant  in  their  fight  for 
liberty  of  the  press,  and  also  for  the  defense  of  Truelove. 
In  everything  the  Doctor  is  liberal.  He  is  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  exclamation  once  made  by  Eugene 
Macdonald  that  "he  would  fight  for  the  right  of  another 
to  differ  from  him."  For  instance,  Dr.  Foote  is  a  regularly 
registered  physician  in  the  state  of  New  York,  but  from 
the  beginning  of  medical  legislation  in  the  state  in  1874, 
he  has  steadily  opposed  by  argument,  and  money  freely 
contributed,  the  imposition  of  penalties  upon  those  who 
would  seek  to  relieve  human  ills  by  methods  not  approved 
by  the  regular  profession.  He  has  fought  in  legislative 
committees  and  in  the  medical  societies  to  which  he 
belongs,  for  the  right  of  Christian  scientists,  mental  scient- 
ists,  faith  curers,  magnetic  healers,  etc.,  to  practice  the 
healing  art.  From  the  moment  he  became  an  editor, 
almost  half  a  century  ago,  he  advocated  woman's  suf- 
frage. When,  in  1873,  Susan  B.  Anthony  was  fined  $100 
for  daring  to  cast  a  vote  in  Rochester,  the  Doctor  sent  his 
check  for  $25  to  assist  in  paying  the  unjust  fine.  It  may 
also  be  remarked  in  this  connectio'i   that  when  C.  B.  Itey- 


EDWARD  BOND  FOOTE.  731 

Holds,  the  Liberal  lecturer,  was  fined  $25  in  New  Jersey 
for  blasphemy,  Dr.  Foote  made  haste  to  send  his  check  for 
that  amount,  but  Colonel  Ingersoll,  who  so  ably  pleaded 
Mr.  Reynolds's  cause,  generously  paid  the  fine  and  all 
costs,  so  that  the  Doctor's  check  was  used  for  other  pur- 
poses connected  with  the  t^ause  in  which  Mr.  Reynolds 
was  engaged.  The  Doctor  is  a  mefaber  of  the  Federation 
of  Freethought,  the  Secular  Union,  the  Manhattan  Liberal 
Club,  the  Institute  of  Heredity,  the  National  Defense 
j^  ssociation,  the  National  Constitutional  Liberty  League, 
the  New  York  Public  Health  and  Constitutional  Liberty 
League,  the  American  Psychical  Society,  and  in  politics 
is  an  enthusiastic  Populist.  Wherever  the  banner  of 
advanced  thought  is  unfurled,  a  field  glass  will  not  be 
required  to  find  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Edward  Bond  Foote,  M.  D. 

Edward  Bond  Foote,  better  known  to  his  friends  as 
E.  B.  Foote,  Jr.,  was  born  Aug.  15,  1854,  near  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  Having  for  his  father  Dr.  E.  B.  Foote,  Sr.,  the  sub- 
ject of  another  sketch,  and  for  his  mother  a  New  England 
schoolmarm,  and  having  been  given  the  best  obtainable 
educational  advantages  from  boyhood  up  to  the  time  that 
he  graduated  from  the  New  York  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  in  1876,  he  acknowledges  himself  to  be 
a  product  of  hereditary  and  environment  rather  than  alto- 
gether a  self-made  man.  Though  liis  parents,  then  Uni- 
tarians, permitted  him  to  be  crammed  in  school  with  a 
large  amount  of  biblical  study  and  ortliodox  theology,  he 
I'eadily  cracked  and  shed  that  shell  under  the  later 
instructicn  of  O.  B.  Frothingham.  Graduating  from  that 
excellent  schooling,  he  was  a  fit  candidate  for  the  advan- 
tages of  the  LiV)eral  Club,  in  which  very  broad  educa- 
tional institution  he  never  ceases  to  learn.  His  first  great 
effort  in  that  society  was  in  1877,  with  a  lecture  on  "  The 
Blue  Glass  Craze,"  with  venerable  Walt  Whitman   on  the 


732  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

platform  among  the  regular  solons  of  that  very  radical 
Eighth-street  circle.  After  many  years  of  industrious 
apprenticeship  there;  he  was  in  1888  made  president  of  the 
club,  a  position  which  he  still  holds.  As  secretary  of  the 
National  Defense  Association,  organized  about  the  time  of 
the  first  attack  on  D.  M.  Bennett,  he  has  taken  an  active 
part  in  all  the  defensive  and  aggressive  work  of  the  associa- 
tion, which  even  this  year  (1894)  finds  occasion  for  energetic 
protest  to  defeat  a  new  congressional  bill  giving  complete 
mail  censorship  power  to  the  postmaster-general. 

Dr.  Foote,  Jr.,  has  been  seen  and  heard  in  many  of  the 
private  councils  and  annual  conventions  of  the  old  Liberal 
League,  the  American  Secular  Union,  and  the  Freethought 
Federation,  and  stands  steady  in  the  front  ranks  of  the 
vigilant  opponents  of  all  movements  for  closer  alliance  of 
church  and  state.  Being  asked  for  a  brief  statement  of 
his  "  confession  of  faith "  as  to  problems  of  to-day,  he 
wrote  for  this  sketch  as  follows  : 

"  It  makes  me  feel  rather  lonesome  to  build  my  plat- 
form, and  I  even  wonder  whether  I  may  not  have  to 
occupy  it  all  alone.  If  there  be  others  cast  to  fit  this 
mold,  just  like  me,  I  should  be  glad  to  know  where  to  find 
them,  though  I  am  far  from  wishing  that  everyone  should 
agree  with  me  all  round.  In  medicine  I  am  eclectic,  with 
preference  for  hygienic  practice,  but  a  believer  in  utility 
of  medicine  ;  an  advocate  of  medical  freedom,  or  abroga- 
tion of  all  restrictive  laws  that  rule  out  undiplomaed 
'  healers  ;'  an  an ti- vaccinationist,  but  a  believer  in  utility 
of  vivisection,  limited.  As  a  hygienist  I  favor  (and  almost 
practice)  vegetarianism,  avoid  tobacco,  and  apply  pro- 
hibition of  alcoholics  to  myself.  I  am  one  of  the  neo- 
malthusian  cranks  who  would  limit  population,  and  my 
pet  hobby  is  '  engenics,'  or  the  right  of  every  child  to  be 
well  born,  or  not  at  all.  So  I  also  advocate  woman  suf- 
frage, and  the  sexual  emancipation  of  women,  less  bondage 
in  marriage,  far  greater  freedom  in  divorce,  and  believe 


OTTO    WKTTSTEIN   (p.   822). 


MRS.   M.  A.  FREEMAN.  733 

that  every  child  born  should  be  as  legitimate  iu  law  as  in 
nature.  Politically  I  favor  Nationalism,  or  the  People's 
party,  a  moderate  protective  tariff,  bimetallism  on  the  old 
basis  (for  the  present),  and  greenbackism  as  soon  as  we 
can  be  freed  from  barbarous  devotion  to  metals.  As  to 
religion,  I  am  Agnostic,  subscribe  to  the  articles  of  the 
Secularists,  and  find  myself  pretty  closely  in  accord  with 
the  Positivism  of  Mr.  T.  B.  Wakeman,  to  whom  I  am  glad 
of  an  opportunity  to  offer  publicly  many  thanks  for  much 
useful,  rational,  liberal  instruction.  Lastly,  I  look  for- 
ward to  cremation,  and  anticipate  nothing  further." 

Mrs.  M.  a.  Freeman. 

Mrs.  M.  ii..  Freeman  is  the  daughter  of  a  Freethinker, 
her  father  being  what  is  known  as  a  Thomas  Paine  Infidel. 
Her  maternal  grandmother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Elizabeth  Ann  Harris,  was  cousin  to  John  Quincy  Adams, 
the  sixth  president  of  the  United  States.  Her  great  uncle, 
Benoin  Harris,  was  a  famovis  clergyman  in  western  New 
York  in  the  first  part  of  this  century.  Mrs.  Freeman  has 
been  a  close  student,  devoting  herself  to  literature  in  its 
various  branches — science,  fiction,  and  philosophy.  She 
is  the  author  of  many  serials,  short  stories,  and  sketches, 
her  latest  work  being  a  satirical  Fieethought  romance, 
"Daughters  of  Cain."  Mrs.  Freeman  is  an  entertaining 
speaker,  possessing  a  clear,  distinct  enunciation,  a  musical 
voice,  and  an  attractive  presence.  Her  lectures  are  both 
thoughtful  and  sparkling.  She  has  won  golden  opinions. 
E.  A.  Stevens,  secretary  of  the  American  Secular  Union  in 
1887,  in  an  article  published  in  '■  The  Truth  Seeker,"  said  : 

"  Mrs.  Freeman's  lectures  bristle  v/itli  profound  logic, 
bravely  and  beautifully  expressed  in  choicest  language. 
For  one  hour,  without  manuscript,  and  without  a  flaw,  she 
held  her  auditors  in  that  stillness  that  allows  no  word  to 
be  lost.  If  years  of  unpaid,  incessant,  unselfish  devotion 
of  talents  of  the  highest  order  for  the  upbuilding  of  the 


734  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

Secular  cause  entitle  anyone  to  our  thanks,  that  person  is 
the  bright,  brave  little  moral  heroine,  who  has  won 
enduring  fame  in  literature,  as  well  as  on  the  rostrum, 
and  of  whom  we  of  Chicago  are  justly  proud,  Mrs.  M.  A. 
Freeman,  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  of  the  Ameri- 
can Secular  Union." 

General  M.  M.  Trumbull,  of  Chicago,  gave  the  follow- 
ing testimony  as  to  her  ability  :  "  I  am  always  delighted 
and  instructed  when  I  hear  Mrs.  Freeman  lecture.  Mrs. 
Freeman's  voice  should  be  heard  in  the  largest  halls  in 
the  city,  aye,  and  beyond  the  city,  too,  for  I  believe  I  am 
quite  within  bounds  when  I  say  there  is  not  in  this  whole 
country  three  women  of  equal  genius." 

For  twelve  years  Mrs.  Freeman  has  been  identified 
with  the  Chicago  Secular  Union.  Every  Sunday  night,  if 
she  was  in  the  city  and  able  to  attend,  found  her  at  its 
meetings.  Its  membership  changing,  Mrs.  Freeman  has 
remained,  upholding  to  the  best  of  her  ability  the  Secular 
cause.  lu  1891  she  published  the  "  Chicago  Liberal,"  a 
woman's  Freethought  paper.  The  little  journal  received 
many  flattering  notices  from  its  contemporaries  and  from 
individuals,  but,  much  to  her  regret,  she  was  obliged  to 
discontinue.  At  the  thirteenth  annual  congress  of  the 
American  Secular  Union,  held  in  Chicago,  Mrs.  Freeman 
was  elected  chairman  of  the  finance  committee,  and  at  the 
fifteenth  annual  congress  of  the  organization,  held  at 
Philadelphia,  Oct.  31,  1891,  she  was  elected  corresponding 
secretary,  which  office  she  still  holds,  having  been  unani- 
mously re-elected  at  the  International  Congress  of  Free- 
thinkers. 

W.  F.  Freeman. 

W.  F.  Freeman  was  born  at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  in  1831, 
of  Liberal  parentage  on  both  sides.  His  father  was  a 
])atr()n  of  the  "Investigator"  from  its  first  publication  till 
liis    death    in    1887.        In    J;uiu;irv,    1849,    tlie    good    sliip 


W.  F.  FREEMAN.  736 

Edward  Everett  carried  Mr.  Freeman  to  California,  and 
the  boy  took  with  him  the  principles  of  Freethought 
which  he  had  learned  at  the  fireside,  and  from  the  dis- 
cussions at  the  old  Hospitaler  Hall,  and  sermons  of  Theo- 
dore Parker,  As  soon  as  he  became  settled  he  sent  for 
the  "  Investigator  "  and  began  to  accumulate  books.  He 
has  now  one  of  the  best  private  libraries  in  the  state.  He 
has  always  been  an  open  and  pronounced  Infidel.  He  has 
probably  distributed  more  Liberal  literature  and  secured 
more  subscribers  to  Liberal  papers  than  any  other  in  the 
state.  Mr.  Freeman's  business  in  California  has  been 
that  of  miner,  stock-raiser,  and  manufacturer.  Since  1882 
he  has  done  but  little  in  the  way  of  work  or  business. 
He  took  a  trip  of  fourteen  months  with  his  wife  over 
Europe,  Palestine,  Egypt,  India,  China,  and  Japan — around 
the  world.  He  married  Miss  Martha  Drake,  of  Flint, 
Mich.,  in  1862,  at  Stockton,  where  they  have  since  resided. 
Although  Miss  Drake  was  reared  under  Christian  in- 
fluences, she  became  gradually  a  pronounced  Freethinker, 
and  has  heartily  cooperated  with  her  husband  in  all  his 
undertakings,  and  many  a  generous  entertainment  has  the 
Secular  pilgrim  received  at  their  home. 

The  first  activity  amongst  Liberals  in  Stockton  was 
caused  by  Elder  Knap's  general  denunciation  of  Infidels 
and  his  untruthful  tirade  against  Thomas  Paine  in  1868, 
which  was  denied  by  friend  Freeman  then  and  there  in 
the  church,  and  in  the  paper  of  the  following  day.  At 
length  he  challenged  Elder  Knap,  or  any  other  Christian, 
to  a  discussion.  After  that  regular  Sunday  meetings  were 
kept  up.  The  first  Paine  celebration  was  held  in  1874. 
The  Stockton  League  was  organized  under  charter  from 
the  National  Liberal  League  in  1877.  Its  members  sub- 
scribed and  presented  to  the  Stockton  public  library  about 
five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  first-class  standard  works 
on  science  and  Freethought,  and  secured  the  Boston 
"Investigator"   a  place   in   the  files   of    the   library  also. 


736  FOUR  IlLINDRKI)    YKAR8  OF    f RKETHOL'GHT. 

Lt^cture  courses  have  beeu  had  uearly  every  season  since 
with  good  results.  The  newspapers  have  been  fair  in 
their  reports  of  lectures  and  all  Liberal  movements.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Freeman  have  taken  the  leael  in  all  these  local 
movements  for  the  promotion  of  the  Liberal  cause.  Mr. 
Freeman  is  an  excellent  speaker,  and  has  officiated  at 
many  funerals  of  Freethinkers.  His  last  address  was 
given  in  memory  of  A.  Scheil,  of  Kuight's  Ferry,  who  was 
a  life-long  companion  of  Mr.  Freeman.  The  Liberalism 
of  tlie  Coast  owes  a  great  deal  to  the  untiring  efforts  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Freeman  and  the  Stockton  Liberal  League. 

Helen  Hamilton  Gardener. 

Helen  Hamilton  Gardener,  one  of  the  leading  Free- 
thought  writers  of  the  present  decade,  was  born  just  pre- 
vious to  the  late  war,  in  the  valley  of  Virginia  at  Stony 
Mead,  the  name  of  her  ancestral  home  near  Winchester. 
Her  father  was  the  Rev.  A.  G.  Chenowetli,  and  her  mother 
was  Katherine  A.  Peel,  both  natives  of  Virginia,  and  she 
is  the  youngest  of  six  children — three  boys  and  three  girls. 
She  is  an  American  of  Americans,  her  earliest  ancestor 
on  her  father's  side  in  this  country,  Arthur  Chenoweth, 
having  come  to  Maryland  in  1635,  where  he  had  a  grant  of 
land,  for  honorable  service,  from  Lord  Baltimore,  or  the 
sixth  Lord  Fairfax.  Her  great  grandfather,  John  Cheno- 
wetli, married  Hannah  Cromwell,  granddaughter  of 
Oliver  Cromwell.  Her  ]iaternal  grandmother  was  a 
daughter  of  Judge  John  Davenport,  of  Maryland,  and 
from  this  branch  of  her  ancestry  she  descends  from  the 
sixth  Lord  Baltimore.  Her  father  was  a  cousin  of  General 
Strother  (Porte  Crayon),  and  her  grandmother  Davenport 
was  a  sister  of  the  mother  of  Richard  Malcolm  Johnston. 
Her  mother  was  a  Peel  of  the  Peels  of  England. 

Helen  Gardener  is  evidently  of  good  fighting  stock,  as 
well  as  of  excellent  literary  blood,  and  young  as  she  is 
the  fame  she  has  already  achieved  is  an  honor  to  her  and 


ROBKRT   WaDK  (p.   815). 


HELEN  HAMILTON  GARDENER.  737 

to  her  ancestry,  however  great.  She  says  she  was  in  no 
sense  an  "  infant  prodigy,"  but  it  is  plain  that  she  was 
.  unusually  bright  in  all  her  childhood — exceedingly  observ- 
ant, quick  to  see  and  to  hear,  and  unusually  wise  to  con- 
clude. She  grew  up  with  persons  much  older  than  herself, 
and  much  of  her  childhood's  entertainment  she  got  from 
books  of  a  character  not  usually  read  and  understood  by 
children.  Her  parents  inherited  slaves,  but  having  strong 
conscientious  objections  to  slave-holding,  and  desirous  of 
educating  their  children  away  from  the  influence  of  slavery, 
they  freed  their  slaves  against  many  difficulties,  and 
moved  North,  where  the  little  Helen  grew  to  womanhood, 
and  was  educated  in  the  best  schools  of  the  country.  She 
early  developed  a  liking  for  biological  and  sociological 
studies,  and  she  cannot  remember  a  time — since  she  could 
think  at  all  to  any  conclusion — that  she  could  accept  as 
final  the  dictum  of  the  doctors,  without  first  having  evi- 
dence satisfactory  to  her  own  senses.  She  was,  therefore, 
always  reasonably  skeptical,  as  are  all  correctly  thinking 
persons  who  add  anything  to  the  world's  progress  and  up- 
lifting. She  began  to  write  her  thoughts  when  she  was 
quite  young,  not  at  first,  nor,  indeed,  for  some  time,  with 
the  idea  of  publishing  what  she  wrote,  or  of  letting  any 
one  know  that  she  wrote,  but  because  her  heart  and  mind 
were  full  of  a  great  longing  to  do  something  for  the  eleva- 
tion, the  improvement  of  the  condition,  of  humanity,  and 
first  of  all,  because  more  needed  than  all,  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  condition  and  status  of  her  own  sex.  She 
never  thought  or  dreamed  of  celebrity  or  fame,  or  that  she 
was  braver  than  others  of  her  sex,  or  of  either  sex  ;  she 
simply  had  something  to  say  and  she  wanted  to  say  it, 
though  bar  native  modesty  made  her  depreciate  her  ability 
and  fear  publicity.  For  some  time  after  she  had  written 
essays  and  contributions,  over  one  and  another  pen  name, 
for  the  magazines  and  the  press,  her  most  intimate  friends, 
including  her  husband,  wlio  was  and   is  in  complete  sym- 


738  FOUR    HUNDRB^D   YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

patliy  with  all  she  thinks  and  does,  did  not  know  of  it^ 
and  she  has  never  to  this  day  gotten  over  her  modest  esti- 
mate of  her  own  ability  ;  and  yet  there  are  now  thousands 
of  persons  who  greet  with  sincere  pleasure  any  work  writ- 
ten by  this  brilliant,  high-minded,  and  keen-witted  novelist 
and  essayist.  Mr.  B.  O.  Flower,  editor  of  the  "Arena," 
says  of  her :  "  I  know  of  no  living  writer  who  can  carry 
home  a  great  truth  to  the  heart  of  the  humblest  reader  so 
tellingly  as  Helen  Gardener  does  in  her  stories  and  novels." 
Besides  being  so  powerful  a  writer,  Helen  Gardener  is 
filled  with  the  inspiration  of  the  born  orator.  Her  voice 
rings  out  like  the  clearest  bugle  notes,  startling  the  torpid 
conscience  with  its  echoes.  She  has  no  mannerisms,  but 
is  simple  and  unaffected.  Her  intense  earnestness  appeals 
to  her  audience.  Her  st3de  is  remarkably  clear  and  con- 
cise. She  does  not  juggle  with  v/ords,  and  no  doubt  re- 
mains in  the  minds  of  her  readers  as  to  her  meaninef. 
She  strikes  with  blows  that  are  decisive  and  ringing,  and 
no  brain  is  so  dulled,  no  heart  so  unresponsive,  as  not  to  be 
influenced  in  some  way  by  the  work  of  this  remarkable 
woman. 

It  has  been  said  that  few  writers  or  persons  are  the 
exemplification  in  their  own  lives  of  the  theories  they  ad- 
vocate ;  and  this  is,  to  an  extent,  true,  because  the  theo- 
rist, however  sincere,  has  in  view,  not  individuals,  but 
nations,  whole  peoples — races.  His  mind  and  soul  are  too 
expansive  to  be  limited  to,  or  to  consider,  the  mere  indi- 
vidual, and  his  theories  are  therefore  not  for  himself  as  a 
unit,  but  only  as  he  makes  one  of  a  tribe  or  race.  But  this 
saying  does  not  apply  to  Helen  Gardener.  All  her  life, 
all  she  has  been  and  is  and  does,  conforms  exactly  and 
naturally  to  what  she  hopes  for  and  asks  for  and  of  others. 

In  physique,  Helen  Gardener  is  sliglit;  she  has  a  small, 
delicate  body,  a  fine  head  and  classical  face,  refined  and 
delicate  soft  brown  eyes,  of  indescribable  depth  and  in- 
telligence  and  gentleness  ;  silkv,  brown  hair,  and  a  voice 


HELEN  HAMILTON  GARDENER.  739 

full  of  graceful  aud  sweet  intouations  aud  inflections ;  all 
her  movements  aud  her  manner  are  graceful  aud  un- 
studied ;  she  has  no  fads,  and  never  poses  or  "  puts  on 
airs,"  as  so  many  persons  who  have  won  distinction  are 
apt  to  do.  She  is  a  strong,  logical,  vigorous  thinker 
bright  and  picturesque  in  her  descriptions ;  has  a  fine 
sense  of  humor,  and  is  a  delightful  and  entertainincr  con- 
versationalist. She  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able of  the  younger  generation  of  American  writers.  In 
depth  of  intellect,  combined  with  earnest  love  of  her  fel- 
lows, and  a  genial,  loving,  happy  disposition,  she  has  no 
superior.  She  is  brilliant  in  wit,  polished  in  diction, 
gentle  in  manners,  kind  in  her  dealings  with  others,  and 
ever  ready  to  help  the  oppressed.  Her  command  of  strong, 
terse  English  is  great.  She  is  by  birth,  education,  and 
training  an  accomplished  lady,  and  by  her  personal  char- 
acter a  sterling  woman.  Her  sarcasm  is  keen,  but  it  is 
always  polished  aud  never  vulgar.  Her  pen  is  a  powerful 
one,  and  it  is  always  emplo3^ed  on  the  side  of  truth  and 
virtue.  Her  style  is  direct,  forcible,  convincing,  and  elo- 
quent. Everything  slie  writes  is  inspired  by  an  earnest- 
ness real  and  intense.  She  is  the  personification  of 
purpose,  and  that  purpose  is  the  defense  of  the  defense- 
less, and  the  pointing  out  of  a  liigher  and  better  way. 
She  is  said  to  be  tlie  only  woman  writer  of  to-day  wlio  is 
equally  brilliant  with  pen  and  voice,  or  as  writer  and 
orator.  She  works  to  elevate  her  sex  above  the  trammels 
of  superstition,  and  she  is  fearless  in  the  defense  of  hu- 
man rights  without  sex  limitations. 

Helen  Gardener  first  became  known  to  the  public  in 
1881,  through  a  series  of  lectures  entitled  "  Men.  Women, 
and  Gods;"  "Vicarious  Atonement;"  "Historical  Facts 
and  Theological  Fictions;"  "By  Divine  Eight;"  "Pulpit, 
Pew,  and  Cradle  ;"  "  Rome  or  Reason,"  etc.  Her  first 
book,  "  Men,  Women,  and  Gods,"  was  published  in  1885 
by  the  Truth   Seeker  Company.     From   1885   to   1890  slie 


740  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

published  many  stories  and  essays  and  sketches  in  the 
various  magazines.  Her  first  book  of  stories,  "A  Thought- 
less Yes,"  was  published  in  1890,  and  soon  followed 
another  book  of  short  stories,  "  Pushed  by  Unseen  Hands." 
These  stories  were  generally  based  on  some  law  or  sug- 
gestion of  heredity,  and  deal  with  this  natural  but  little 
understood  or  known  law  in  new  and  scientific  ways,  and 
these  books  commanded  the  immediate  and  dignified  at- 
tention of  the  reading  public,  and  of  scientific  men  and 
women  in  this  country  and  Europe,  and  of  at  least  one 
oriental  country — Japan. 

Her  first  novel,  "  Is  This  Tour  Son,  My  Lord  ?"  soon 
followed  by  "Pray  You,  Sir,  Whose  Daughter?"  both 
novels  of  tremendous  power,  dealing  with  the  double 
standard  of  morals,  were  published  in  1891  and  1892  re- 
spectively. The  sales  of  these  books  have  reached  many 
editions,  and  they  have  wielded  an  influence  for  good 
throughout  the  country,  second  to  no  other  books  pub- 
lished in  this  country.  "  Facts  and  Fictions  of  Life,"  a 
book  of  brilliant  essays,  among  which  is  the  classic  one 
on  •'  Sex  in  Brain,"  was  published  in  1893.  In  1894,  "An 
UnoflScial  Patriot,"  just  published,  is  a  historical  and 
sociological  story  of  our  late  war,  very  dramatic  and  re- 
plete with  thrilling  descriptions,  and,  though  a  novel,  it 
gives  many  historical  facts  not  iiitherto  known.  Like  all 
of  Helen  Gardener's  novels  and  stories,  this  one  is  full  of 
good  and  intelligent  purpose.  This  book  is  now  being 
dramatized. 

Many  of  Helen  Gardener's  books,  essays,  and  stories 
have  been,  or  are  being,  translated  into  German  by  pub- 
lishers in  Berlin  and  Vienna,  and  some  of  them  are  trans- 
lated— by  request — into  French  and  Russian,  and  even 
Japanese  and  Icelandic.  Her  scientific  essays,  and  the 
stories  that  are  based  on  heredity,  have  been  copied  in 
medical  and  soiontific  journals  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe,  ami    I'.-mc  onniul  t  Imt  into  tlin  notice  of  and  cor- 


GIRARD.  _  741 

respondence  with  the  leading  biologists  and  anthropolo- 
gists of  all  these  countries.  Her  versatility  is  demon- 
strated by  her  eminent  success  as  an  essayist  and  novelist 
and  as  an  orator,  and  she  has  won  deserving  fame  in  the 
scientific  and  sociological  worlds;  and  since  she  is  yet 
young  in  years,  much  more  valuable  work  may  be  expected 
from  her  pen,  and  always  on  the  side  of  Freethought  and 
freedom  and  justice  and  right. 

GiRAED. 

Stephen  Girard  was  a  marked  and  eccentric  character. 
He  produced  great  results  in  amassing  an  immense  for- 
tune. He  was  born  in  Bordeaux,  France,  in  1750.  Before 
he  was  fourteen  he  commenced  to  follow  the  sea  as  a 
cabin-boy.  He  became  a  lieutenant  of  the  vesseL  He 
used  often  to  say  that  he  began  life  with  a  sixpence.  In 
1773  he  was  licensed  to  command  a  vessel.  In  May,  1776, 
after  various  fortunes,  he  located  at  Philadelphia.  He 
commenced  business  in  a  small  store  on  Water  street, 
which  for  sixty  years  he  made  his  home.  So  grave  was 
he  in  deportment  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  he  was 
called  "Old  Girard." 

Although  absorbed  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and 
wonderfully  successful,  there  was  room  in  his  heart  for 
great  kindness  and  sympathy.  When  the  yellow  fever 
broke  out  in  Philadelphia  in  1793  and  one-half  the  in- 
habitants fled,  this  grand,  self-sacrificing  man,  Girard, 
remained  in  the  city,  went  to  the  hospitals,  and  devoted  to 
them  his  entire  services  as  director,  manager,  and  nnrse. 
For  sixty  days  he  thus  battled  with  disease  and  suffering. 
He  often  met  the  sick  and  dying  at  the  gate  and  carried 
them  in.  Many  a  poor  creature  did  he  bend  over, 
receiving  his  last  words  as  the  breath  left  the  body.  He 
was  the  most  heroic  and  faithful  nurse  in  the  whole  city. 
He  also  gave  freely  of  his  money  to  relieve  those  in  want. 

He   had  ships  sailing  to  all   parts  of  the  world.     He 


742  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

named  them  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Helvetius,  Montesquieu, 
etc.  He  was  a  decided  Freetliinker.  He  discarded  all 
the  dogmas  of  Christianity.  He  was  an  inveterate  foe  of 
priests.  He  made  generous  bequests.  He  said:  "No  one 
shall  be  a  gentleman  on  my  money."  He  gave  to  the 
Pennsylvania  hospital  $30,000;  deaf  and  dumb  asylum, 
$20,00;  orphan  asjdum,  $10,000;  Lancaster  public  school, 
$10,000 ;  society  for  distressed  sea  captains,  $10,000  ;  city 
of  Philadelphia,  $500,000;  state  of  Pennsylvania  for  her 
canals,  $.300,000.  He  then  willed  about  $6,000,000  for  the 
construction  and  endowment  of  a  college  for  orphans.  In 
his  will  he  said  :  "  I  enjoin  and  require  that  no  ecclesias- 
tic, missionary,  or  minister  of  any  sect  whatever  shall 
ever  hold  or  exercise  any  station  or  duty  whatever  in  the 
said  college  ;  nor  shall  any  such  person  ever  be  admitted 
for  any  purpose,  or  as  a  visitor,  within  the  premises 
appropriated  to  the  purpose  of  the  said  college.  In 
making  this  restriction,  I  do  not  mean  to  cast  any  reflec- 
tion upon  any  sect  or  person  wdiatsoever,  but  as  there  are 
siich  a  multitude  of  sects,  and  such  diversity  of  opinion 
among  them,  I  desire  to  keep  the  tender  minds  of  the 
orphans,  who  are  to  derive  advantage  from  this  bequest, 
free  from  the  excitement  which  clashing  doctrines  and 
sectarian  controversy  are  so  apt  to  produce.  My  desire 
is  that  all  tlie  instructors  and  teachers  in  the  college  shall 
take  pains  to  instill  into  the  minds  of  the  scholars  the 
])urest  principles  of  moralit}^  so  that,  on  their  entrance 
into  active  life,  they  may,  from  inclination  and  habit, 
evince  benev(dence  toward  their  fellow  creatures,  and  a 
a  love  of  truth,  sobriety,  and  industry,  adopting  at  the 
same  time  such  religious  tenets  as  their  matured  reason 
may  enable  them  to  prefer."  The  estate  of  the  college  is 
now  valued  at  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  num- 
ber of  scliolars  is  about  fifteen  hundred.  The  provisions 
of  Girard's  will  have  been  shamefiilly  violated.  The  col- 
lege   is    now    under    Christian    supervision,    a    Christian 


S.   TUOMKY  (p.   812). 


ELLA  E.  GIBSON.  740 

chapel  is  now  built  within  its  walls,  and  Christian  the- 
ology is  taught.  When  Freethinkers  give  anything  for 
the  benefit  of  the  world,  the  Christians  will  steal  it  for 
their  own  purposes  if  they  can,  and  claim  all  the  glory. 
Girard  died  in  December,  1831. 

Ella  E.  Gibson. 

Ella  E.  Gibson  was  born  in  Wiuchendon,  Mass.,  May 
8,  1821.  For  twelve  years  she  was  a  teacher  in  the  public 
schools  of  Rindge,  N.  H.,  Winchendon,  Asby,  and  Fitch- 
burg,  Mass.,  and  was  also  a  contributor  to  the  press,  and 
a  public  lecturer.  In  the  first  years  of  the  war  she  was 
engaged  in  organizing  '"  Soldiers'  Ladies'  Aid  Societies  " 
in  Wisconsin.  She  was  afterward  connected  with  the 
Eighth  Wisconsin  Volunteers,  known  as  the  "  Live  Eagle 
Regiment.  '  The  history  of  the  eagle,  "  Old  Abe,"  is  well 
known.  The  Wisconsin  state  officers  recommended  her 
for  chaplain,  she  being  at  that  time  a  regularly  ordained 
minister.  She  was  elected  chaplain  of  the  First  Wisconsin 
Regiment,  Heavy  Artillery.  The  secretary  of  war  refused 
to  muster  her  in  because  she  was  a  woman.  She,  how- 
ever, received  pay  for  her  services  as  chaplain  by  act  of 
Congress,  March  3,  1869.  While  in  her  line  of  duty,  she 
contracted  malaria,  and  since  then  has  become  almost 
totally  disabled  from  its  affects.  She  has  not  yet  been 
successful  in  securing  the  pension  which  she  so  rightly 
deserves,  and  this  because  she  served  her  country  as  a 
woman. 

Although  confined  to  her  bed  nearly  all  the  time  for 
years  past,  Miss  Gibson  has  done  a  great  amount  of  mental 
labor.  She  has  generously  contributed  to  the  cause  of 
Freethought.  She  was  the  first  to  improvise  poetrv  and 
speak  upon  subjects  selected  by  the  audience.  She  claims 
that  this  was  not  done  by  spirits,  but  through  a  peculiar 
nervous  organization  and  natural  clairvoyance.  She  has 
written  for  nearly  every  Liberal  paper   published  in  the 


744  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

United  States.  She  edited  "  The  Moralist "  in  1891,  but 
was  compelled  to  relinquish  this  work  on  account  of  ill 
health.  She  is  author  of  "  The  Holy  Bible  Abridged;" 
"  The  Godly  "Women  of  the  Bible,  by  an  Unp;odly  Woman 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  and  other  pamphlets.  After 
over  forty  years'  labor  she  is  still  ready  for  the  forward 
movement. 

N.    D.    GOODELL. 

N.  D.  Goodell  is  a  pioneer  Freethinker  of  Sacramento, 
a  'Forty-niner,  who  has  been  through  all  the  rough-and- 
tumble  and  glor}^  of  early  California  life.  A  remarkable 
experience  these  'Forty-niners  have  had,  coming  over  the 
vast  plains  by  a  three -months'  journey,  or  around  the 
Horn,  or  across  the  Isthmus,  a  wearisome  way  to  the  land 
of  gold,  where  bright  fortune  shone  before  one  like  an 
•enchanted  lake,  flashing  and  fading  alternately.  Adven- 
turous, heroic,  indomitable  men  were   these  'Forty-niners. 

N.  D.  Goodell  is  an  architect  and  has  erected  hundreds 
of  buildings  in  Sacramento — public  and  private.  His 
most  successful  triumph  of  art  is  the  Hospital  for  the  In- 
digent Sick.  It  is  a,  unique  and  original  conception.  It 
is  so  constructed  that  every  room  is  light  and  airy.  It 
consists  of  five  branching  wings,  each  making  a  separate, 
edifice,  and  yet  so  united  that  all  are  practically  under 
one  roof.  These  branching  wings  join  in  a  frontage  of 
exquisite  beauty  and  majesty,  so  that  tlie  whole  impres- 
sion is  harmonious,  and  it  apj)ears  like  one  building — a 
beautiful  display  of  unity  in  variety.  It  is  an  achievement 
of  Freethought  in  architecture,  for  it  is  something  new, 
and  not  a  tame  imitation  of  the  old  style. 

Mr.  Goodell  is  of  tlie  blood  of  the  Puritans,  being  born 
in  New  England  and  brought  up  in  its  orthodox  atmos- 
phere, but  was  early  drawn  into  the  Universalist  church, 
through  which  he  passed  into  radical  Freethought.  He 
came  to  Sacramento  when  there  was  not  a  wooden  or  brick 


H.  L.  GREEN.  745 

building  erected,  the  inhabitants  living  in  tents  and  adobes 
scattered  among  the  groves  of  live-oak. 

Mr.  Goodell  is  generous  and  hospitable;  is  always 
ready  to  aid ;  was  a  firm  friend  of  "  Freethought "  while 
published,  and  is  vice-president  of  the  California  Liberal 
Union. 

H.  L.  Green. 

H.  L.  Green  was  born  in  the  town  of  Yirgil,  Courtland 
county,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  18,  1828.  Mr.  Green's  only  educational 
advantages  were  the  common  schools,  which  he  attended 
in  the  winter  season,  one  term  at  a  select  school,  and 
one  term  at  the  Courtland  village  academy.  During  the 
summers  of  his  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  and  eighteenth 
years  he  worked  on  a  farm  by  the  month.  He  also  worked 
at  piling  lumber  in  the  boat  yard,  and,  like  Garfield,  did 
a  little  canaling.  He  was  captain  of  a  log-raft  from  Big 
Flats  to  the  Gillespie  saw-mill  near  Millport  for  one  trip. 
He  was  a  great  reader.  He  read  all  the  books  he  could 
get  hold  of,  which  were  not  many  at  that  early  day. 
When  eighteen  years  old  he  taught  his  first  school.  He 
kept  seven  terms.  By  his  school-master's  experience  he 
acquired  most  of  his  education.  When  twenty-two  years 
of  age  he  began  the  study  of  law  with  Stevens  &  Duell,  of 
Courtland  village,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  all  the 
courts  of  the  state  in  1852.  He  commenced  the  practice 
of  law  at  Marathon,  N.  J.  He  was  elected  justice  of  the 
peace.  Removing  to  Courtland,  he  was  elected  county 
treasurer,  which  office  he  held  for  four  years.  From 
Courtland  he  removed  to  Syracuse,  and  afterward  to  Sala- 
manca. While  in  Syracuse,  he  devoted  himself  to  estab- 
lishing and  maintaining  the  Syracuse  Radical  Club.  He 
was  elected  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
National  Liberal  League,  also  secretar}'  of  New  York 
State  Freethinkers'  Association,  of  which  he  had  nearly 
the  whole   management,  and  its  yearly  conventions  were 


746  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

among  the  most  notable  landmarks  of  Freethought.  Mr. 
Green  early  became  much  interested  in  the  antislavery 
movement.  He  has  also  lectured  extensively  throughout 
New  York  and  the  West,  and  he  is  always  acceptable  upon 
the  platform,  besides  being  a  vigorous  writer.  In  later 
years  Mr.  Green  has  given  his  best  work  to  the  "  Free- 
thinkers' Magazine,"  which  has  already  been  noted  in  the 
history  of  the  Liberal  press.  In  this  Mr.  Green  gives 
the  ripe  fruit  of  many  years'  experience  in  Freethought, 
and  with  excellent  judgment  gathers  together  from  all 
sources  an  interesting  variety  of  reading  matter.  Mr. 
Green  has  won  his  position  by  unremitting  toil  and  real 
devotion  to  the  cause.  He  was  born  to  be  a  Freethought 
reformer,  and  could  not  be  otherwise.  He  is  in  touch  with 
the  advance  tendencies.  He  thinks  clearly,  knows  a  good 
thing  when  he  sees  it,  and  so  makes  a  successful  editor. 
He  now  resides  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

James  A.  Gbeenhill. 

James  A.  Greenhill  was  born  in  Glamis,  Forfarshire, 
Scotland,  Dec.  29,  1828.  He  was  brought  up  a  Presby- 
terian, and  had  to  commit  to  memory  the  Westminster 
shorter  catechism.  He  lived  in  his  native  village  until 
he  was  twenty-three  years  old,  and  learned  the  trade  of 
wagon-making.  He  then  came  to  America  and  landed  at 
New  York,  Jan.  1,  1851.  He  was  married  in  New  York, 
and  became  an  American  citizen  by  naturalization.  His 
occupation  was  that  of  house  carpenter.  He  went  to 
Chicago  in  April,  1857,  and  took  up  that  branch  of  car- 
penter work  called  stair-building,  which  he  has  followed 
ever  since.  He  removed  to  Clinton,  Iowa,  in  1873.  Up  to 
1879  he  thought  he  believed  in  orthodox  Christianity.  At 
that  time,  however,  he  got  hold  of  Ingersoll's  "  Mistakes 
of  Moses."  He  read  this  half  a  dozen  times  over ;  it 
seemed  a  perfectly  fair  statement,  and  it  shook  his  faith. 
The   next  summer   a  friend  gave  liini    tlie  "  Theological 


N.  F.  GRISWOLD.  747 

Works  of  Thomas  Paine,"  and  that  settled  the  business. 
From  that  time  he  was  a  Freethinker.  In  1889  Mr.  Green- 
hill  visited  his  native  village  after  an  absence  of  thirty- 
eight  years,  and  in  January,  during  the  same  journey,  went 
to  the  cottage  near  Ayr,  where  Robert  Burns  first  saw  the 
light.  Mr.  Greenhill  delights  in  astronomy.  In  1892  he 
had  a  telescope  made  for  his  own  private  use,  with  a  six- 
inch  glass,  at  a  cost  of  $500.  This  choice  instrument  is 
the  companion  of  his  leisure  hours.  He  has  just  finished 
an  observatory,  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  at  his  home. 
He  cordially  invites  all  Freethinkers  who  can  make  it  con- 
venient to  view  with  him  the  wonders  of  the  universe,  and 
rejoice  in  the  revelations  of  science,  where  there  are  no 
"  Mistakes  of  Moses." 

N.  F.  Griswold. 

N.  F.  Griswold  is  of  New  England  origin.  His  father, 
however,  migrated  to  what  at  that  time  was  called  the 
Far  West,  namely,  western  New  York — Lockport,  where 
the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  born  in  1824.  His  mother 
died  when  he  was  three  days  old.  He  was  brought  in  his 
father's  arms  to  Connecticut  and  placed  in  care  of  his 
grandmother  until  his  father's  second  marriage,  six  years 
later.  At  eleven  years  of  age  he  left  home  to  "  paddle  his 
own  canoe."  He  was  on  a  farm  for  a  while,  and  then  got 
a  position  in  a  country  store  until  he  was  sixteen  years  of 
age,  earning  only  his  board  and  clothes.  He  then  learned 
the  tinner's  trade,  and  subsequently  bought  out  his  em- 
ployer and  started  in  business  for  himself.  This  was  the 
foundation  of  the  Griswold-Richmond-Glock  Co-operative 
Company  at  Meriden,  Conn.,  which  has  been  one  of  the 
inost  successful  business  enterprises  in  New  England. 
For  several  years  Mr.  Griswold  was  connected  with  the 
Universalist  Society  and  Sunday-school.  By  some  chance 
he  came  across  a  brief  report  of  one  of  Colonel  IngersoU's 
lectures.     Hf^  improved   the  first  opportunity  to  liear  In- 


748  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

gersoll  lecture  in  the  old  puritanical  city  of  New  Haven, 
and  was  so  elated  that  he  sent  the  Colonel  a  check  with 
an  invitation  to  lecture  at  Meriden.  Not  being  sure  of 
getting  the  large  town  hall  for  the  use  of  Ingersoll,  he 
endeavored  to  get  a  refusal  of  the  Universalist  church. 
But  this  was  denied  him.  He  then  concluded  that  if  the 
Universalist  Society  was  so  puritanical  as  not  to  permit 
Ingersoll  to  speak  in  their  churcli,  it  was  no  place  for 
him,  and  he  severed  his  connection  with  the  society  and 
has  since  devoted  himself  to  the  Freethought  cause.  He 
has  given  several  thousand  dollars  to  its  support.  He  re- 
gards the  church  now  as  the  prop  of  the  rich  man  and  the 
leech  of  the  poor  man,  and  sees  in  Freethought  the  only 
hope  for  truth  and  right. 

J.  Hacker. 

Jeremiah  Hacker  is  probably  the  oldest  Freethought 
lecturer  in  the  world.  He  indeed  goes  so  far  back  that 
only  himself  can  tell  the  story.  He  writes  :  "  Seventy 
years  ago  I  commenced  lecturing  against  priestcraft.  I 
traveled  thousands  of  miles  and  delivered  liumlreds  of 
lectures.  I  never  took  a  fee  at  the  door,  nor  permitted  a 
contribution  box  to  be  passed,  nor  said  anything  about 
money.  The  people  were  in  such  a  condition  then  that  if 
I  had  asked  for  ]>ay,  they  would  have  said  the  dollar  was 
all  I  was  after.  I  liad  to  force  them  into  the  belief  that  I 
was  for  their  welfare,  and  wanted  to  free  them  from  the 
bondage  of  tlie  cliurches.  I  have  a  barrel  of  letters  from 
people  tlianking  me  for  wliat  I  have  done  for  them.  In 
1845  I  met  James  Arrington  Clay  in  Gardiner,  Maine. 
He  was  the  first  outspoken  Infidel  I  became  acquainted 
with.  He  published  a  large  book  and  circulated  it  free. 
He  gave  me  five  or  more,  for  whicli  I  pledged  ray  overcoat. 
I  started  a  Liberal  paper,  "  The  Pleasure  Boat,"  and  with 
a  small  bei^nnning  I  ran  the  paper  for  sixteen  years,  and 
sent   it    at  least  one  year  to  every  man,  woman,  or  child 


R.  A.   HARDEE.  749 

that  asked  for  it,  whether  they  paid  for  it  or  not.  I  had 
subscribers  among  the  most  enlightened  class  in  every 
state  in  the  Union.  At  that  time  Maine  had  vast  quan- 
tities of  land  which  it  was  selling  to  Shylocks  in  large 
tracts.  Through  my  paper,  and  appeals  to  the  governor 
and  legislature,  I  got  a  law  to  give  every  landless  man  in 
Maine,  who  would  settle  on  it,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  laud  for  fifty  cents  an  acre,  and  this  to  be  paid  in  labor 
— making  roads,  etc.  Then  I  saw  scores  of  farmers,  each 
with  a  two-horse  wagon  covered  with  cloth,  containing 
their  beds,  dishes,  tools,  wives  and  children — all  they  had 
in  the  world — steering  for  the  wilderness.  You  have  lee  ■ 
tured  in  one  of  those  counties,  and  no  doubt  reaped  some 
of  the  harvest  I  sowed  in  getting  that  laud  free.  I  also 
got  a  reform  school  established  for  juvenile  offenders,  at 
Westbrook,  near  Portland."  These  things  happened  so 
long  ago  that  the  Liberals  of  the  present  have  but  little 
knowledge  concerning  them,  but  we  are  glad  to  put  on 
record  the  work  of  Jeremiah  Hacker,  and  honor  him  for 
those  achievements  which  bear  fruit  to-day  in  our  splen- 
did civilization. 

K  A.  Hardee. 

Capt.  R  A.  Hardee,  of  Florida,  is  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  the  industry  of  that  state,  as  well  as  of  Freethought. 
He  was  born  in  Georgia,  and  was  captain  in  the  Confed- 
erate army.  'Since  the  close  of  the  war  he  has  lived  mostly 
in  the  Indian  River  country,  and  has  done  much  to  de- 
velop the  resources  of  the  country,  especially  in  orange 
and  lemon  groves ;  and  is  well  known  for  his  energy  and 
invention.  He  is  one  of  those  who  is  always  at  tlie  front, 
and  the  same  spirit  is  apparent  in  his  Freethought  work. 
He  never  keeps  his  opinions  to  himself,  but  is  ready  to 
discuss  them  at  any  time.  He  has  done  what  he  could  to 
organize  the  Liberals  of  the  state,  but  they  are  so  widely 
scattered  that  it  is  difficult  at  present  to  bring  them  to- 


750  FOUR    HUNDRED    TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

^etlier.  The  captain  is  just  as  ready  for  the  picket-line  as 
for  any  other  service.  Capt.  J.  F.  Rhoads,  Capt.  C.  E. 
Garner,  James  Douglas,  of  Jacksonville,  and  other  standi 
Liberals  throughout  the  state  will,  no  doubt,  some  day 
bring  Florida  into  the  advance  line  of  the  great  Free- 
thought  movement. 

Chas.  T.  Hayden. 

Charles  Trumbull  Hayden,  of  Tempe,  Arizona,  is 
worthy  of  the  Freethought  name,  both  for  his  frontier  en- 
terprises and  devotion  to  the  cause.  He  is  one  of  the 
foremost  merchants  and  business  men  of  Arizona.  He 
came  to  this  country  thirty  years  ago,  when  it  seemed 
scarcely  habitable.  He  has  built  mills,  cultivated  lands, 
established  trade,  and  been  specially  interested  in  the 
irrigation  of  this  country,  upon  which  so  many  millions 
of  wealth  depends.  He  has  been  a  defender  of  the  rights 
of  the  people  to  the  land  and  the  water.  He  is  the  friend 
of  those  who  labor.  He  believes  in  the  school-house,  and 
not  the  church ;  the  spade  and  pick-ax,  and  not  the  cross. 
He  believes  in  a  paradise  in  this  wgrld  ;  and  has  done  hi» 
part  on  the  advance  line  to  make  the  wilderness  bloom 
and  blossom  like  a  rose. 

E.  H.  Heywood. 

Ezra  H.  Heywood  was  an  eccentric  reformer.  He  went 
off  on  lines  of  his  own,  and  the  general  mass  of  Liberals 
did  not  agree  with  him  ;  but  his  work  cannot  be  omitted 
in  a  history  of  Freethought.  I  do  not  know  of  a  more 
candid  or  sympathetic  interpretation  of  his  mental  and 
moral  make-up  and  his  aims  than  the  following,  which  I 
quote  from  a  well-known  writer  whose  own  experience 
makes  him  capable  of  broad  and  tolerant  judgments  : 

"Ezra  H.  H'.  ywood,  of  Princeton, Mass.,  died  at  Boston 
Miij  22.  189B,  in  his  sixty-fourth  year. 

"  7n   "iiu^   age   of  grab   and   self-seeking,   when   almost 


llKA^Ri'    BIRD  (p.   697). 


E.  H.  HEYWOOD.  751 

everyone  seems  to  be  pushing  after  the  main  chance  of 
enriching  himself  at  the  expense  of  his  fellows,  it  is  well 
for  us  to  contemplate  the  career  of  one  who  gave  up  all 
worldly  gain  in  the  pursuit  of  an  ideal. 

"  Mr.  Heywood  had  a  college  education  and  was  in- 
tended for  the  ministry ;  but,  becoming  a  Freethinker,  he 
devoted  his  life  to  the  secular  welfare  of  mankind.  He 
first  entered  the  antislavery  crusade,  and  his  youthful  zeal 
brought  him  on  to  the  platform  alongside  of  Garrison  and 
Phillips  He  opposed  the  civil  war  and  founded  a  Peace 
Society,  and  then  took  up  various  phases  of  labor  reform 
and  questions  of  political  and  social  economy.  Under  all 
his  propagandism  lay  the  principle  of  individual  liberty, 
which  he  saw  was  invaded  on  every  hand  by  legal,  relig- 
ious, and  social  restrictions.  He  published  a  paper  called 
*  The  Word,'  which,  in  devotion  to  his  fundamental  idea 
of  freedom,  opposed  rent,  interest,  taxes,  tariffs,  profits, 
war,  marriage,  and  all  monopolies.  He  wrote  pamphlets 
supporting  these  ideas,  which  sold  widely,  and  he  held 
frequent  conventions  where  sympathetic  orators  aided 
him  in  appeals  to  the  people.  Tins  persistent  advocacy 
brought  him  the  enmity  and  persecution  of  the  represent- 
atives of  capital  and  religion ;  those  who  sold  his  writ- 
ings were  arrested  and  imprisoned,  and  he  himself  was 
several  times  arrested  and  thrice  sentenced  to  imprison- 
ment, the  last  time  for  two  years  in  Charlestown  jail.  He 
was  released  a  year  before  his  death,  but  the  confinement 
had  broken  his  constitution  ;  and,  contracting  a  cold  during 
his  conduct  of  a  Labor  Reform  convention  in  New  York, 
he  went  to  his  wife's  relatives  in  Boston  a  very  sick  man 
and  died  in  three  days. 

"  He  married  the  eldest  of  three  remarkable  daughters 
of  a  remarkable  mother,  Mrs.  Tilton,  who  had  inspired 
her  children  with  an  enthusiasm  for  woman's  freedom 
that  led  them  all  to  heroic  effort  for  the  emancipation  of 
their  sex.     Angela,  Flora,  and  Josephine  Tilton  will  be 


752  FOUR    HUNDRKD    YHIARS   OF   FREETIiOUGHT. 

recDgnizeil  as  worthy  pioneers  of  the  movement  for  the 
elevation  of  woman,  whicli  is  now  everj-where  making 
progress.  Through  the  influence  of  AngeLi,  Mr.  Heywood 
gave  prominence  to  sex  questions  and  combated  tlie  pru- 
dish notion  of  any  inherent  impurity  being  associated 
wath  the  sexual  nature  ;  and  he  declared  that  the  chief 
cause  of  social  evils  was  the  fact  that  these  functions 
wei'e  not  deemed  worthy  of  mention  in  face-to-face  con- 
verse. In  pursuance  of  this  idea  he  claimed  the  propriety 
of  talking  in  plain  and  so  called  'vulgar'  words  when  he 
discussed  sex  questions,  although  his  motives  were  as  far 
removed  from  '  obscenity '  as  it  was  possible  to  be.  He 
was  a  man  of  a  calm  temperament  and  self-denying  nature, 
and  advocated  only  what  he  was  convinced  was  essential 
to  the  welfare  of  society.  But  this  freedom  of  speech 
gave  the  legal  opportunity  for  the  enemies  of  Rationalism 
and  of  economic  reform  to  persecute  him.  For  twenty 
years  he  was  relentlessly  hounded  by  a  man  named  An- 
thony Comstock,  who,  as  agent  of  a  Vice  Society,  which 
supported  him  with  a  large  salary,  used  sneaking  and 
decoy  methods  to  entrap  this  large-hearted  and  reckless 
enthusiast  within  the  meshes  of  the  law.  Too  well  he 
succeeded,  and  Mr.  Heywood's  premature  death  must  be 
laid  at  the  door  of  this  man,  who  will  in  future  be  classed 
witli  the  murderers  who -throughout  all  ages  have  tried  to 
stiflt^  the  voice  of  progress  in  the  name  of  God.  Very  few 
persons  sympathized  with  Mr.  Heywood  in  his  choice  of 
expressions,  but  all  who  knew  him  recognized  his  sincerity 
and  pure  motives,  and  regarded  the  effort  to  class  him 
with  obscenists  as  the  most  cruel  travesty  of  justice  that 
this  century  has  witnessed. 

"  From  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Heywood  and 
liis  writings,  I  ain  led  to  declare  him  the  most  remarkable 
man  that  has  worketl  for  humanity  in  this  generation, and 
to  predict  that  in  the  march  of  time  he  will  be  regarded 
as  one   of  the   world's    great  prophets,   who   foresaw   the 


S.  HUNT.  753 

coming  of  the  glory  of  man,  but  died  the  victim  of  those 
who  uphekl  the  departing  glory  of  God.  Henry  Hol- 
beach,  un  English  philosopher,  says  :  '  The  best  is  ever  ia 
the  minority  of  one.'  Ezra  H.  Hey  wood  was  in  many  re- 
spects the  most  advanced  man  of  our  time.  Perhaps 
future  generations  will  call  him  the  best." — Robert  C. 
xVdams. 

Geo.  N.  Hill. 

Geo.  N.  Hill,  of  Boston,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Ingersoll  Secular  Society,  originator  of  the  Freethought 
Calendar,  with  T.  B.  Wakeman,  and  the  first  American  to 
subscribe  to  the  Bruno  monument  erected  in  Rome. 
In  1889  he  arranged  and  published  a  popular  and 
also  school  edition  of  a  short  treatise  entitled  "  Ten 
Lessons  in  True  Moral  Dignity,  a  Manual  of  Self- 
Respect,"  which  is  a  most  excellent  production.  The 
author  acted  on  the  principle  of  William  von  Humboldt, 
who  said  that  "  whatever  we  wish  to  see  introduced  into 
the  life  of  a  nation  must  first  be  introduced  in  the  life  of 
the  schools."     Mr.  Hill  is  an  enthusiastic  speaker. 

F.  M.  Holland. 

Frederick  May  Holland  is  one  of  our  best  writers,  and 
always  seems  to  be  on  the  radical  side,  thoucjli  conserva- 
tive and  constructive  by  nature.  He  is  not  a  man  of  war; 
he  likes  jDeace,  but  he  likes  liberty  and  justice  better. 
He  has  been  especially  prominent  in  reform  questions  in 
Massachusetts,  and  has  tried  to  bring  that  puritanical 
state  into  line  with  progress,  He  has  written  the  "  His- 
tory of  the  Stoics." 

S.  Hunt. 

Stephen  Hunt,  of  Massillon,  Ohio,  is  one  of  the  doers  in 
the  Freethought  ranks,  a  man  of  wealth  and  standing,  but 
always  ready  to  side  with  an  unpopular  cause.  He  has 
been  one  of  Freethought's  most  devoted  friends. 


754  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT, 

W.  F.  Jamieson. 

W.  F.  Jamieson  was  born  in  Montreal,  Canada,  April 
24,  1837.  His  parents  were  pious  people,  and  ne  liad  a 
tiiorouglil}'  Christian  training.  When  about  seventeen 
years  of  age  he  began  to  reason,  and  to  search  for  truth 
for  himself.  It  was  not  long  before  he  was  delivered  from 
the  dogmas  of  theology.  In  1854  he  entered  Albion  Col- 
lege, Mich.  In  1859  he  married,  and  began  lecturing. 
He  held  his  famous  debate  with  Moses  Hull,  the  then 
renowned  champion  of  Adventism,  at  Paw  Paw,  Mich. 
This  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  Mr.  Hull  to  Spiritual- 
ism. Since  then  Mr.  Jamieson  has  held  many  debates 
with  the  clergy.  At  the  close  of  a  thirty-two  sessions' 
debate  with  Elder  Robert  G.  Eccles,  Mr.  Jamieson,  per- 
ceiving his  genius,  advised  him  to  devote  his  life  to 
science,  which  Mr.  Eccles  did,  and  he  has  since  become 
prominent  in  the  scientific  world.  Mr.  Jamieson  believes 
in  the  ringing  words  of  Jefferson  :  "  Let  the  eye  of  vig- 
ilance never  be  closed."'  He  published  his  pamphlet, 
"  The  Clergy  a  Source  of  Danger  to  the  American  Re- 
public." He  is  bold  and  aggressive  in  his  treatment  of 
the  churches,  and  shows  but  little  respect  for  the  clergy. 
He  is  at  present  in  California,  an  active  worker  for  Free- 
thought  on  radical  lines. 

W.  W.  Jesse. 

W.  W.  Jesse,  now  president  of  the  Oregon  State  S:i<jiiiar 
Union,  is  one  entirely  worthy  of  the  position  which  lie 
holds.  He  is  a  man  of  few  Avords,  but  of  good  deeds, 
and  a  stalwart  in  Liberalism.  The  officers  of  the  Oregon. 
State  Secular  Union  elected  to  support  Mr.  Jesse  are  as 
follows  :  J.  Henry  Schroeder,  B.  F.  Hyland,  D.  W.  Smith, 
vice-presidents ;  Katie  Kehm  Smith,  secretary ;  D.  C. 
Stewart,  treasurer.  The  following  persons  have  been 
appointed  lecturers  of  the  association  :  Henry  Addis,  Mrs. 
Annie  E.  Barker,  Nettie  A.  Olds,  and  Virgil  S.  Smith. 


abner  kneeland.  755 

Abner  Kneeland. 

Abner  Kneeland  was  born  in  Gardner.  Mass.,  April  7, 
1774.  His  father  was  of  Irish  descent,  and  his  mother- 
English.  He  worked  at  the  carpenter's  trade  up  to  1803. 
In  1801  he  joined  the  Baptist  church  and  commenced 
preaching  in  the  following  July.  In  1803  he  separated 
from  the  denomination  in  consequence  of  his  believing  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  "  restitution  of  all  things,"  and  then 
united  with  the  Universalists,  being  a  minister  in  this 
denomination  until  1811.  In  1825  he  removed  to  New 
York  city.  Becoming  convinced  that  Christianity  was 
founded  on  pagan  dogmas,  he  boldly  renounced  it,  even 
in  the  modified  form  of  Universalism,  and  returning  to 
Boston  in  1831  he  began  the  publication  of  the  Boston 
"  Investigator."  In  1833  he  was  arrested,  indicted,  and 
tried  for  blasphemy,  for  saying  openly  that  he  "  did  not 
believe  in  the  God  which  the  Universalists  did  ;"  he  was 
sentenced  to  two  months'  imprisonment,  an  honor  to  him, 
but  a  disgrace  to  the  so-called  "  cradle  of  American 
liberty."  Kneeland  was  so  earnest  in  the  investigation  of 
the  scriptures  that  he  willingly  submitted  to  the  labor  of 
learning  the  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin  languages  to 
enable  him  to  obtain  the  original  meaning;  he  published 
a  "  Greek  Testament,  According  to  Griesback,"  and  also 
"A  Greek  and  English  Testament,  with  Notes."  In  1829 
he  delivered  in  Broadway  Hall,  New  York,  a  series  of 
lectures  entitled  "A  Review  of  the  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity." He  also  published  a  review  of  his  own  trial, 
conviction,  and  imprisonment.  Kneeland  was  among  the 
first  orthographic  reformers  of  this  country,  and  proposed 
a  new  alphabet  with  a  distinct  letter  for  each  element  of  the 
human  voice.  In  consequence  of  persecutions,  he  found 
it  necessary  to  sever  his  connection  with  the  "Boston 
Investigator,"  and  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  J.  P.  Men- 
clum,    being    edited    by   Horace    Seaver.     Mr.    Kneeland 


756  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

removed  to  Salubiiji,  low.i,  and  settled  on  a  farm  He 
peacefully  died  at  an  advanced  age,  April  27,  1844.  His 
name  is  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  Freethought. 

Arnold  Krekel. 

Judge  Arnold  Krekel  was  born  near  Langefeld  on  the 
Ehing,  in  Prussia,  1815.  He  came  to  this  country  with  his 
parents  in  1832,  taking  up  his  residence  in  Missouri,  where 
his  father  settled.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1844 
When  the  Civil  war  broke  out  he  enlisted  in  the  home 
guards  of  St.  Charles  county,  out  of  which  he  organized 
a  regiment  fpr  actual  service.  He  was  elected  colonel  and 
served  throughout  the  Rebellion.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  constitutional  convention  of  1865,  became  its  president 
and  signed  the  ordinance  of  Emancipation  by  which  the 
slaves  of  Missouri  were  set  free.  It  was  while  the  con- 
stitutional convention  was  in  session  that  President  Linccrln 
appointed  him  one  of  the  Federal  judges.  His  was  among 
the  last  names  sent  to  the  Senate  by  the  martyred 
president.  He  was  one  of  the  best  judges  on  the  bench. 
S<^me  of  his  decisions  have  taken  rank  as  authority,  and 
have  been  accepted  .as  final.  His  rulings  were  marked  by 
strong  common  sense,  and  a  disregard  of  technicalities 
which  would  tend  to  interfere  with  justice. 

He  first  married,  in  1843,  Miss  Ida  Krugg,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Krugg,  formerly  of  Bavaria.  She  died  in  1870.  In 
1880  lie  married  Mrs.  Mattie  Parry.  He  died  July  14, 
1888.  Althoiijjrh  of  Catholic  antecedents.  Judge  Krekel 
was  a  pronounced  Agnostic,  and  openly  expressed  his  con- 
victions and  aided  the  cause  of  Freethought. 

Mrs.  Krekel. 

Mattie  Parry  Krekel  was  born  in  Goshen,  Elkhart 
county,  Ind.,  April  13,  1840.  Her  parents  were  New  Eng- 
landers — her  father,  John  M.  Hulett,  being  a  native  of 
Vermont;   her  mother,  Luciuda  Jay,  a  native  of  New  York. 


JAMES  A.  GREENHILL  (p.  746;. 


LILIAN  LKLAND  757 

On  the  father's  side  the  family  was  Scotch-Irish,  he  being 
one  of  that  numerous  family  of  Huletts  who  have  de- 
scended from  the  three  brothers  who  at  an  early  da}-  in 
Vermont's  history  settled  there,  and  branched  in  every 
direction,  changing,  in  the  three  branches,  the  original 
name  Hulett  into  Hewlett  and  Hughlett.  On  the  mother's 
side  the  origin  was  English,  her  mother  being  one  of  the 
direct  descendants  of  John  Jay,  of  Revolutionary  fame. 
Both  father  and  mother  were  liberal  as  to  religious  views, 
and  Mrs.  Krekel  says  of  the  influence  of  this  liberality 
upon  her  life,  that  she  owes  more  to  it  than  to  any  other 
source,  to  the  wise,  brave,  gentle  course  which  her  father 
pursued  ;  that  her  life  was  not  twisted  or  distorted  by 
those  ecclesiastical  influences  which  enslave  mentally'. 
The  mother  was  thoroughly  liberal,  and  during  the  last 
thirty  years  of  her  gentle,  generous  life  a  confirmed 
Spiritualist.  Mrs.  Krekel  has  been  connected  with  public 
work  on  the  Liberal  platform,  at  intervals,  since  her  fif- 
teenth year,  making,  at  that  time,  in  Rockford,  111.,  her 
first  public  address.  She  was  married,  in  1862,  to  T.  W. 
Parry,  and  bore  to  him  six  children,  four  sons  and  two 
daughters.  She  was  married  a  second  time,  to  Judge 
Arnold  Krekel,  of  the  United  States  District  Court, 
western  district  of  Missouri,  surviving  both  husbands, 
and  still  actively  engaged  in  Liberal  work  on  the  rostrum. 
Mrs.  Krekel  is  one  of  the  bravest  and  stanchest  lecturers 
in  the  field.  She  is  eminently  qualified  for  the  Free- 
thought  work  ;  is  eloquent,  scholarly,  logical ;  is  ready  for 
any  hardship ;  has  plenty  of  grit,  with  the  refined  and 
elevated  genius  of  woman.  She  is  well  informed  on  sub- 
jects pertaining  to  science  and  reform,  and  is  in  thorough 
sympathy  with  those  who  suffer  and  toil  because  of  igno-v 
ance  and  superstition. 

Lilian  Leland. 
Lilian  Leland  (Mrs.  R.  L.  Andrews),  the  daughter  of 
Theron  C.  Leland   and  Marv  A.  Leland,  was  born  in  the 


758  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

city  of  New  York,  October  16,  1857.  She  is  a  distinct 
product  of  Freethougbt,  the  living  example  of  four  hun- 
dred years  of  progress  towiird  intellectual  liberty.  As 
a  Liberal  writer  she  has  become  widely  known  through 
the  theory  of  her  experiences  and  observations  while  travel- 
ing alone  around  the  world.  At  the  age  of  twenty- five 
she  started  alone  upon  a  journey  which,  commencing  with 
a  voyage  around  Cape  Horn,  lasted  for  nearly  two  years, 
and  during  which  she  traveled  nearly  sixty  thousand  miles, 
without  any  companion  except  such  chance  acquaintances 
as  she  met  upon  the  way.  With  the  exception  of  Ida 
Pfeiffer  there  is  no  record  of  any  other  woman  having 
traveled  so  far  alone.  Her  book  descriptive  of  that  jour- 
ney, compiled  from  the  letters  she  wrote  on  the  way,  is 
written  in  a  delightfully  free  and  unconventional  style, 
wholly  unlike  the  ordinary  books  of  travel,  which  dis- 
closes the  operations  of  a  mind  that  was  never  clouded 
by  superstition  or  distorted  by  bigotry.  An  enjoyable 
and  distinguishing  feature  of  the  book  is  that  the  writer 
cares  nothing  for  dates,  distances,  or  dimensions.  She 
climbs  the  Himalaya  mountains  without  a  thought  of  the 
altitude  of  their  highest  peaks,  and  views  the  Pyramids 
unconscious  of  the  sum  of  their  cubic  contents.  She 
gives  her  experiences  and  impressions  witli  a  freedom  of 
thought  and  of  diction  that  denotes  her  origin. 

Her  father,  the  late  Theron  C.  Leland,  was  a  life-long 
worker  in  the  Liberal  cause,  a  popular  lecturer  and  writer, 
and  for  many  years  secretary  of  the  Liberal  League.  Her 
mother,  Mary  A.  Leland,  was  a  woman  of  noble  mind  and 
of  rare  poetic  nature,  whose  beautiful  thoughts  and  wise 
teachings  upon  the  philosophy  of  life,  could  they  have 
been  published,  would  have  given  her  the  highest  rank 
among  the  noble  women  who  have  adorned  the  literature 
of  Liberal  thought.  She  was  among  the  iirst  women  who 
studied  medicine  in  this  country,  and  was  a  lecturer  on. 
anatomy  as  early  as  1852. 


LILIAN  LBLAND.  759 

Lilian  Leland,  the  daughter  of  these  parents,  never 
heard  a  prayer  until  she  was  six  years  old,  when  a  good 
religious  woman  undertook  to  teach  her  and  her  sister  to 
say:  '"Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep."  To  the  horror  of 
the  pious  woman  these  unregenerate  little  children  took 
the  evening  prayer  as  a  new  kind  of  game,  like  "  What 
are  you  going  to  give  the  old  bachelor  to  keep  house  with?" 
with  which  their  mother  was  accustomed  to  beguile  tliem 
before  finally  bidding  them  good-night ;  and  they  re- 
peated it  with  emendations  and  witty  variations  and  child- 
ish comment  and  criticism,  until  the  good  woman  was 
heartily  glad  when  they  abandoned  it  for  some  newer  fairy 
tale.  Lilian  was  permitted  to  go  to  church  and  Sunday- 
school  when  she  chose,  where  she  conducted  herself  with 
the  considerate  decorum  that  distinguished  her  in  later 
years  when  she  visited  the  temples  of  Brahma  and  Mo- 
hammed, but  neither  sermon,  Sunday-school  lesson,  nor 
prayer  made  any  impression  on  her  free,  untrammeled 
mind,  other  tlian  a  story  told  to  amuse  her,  to  which  she  lis- 
tened with  smiling  patience.  Her  father  was  an  excellent 
teacher,  and  was  the  first  phonographic  reporter  in  this 
country,  having  learned  phonography  from  Stephen  Pearl 
Andrews,  who  introduced  it  here,  and  whose  son  Lilian 
Leland  married.  From  her  father  she  received  her  early 
education.  He  taught  her  first  to  write  phonography, 
and  the  success  of  his  phonetic  plan  of  teaching  was 
shown  by  the  fact  that  she  learned  to  read  in  six  weeks 
and  became  the  model  reader  of  a  city  school  she  attended 
for  a  short  while.  Her  child-life  was  passed  mostly  in 
the  country  near  New  York,  where,  while  quite  young,  she 
read  Shakspere  and  Thomas  Hood,  and  became  a  good 
chess  player.  It  was  from  reading  the  "Merchant  of 
Venice,"  and  a  book  on  the  Indian  Archipelago,  entitled 
the  "  Prision  of  Wellevreden,"  that  she  was  first  inspired 
■with  a  desire  to  travel.  To  see  Java  and  Venice  was  her 
first  dream  of  a  foreisrn  world.     At  school  she  was  the 


760  FOUR    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

favorite  of  teacher  and  pupil  alike,  and  took  the  first 
prize,  exhibiting  then  those  qualities  that  afterward  en- 
abled lier  to  go  alone  from  land  to  land,  and  from  sea  to 
sea,  without  diffiealtj  or  inconvenience,  being  treated 
everywhere  witli  kindness  and  consideration.  Although 
so  fragile  and  petite  as  to  have  almost  the  appearance  of 
a  child,  she  is  endowed  with  an  unusual  degree  of  nervous 
energy.  Alwa^^s  pleasant  and  cheerful  in  appearance,  and 
never,  under  any  circumstances,  uttering  a  complaint,  she 
is,  at  the  same  time,  possessed  of  a  quiet  determination 
that  carries  her  smilingly  and  safely  over  all  difficulties. 

Lilian  Leland  is  still  a  young  woman,  and  there  is 
little  doubt  that,  with  her  mental  equipment  and  literary 
ability,  she  will  be  able  to  still  further  enrich  the  field  of 
Liberal  literature. 

T.  C.  Leland. 

Born  in  a  log-cabin,  amid  the  howling  wolves  and  woods 
of  Cattaraugus  county,  N.  Y..  April  9,  1821,  the  first  child 
of  James  Leland  and  Diana  Chapman  was  Theron  Cliap- 
man  Leland.  A  bulky  volume  entitled  the  "  Leland  Mag- 
azine "  shows  that  he  came  from  a  line  of  nine  Puritan 
grandfathers  on  the  Leland  side  and  nearly  as  many  of 
the  Chapmans.  Boyliood  with  him  was  as  it  has  been 
with  the  most  of  us  who  stepped  out  of  the  cradle  onto 
a  farm.  The  rudiments  of  knowledge  came  to  young 
Leland  without  conscious  search  on  his  part,  as  in  his 
biogi-apliv  he  informs  us  that  he  does  not  remember  when 
he  learned  to  read.  At  eighteen,  he  entered  the  Wesleyan 
Seminary  at  Lima,  N.  Y.,  being  graduated  with  the  highest 
lionors.  While  afterwards  teaching  school  he  accidentally 
came  across  a  series  of  articles  in  the  New  York  "  Tribune  " 
by  Albert  Brisbane,  descriptive  of  the  "  Social  Science  "  of 
Fourier.  He  foiind  that  such  men  as  Horace  Greeley, 
William  Ellery  Clianning,  Charles  A.  Dana,  George  Rip- 
lev,  and  Parke  Godwin — names  well  known  to  literature — 


T.  0.  LELAND.  761 

were  engaged  in  popularizing  Fourierism,  and  lie  became 
a  convert  to  that  form  of  Socialism.  After  a  year  spent  in 
study  of  the  subject,  he  began  lecturing  upon  it  in  the 
region  round  about  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Avhich  was  char- 
acterized as  the  "  Volcanic  District."  While  lecturing  he 
became  acquainted  with  A.  F.  Boyle,  the  partner  of  Stephen 
Pearl  Andrews  in  the  teaching  of  phonography.  Leland 
picked  up  the  science  at  once  and  took  to  expounding  it. 
Like  other  innovations,  phonography  was  denounced  as  a 
humbug.  At  one  of  his  lectures  an  auditor  arose  and  made 
a  speech  of  considerable  length  against  it.  Meanwhile 
Leland  took  notes  of  his  remarks  and  immediately  read 
them  to  the  audience.  The  test  gained  him  many  pupils. 
Among  those  to  whom  he  taught  the  art  was  the  daughter 
of  President  Millard  Fillmore.  He  also  taught  Edward 
F.  Underhill,  now  of  the  New  York  Surrogate  Court, 
Theodore  Tiltou,  and  Ethan  Allen.  He  reported  Daniel 
Webster,  Pufus  Choate,  and  others  in  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court.  When  Kossuth,  the  great  Hungarian 
statesman  and  refugee,  visited  America  in  1851,  Leland 
attended  his  receptions,  taking  notes  for  the  New  York 
"Tribune"  and  "Courier  and  Enquirer."  Li  1853  he 
reported  the  first  national  woman's  rights  convention  at 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  at  which  William  Lloyd  Garrison  was 
present.  In  1862  he  was  government  stenographer  in  the 
New  York  custom  house,  and  afterwards  appointment 
clerk,  both  positions  of  great  responsibility.  A  list  of  his 
engagements  as  stenographer  shows  that  he  stood  almost 
above  and  beyond  the  head  of  his  profession. 

At  the  fourth  annual  congress  of  the  National  Liberal 
League,  held  in  1880,  he  was  elected  secretary  and  retained 
the  position  for  three  years  under  the  presidency  of  Elizur 
Wright  and  Thaddeus  B.  Wakeman.  In  the  rupture  which 
occurred  in  the  League  over  the  Comstock  postal  laws,  he 
took  the  side  of  justice,  supporting  D.  M.  Bennett,  and 
doing  tremendously  effective  work  with  his  pen  in  the  way 


762  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

of  eulighteuiug  the  people  upon  the  merits  of  the  question 
at  issue.  He  was  a  total  disbeliever  in  Christianity,  and 
was  in  sympathy  with  scientific  Materialism.  With  Wake- 
man  he  conducted  the  League  organ,  "  Man,"  devoting  all 
his  day-time  to  that  and  the  secretaryship,  and  support- 
ing himself  by  teaching  evening  schools  of  shorthand. 
Leland  was  a  wonderfully  bright  and  witty  man,  of  buoyant 
spirits  and  with  a  sense  of  humor  that  sometimes  seemed 
almost  to  incapacitate  him  for  serious  consideration  of 
any  subject.  He  was,  nevertheless,  a  man  of  deep  con- 
victions, and  thoroughly  devoted  to  whatever  cause  he 
espoused.  His  life-partner  since  1854  was  Mary  A. 
Leland,  a  woman  of  no  small  literary  capacity,  and  a 
natural  poet.  Two  sons  survive  him,  Fred  and  Theron, 
and  two  daughters,  Rachel  (Lilian  Leland)  and  Grace,  the 
wife  of  Geore  E.  Macdonald.  He  died  June  3,  1885,  and 
at  his  death  it  seemed  to  his  friends,  as  his  funeral 
eulogist,  T.  B.  Wakeman,  said,  as  though  the  graceful  and 
the  beautiful  had  fallen  away  from  their  sight  forever. 

James  Lick. 

James  Lick  was  born  Aug.  25,  1796,  at  Fredericksburg, 
Penn.  His  grandfather  was  from  Germany,  and  lived  to 
the  advanced  age  of  104  years,  having  served  in  the  war  for 
American  Independence.  James  Lick  obtained  only  an 
ordinary  education.  In  1820  he  went  to  New  Toi-k, 
started  in  business,  and  failed.  After  this  lie  went  to 
Buenos  Ayres,  where  he  applied  himself  for  ten  years  to 
piano-making,  when  he  returned  to  the  United  States  with 
ten  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  hides  and  other  merchan- 
dise. He  afterwards  went  to  Peru  and  remained  there 
eleven  years,  engaged  in  manufacturing  and  selling  pianos. 
In  18-47  he  closed  out  his  business,  and  sailed  for  San 
Francisco,  which  at  that  time  contained  only  one  thou- 
sand inliabitants.  It  had  up  to  this  time  been  called 
Yerba  Buena.     It  was  becoming  a  valuable  seaport.     Also 


R.   A.   HARDEE  (p.   749). 


JAMES  LICK.  763 

with  the  gold  discovery  thousands  came  rushing  and 
flocking  to  the  mines.  Mr.  Lick  saw  that  San  Francisco 
was  destined  to  be  an  important  city.  He  invested  all  his 
money  in  land.  Among  his  enterprises  was  the  building 
of  a  fine  flour-mill  near  San  Jose.  The  wood  work  was  of 
mahogany.  It  cost  $200,000.  It  was  called  "Lick's 
Folly,"  but  it  turned  out  the  finest  flour  in  California,  and 
Lick's  brand  was  considered  the  best.  He  also  erected  a 
splendid  hotel  in  San  Francisco  called  the  "Lick  House." 
It  covers  nearly  an  entire  square.  Its  dining-room  is 
famous  for  its  floor,  composed  of  many  thousand  pieces  of 
inlaid  wood  and  polished  like  a  table.  To  the  Pioneer 
Society  of  San  Francisco  he  donated  the  valuable  ground 
upon  which  their  hall  is  erected.  He  also  donated  prop- 
erty to  the  California  Academy  of  Science.  In  1872  he 
gave  his  mill  property  at  San  Jose  to  the  trustees  of 
the  Paine  Memorial  Hall.  He  made  many  other  gifts — 
for  public  baths,  etc.  His  crowning  gift  is  the  Lick 
Observatory,  built  on  Mount  Hamilton,  near  San  Jose,  a 
grand  monument  of  human  genius.  The  name  of  James 
Lick,  the  Freethinker,  is  written  with  the  stars.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  the  advance  which 
has  been  made  in  the  building  of  great  telescopes.  Says 
a  recent  writer  :  "  When  the  two  fifteen-inch  telescopes 
were  made  in  1846,  one  for  Russia  and  the  other  for 
Harvard,  they  were  considered  monsters,  and  most  astron- 
omers thought  the  limit  in  size  had  been  reached.  Then 
came  an  interval  of  fifteen  years  with  no  increase  in  size, 
when  in  1860  the  order  was  given  for  an  eighteen  and 
one-half-inch  telescope  now  at  the  Dearborn  Observatory 
in  Evanston.  Some  ten  years  afterwards,  Mr.  Newall,  of 
Gateshead,  England,  built  a  twentj-five-inch  telescope, 
now  at  Cjimbridge,  followed  in  1873  by  the  twenty-six-inch 
for  the  National  Observatory  at  Washington,  and  one  of 
like  size  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  About  1880  the 
thirty-inch  glass  was  ground  and  figured  for  the  Imperial 


764  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

Observatory  of  Russia  at  Pulkowa ;  then  came  the  thirty- 
six.-inch  Lick  telescope,  about  seven  years  later ;  and  now 
Mr.  Clark  has  well  under  way  the  largest  lenses  ever  con- 
structed, of  forty  inches  diameter,  for  the  University  of 
Ohinago.  Such  prodigious  instruments  are  needed  to 
make  original  discoveries,  and  in  research  bearing  upon 
the  constitution  of  the  stars  they  are  vastly  superior  to 
smaller  ones."  After  making  these  noble  bequests,  which 
will  contribute  so  much  to  human  progress,  Mr.  Lick 
died,  Oct.  1,  1876. 

J.    H,    LlENING. 

John  H.  Liening  was  born  in  Germany,  Jan.  8,  1818. 
His  great-grandfather  was  a  soldier  in  the  Thirty  Years' 
war.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  young  Liening  emigrated  to 
the  United  States.  He  lauded  at  Baltimore,  and  started 
on  foot  across  the  Alleghany  mountains  for  Pittsburg, 
going  by  canal  boat  to  Ciucinnati.  In  1834  he  went 
to  Mobile,  and  in  1836  to  Florida,  and  enlisted  for  the 
Seminole  war.  In  1838  he  married,  and  after  living  in  the 
South  several  years  he  voyaged  to  California  "  around 
the  Horn"  in  1849.  He  located  at  Colusa  in  1851.  When 
the  war  broke  out  he  enlisted  as  private  in  Company  D, 
First  Cavalry  California  Volunteers,  and  proceeded  to 
Arizona,  New  Mexico,  and  Texas.  He  served  till  1863, 
when  he  was  promoted  to  second  lieutenant  and  returned 
to  California  as  recruiting  officer.  Since  the  war  he  has 
held  several  public  positions,  that  of  public  administrator 
and  justice  of  the  peace,  and  is  at  present  town  reconler. 

Though  born  and  educated  a  Catholic,  Mr.  Liening  be- 
came an  Atlieist.  After  a  while,  however,  he  was  con- 
vinced that  Spiritualism  is  true  ;  and  he  is  still  firm  in 
that  belief.  At  this  time  Mr.  Liening  is  seventy-six  years 
of  age,  is  able  to  perform  every  duty,  and  is  a  clear- 
lieaded  Freetliinker,  and  a  worker  in  the  cause. 


E.  M.  MACDONALD.  7tJ5 

E.  M.  Macdonald. 

Eugene  Montague  Macdonald,  editor  of  the  New  York 
"  Truth  Seeker,"  is  a  product  of  the  state  of  Maine,  hav- 
ing been  born  at  Chelsea,  Kennebec  county,  February  4, 
1855.  His  father,  Henry  Macdonald,  was  of  Scotch  parent- 
age, a  man  of  good  qualities,  an  excellent  mechanic,  but 
unknown  to  letters.  He  was  a  soldier  in  Co.  E,  6th  New 
Hampshire  Volunteers,  and  fell  at  the  second  battle  of 
Bull  Run,  August,  1862.  Asenath  Chase  Macdonald,  the 
mother  of  Eugene,  is  a  woman  of  keen  intellect  and  of 
uncommonly  strong  mind.  Having  herself  investigated 
the  claims  of  the  Christian  religion  and  found  in  them  no 
basis  of  belief,  it  was  quite  natural  that  her  sou  should 
follow  in  her  footsteps.  Eugene  spent  his  boj^hood  in 
New  Hampshire  with  an  uncle  to  whose  not  over-tender 
care  his  mother  consigned  him  in  her  widowhood  while 
she  went  out  into  the  world  to  earn  her  own  living  and 
the  cost  of  maintaining  her  boys.  Eugene's  education 
was  acquired  mainly  at  winter  terms  of  school,  to  attend 
which  he  Lad  a  morning  and  evening  walk  of  two  or  three 
miles.  But  learning  came  easily,  and  without  over-taxing 
his  youthful  brain  he  got  possession  of  what  information 
the  local  school-marms  had  to  impart.  At  the  age  of 
fourteen,  after  having  "worked  out"  for  two  5'ears  on 
neighboring  farms,  he  came  to  New  York  and  began  to 
learn  the  printer's  trade.  Becoming  homesick  in  the 
great  city,  he  returned  to  New  Hampshire  in  ]870  and  ob- 
tained emplo^^ment  in  the  office  of  the  "  Cheshire  Repub- 
lican," published  in  Keene.  Later  he  was  employed  on 
the  "  Sentinel,"  in  the  same  city,  and  became  an  expert 
"jobber."  At  eighteen  he  came  again  to  New  York,  and 
when  D.  M.  Bennett  reached  tliis  city  seeking  a  printer 
for  the  lifth  issue  of  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  he  was  guided 
by  mutual  acquaintances  to  the  young  man's  office.  Terms 
were  arranged  and  the  paper  was  printed  from  Eugene's 


7GG  FOUR   HUNDRED    YEARS   0¥   illEETHOUGHT. 

tj'pe.  Beuuett  soou  saw  there  was  an  advautuge  in  owning 
a  printing-office  liimself,  and,  purchasing  an  outfit,  he 
installed  Eugene  as  foreman,  which  position  the  latter 
held  until  called  to  the  editorial  chair  some  eight  years 
later.  He  was  probably  the  most  boyish  if  not  the 
youngest  foreman  in  the  city.  He  was  not  quite  so  pre- 
cocious as  a  writer,  for  it  was  not  until  1876  that  he  sub- 
mitted anything  for  print,  though  a  fragment  of  an 
attempted  romance,  and  even  an  essa}"  at  verse,  might  have 
been  found  among  his  papers.  His  first  effort  in  a  polem- 
ical way  was  published  in  the  Boston  "  Investigator,'' 
signed  by  his  full  name  as  it  appears  in  the  first  line  of 
this  sketch.  From  that  time  onward  Bennett  regarded 
Eugene's  shoulders  as  the  proper  resting-place  for  his 
mantle  when  it  should  drop  from  his  own  ;  and  in  this  he 
was  not  disappointed,  for  he  lived  to  see  "  The  Truth 
Seeker  "  pass  under  the  management  of  his  successor,  and 
pronounced  the  work  well  done.  At  Mr.  Bennett's  death 
applicants  for  the  editorial  and  business  control  of  the 
paper  Avere  not  lacking.  Indeed  their  number  was  so 
large  that  Mrs.  Bennett  concluded  to  throw  upon  others 
the  burden  of  meeting  them,  and  so  disposed  of  her  in- 
terest in  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  which  was  purchased  by 
Macdonald  and  two  others  forming  the  Truth  Seeker 
Company.  This  was  in  1883.  The  literary  ability  of  the 
combination  was  centered  in  the  editor,  who  retained  his 
place,  and  before  many  years  had  passed,  the  discovery 
was  made  as  between  him  and  the  man  appointed  to  attend 
to  the  publishing  of  the  paper,  that  much  of  the  business 
sagacity  also  resided  there. 

The  paper  passed  through  troublous  times  fiijan- 
cially,  although  it  did  not  cease  to  grow  in  favor  with  the 
Liberals  of  the  country.  Macdonald  was  a  discreet  editor, 
and,  while  endeavoring  to  improve  the  paper,  still  retained 
those  features  introduced  by  Bennett  which  had  con- 
tributed to  its  success.     Perhaps  no  one  so  much  as  the 


G.  E.  MACDONALD.  767 

editor  of  a  Freetliouglit  journal  is  subject  to  the  tempta- 
tion to  veer  from  tlie  straiglit  course  in  which  he  has  set 
out,  and  this  for  the  reason  that  his  constituents,  being 
reformers,  are  liable  to  be  caught  in  the  eddies  of  the 
stream  and  whirled  away ;  and  naturally  they  are  desirous 
that  the  editor  should  follow  them.  Macdonald  has  not 
done  so.  Without  assailing  any  of  the  so-called  reforms 
which  have  sprung  up  within  the  past  decade,  he  has  skill- 
fully steered  between  them,  and  to-day,  looking  back  over 
his  course,  he  can  see  that  the  places  which  once  knew 
them  now  knows  them  no  more,  and  probably  will  not 
forever.  Meanwhile  the  good  ship  goes  upon  her  way 
with  her  judicious  captain  still  on  deck.  Macdonald  is 
the  owner  of  "  The  Truth  Seeker "  and  the  publishing 
house  attached.  As  a  writer,  his  style  is  direct  and  vig- 
orous, with  an  occasional  touch  of  ornamentation.  As  a 
man,  his  conduct  is  marked  by  an  unswerving  allegiance 
to  his  word,  to  his  friends,  and — to  business.  Outside  the 
enjoyments  of  home,  he  apparently  has  no  object  in  life 
but  to  further  the  cause  of  Freethought  through  the 
wider  dissemination  of  Liberal  literature,  although,  being 
an  amateur  yachtsman  of  some  merit  and  enthusiasm,  he 
likes  the  society  to  be  found  in  the  Knickerboker  Yacht 
Club,  of  which  he  has  for  3'ears  been  a  member  and  an 
officer. 

G.  E.  Macdonald. 

George  Everett  Macdonald,  the  whilom  editor  of  and 
partner  with  the  author  of  this  book  in  the  San  Francisco 
"  Freethought,"  was  born  in  Maine,  April  11,  1857.  As  an 
infant  he  was  pudgy  ;  as  an  urchin  fat,  freckle-faced,  and 
tow-headed,  the  first  of  which  qualities  he  has  not  entirely 
outgrown.  When  his  parents  moved  from  Maine  to 
Keene,  N.  H.,  they  took  him  with  them.  After  the  death 
of  his  paternal  parent,  his  mother  left  him  with  an  uncle, 
who  had  proved  in  himself  the  wisdom  of  the  poet  who 
sang : 


768  FOUR  IIUNDRKD   YEARS  OF  FKIiKTHOUaHT. 

"He  who  fights  and  riius  away 
May  live  to  fight  another  day." 

This  uncle,  who  had  been  to  tiie  war  and  returned  in- 
valided, forced  his  nephews  to  do  much  of  the  work  upon 
a  sterile  farm  in  New  England,  and  permitted  them  to 
pick  up  an  education  by  walking  two  or  three  miles  to 
school  and  back  each  day  for  three  months  in  the  winter. 
Intellectually  acquisitive  by  nature,  George  did  well,  and 
became  forehanded  in  thoughts.  Leaving  the  uncle's 
farm,  he  "  w^orked  around,"  always  stipulating  with  his 
employers  that  he  should  have  several  months'  schooling 
each  year,  so  that  when  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age  he 
had  acquired  more  book  knowledge  than  most  boys  of 
twenty.  Three  years  later  his  brother  induced  him  to 
locate  in  New  York  and  learn  the  printing  trade  in  "  The 
Truth  Seeker "  office.  Entering  the  office  as  "  devil,"  a 
few  rears  took  him  through  the  grades  of  proofreader  and 
foreman,  and  when  his  brother  had  to  manage  the  afi'airs 
of  "  The  Truth  Seeker "  because  Mr.  Bennett  was  incar- 
cerated in  the  penitentiary,  or  on  a  trip  to  Europe  or 
around  the  world,  George  conducted  the  mechanical  part 
with  extraordinary  skill.  Everybody  who  works  in  a 
Freethought  paper  office  is  sooner  or  later  ambitious  to 
figure  as  a  writer.  Ideas  are  so  plentiful  that  they  think 
they  must  juggle  with  them.  George  Macdonald  was  no 
exception,  and  he  earl}^  blossomed  forth.  But  the  most 
pretentious  of  his  early  efforts  was  a  lecture  delivered 
before  the  Fourth  New  York  Libf^ral  League  at  its  twelfth 
bi-weekly  meeting,  March  9,  1879,  the  title  of  which  was 
"New  England  and  the  People  Up  There."  He  called  it 
An  Essay.  It  shadowed  forth  the  qualities  which  have 
since  made  his  writings  famous — a  quaint  humor,  good- 
natured  and  sensible.  The  Essay  was  his  experience  as 
a  boy  on  New  England  farms,  with  close-fisted  deacons 
as  proprietors.  Mr.  Bennett  made  a  little  book  of  it,  and 
the  edition  was  long  since  exhausted. 


N.   F.   GHJ;?\VOLL)  (p    747) 


G.  E.  MACDONALD.  769 

While  attending  to  his  duties  in  "  The  Truth  Seeker  " 
office,  George  found  time  also  to  attend  the  meetings  of 
the  Manhattan  Liberal  Club,  and  his  descriptions  of  the 
meetings  of  that  body  are  better  reading  than  Dickens's 
record  of  the  transactions  of  the  Pickwick  Club,  and  vastly 
more  entertaining  than  the  reality.  From  these  reports, 
regularly  printed  in  "The  Truth  Seeker,"  and  subse- 
quently from  his  "  Observations "  in  the  San  Francisco 
"  Freethought,"  his  fame  as  a  humorous  writer  of  sound 
sense  spread  over  the  country,  and  there  is  to-day  perhaps 
uo  other  writer  for  Freethought  papers  so  universally  loved 
by  his  readers  as  George  Macdonald.  His  humor  is  a 
combin;ition  of  the  Mark  Twain  and  Bill  Nye  style,  with  a 
genialty  all  his  own.  A  naturally  happy  disposition,  with 
keen  powers  of  observation,  great  capacity  for  reflection, 
and  an  unfailing  eye  for  the  ludicrous  as  well  as  for  dis- 
cerning the  hypocritical,  make  him  a  philosopher  and 
critic  of  considerable  wisdom.  And  the  facility  with 
which  he  handles  the  English  language  gives  him  pre- 
eminence as  a  newspaper  writer  on  serious  matters  as  well 
as  on  subjects  which  are  best  treated  lightly. 

In  1877,  Avitli  the  author  of  this  book,  he  went  to  San 
Francisco  and  established  "  Freethought,"  a  journal  which 
speedily  won  its  way  to  the  hearts  of  a  few  thousand 
readers,  and  did  a  great  work  in  Liberalizing  the  Pacific 
Coast.  Unfortunately,  it  never  secured  sufficient  sub- 
scribers to  make  it  financially  successful,  and  after  four 
years  it  was  obliged  to  suspend.  Keceiving  an  offer  from 
the  proprietor  of  the  Snohomish,  Wash.,  "  Eye,"  George 
made  his  home  for  some  years  in  that  town,  editing  the 
"Eye"  and  doing  a  printer's  work.  In  Snohomish  he 
acquired  the  title  of  Captain,  holding  that  office  in  the 
Sons  of  Veterans,  a  Grand  Army  organiza^^ion.  As  a  Pop- 
ulist editor  also  he  was  very  popular,  and  probably  no  one 
has  left  the  Coast  with  more  good  wishes  than  he.  The 
Sons  of  Veterans  gave  him  a  farewell  reception  and  pre- 


770  FOUR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

sented  him  with  the  sword  he  had  worn  as  captain,  and 
the  press  of  the  coast,  notwithstanding  his  heretical  prin- 
ciples, gave  him  great  praise  as  an  upright  and  fearless 
editor  wliose  absence  from  the  state  would  be  the  state's 
loss.  In  1893  he  wandered  back  into  "  The  Truth  Seeker" 
office  and  took  hold  where  he  left  off  a  few  years  before 
poorer  in  purse  but  richer  in  experience.  He  loves  the 
wild  and  woolly  West  with  much  love,  but  is  willing  to 
maintain  that  in  some  substantial  regards  the  East  is  not 
yet  wholly  effete.  His  "  Observations  "  have  been  trans- 
ferred to  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  and  he  is  now  doing,  as  he 
has  always  done,  what  he  can  to  drive  superstition  from 
the  minds  of  the  people,  whether  that  superstition  be  con- 
cerning gods  or  gold.  Whatever  he  does  is  done  as  only 
he  can  do  it,  happily  and  strongly,  and  it  can  be  recorded 
of  him  that  while  he  has  thousands  of  friends,  he  has  not 
an  enemy  in  the  world. 

J.  J.  McCabe. 

J.  J.  McCabe  was  born  in  the  town  of  Argyle,  N.  T., 
Oct.  1,  1839,  of  Irish  parents,  who  moved  to  Albany  be- 
fore he  was  a  year  old,  and  he  has  resided  there  ever 
since.  He  was  sent  first  to  a  parochial  school,  and  after- 
ward to  a  public  school.  He  also  attended  night-school, 
and  took  class  and  private  lessons  in  music,  dancing,  elo- 
cution, astronomy,  etc.  He  imbibed  a  taste  for  literature 
from  a  classical  scholar  named  Hugh  McNally,  who  was 
employed  by  Treadwell  &  Co.,  the  renowned  seal  dyers. 
Young  McCabe  went  to  work  for  this  firm  while  yet  in 
his  teens  to  help  his  father  support  a  large  family.  In 
1864  he  married  Emma  J.  Donovan,  eldest  daughter  of 
Ca])t.  M.  H.  Donovan,  of  the  18th  New  York  regiment. 
Mr.  McCabe  at  this  time  was  an  uncompromising  Catholic, 
and  a  member  of  nearly  every  society  connected  with  the 
churcli  The  beginning  of  his  skepticism  dates  from 
1870.     The  declaration  of  the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility 


WM.    M'DONNELL  771 

was  the  first  cause  of  a  change  in  his  views.  In  1877  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Albany  Liberal  Association  and 
an  outspoken  Freethinker.  He  has  always  been  active  in 
politics,  being  a  ready  speaker  and  a  good  organizer.  He 
has  written  articles  for  all  the  Albany  newspapers ;  also 
for  such  Liberal  publications  as  "The  Truth  Seeker," 
"  Investigator,"  and  "  Freethinkers'  Magazine."  With  the 
assistance  of  Messrs.  Schell,  McDonough,  and  Jansen,  he 
conducted  a  newspaper  and  rostrum  controversy  with 
some  of  Albany's  ablest  theologians  in  the  fall  of  1885. 
He  has  published  quite  a  number  of  pamphlets,  among 
them  "Science  vs.  Theology,"  "The  Church,"  "Nature 
and  Artifice,"  "Revelation  and  Inspiration,"  "Progress 
of  Unbelief,"  "  The  Attitude  of  the  Pope  toward  Liberal 
Institutions;"  three  Paine  anniversary  addresses; 
"Apostles  of  Freethought,"  "Prison  Reform,"  etc.  He 
is  president  of  the  Albany  Liberal  Association,  life  mem- 
ber of  the  Albany  Young  Men's  Association  and  Albany 
Press  Club,  and  corresponding  secretary  of  the  New  York 
State  Freethinkers'  Association.  He  is  a  subscriber  for 
most  of  the  Liberal  papers,  and  has  a  choice  library  of 
one  thousand  volumes.  Mr.  McCabe  is  also  an  author  of 
music  and  poetry.  He  is  a  versatile  and  vigorous  writer 
on  literary,  political,  historical,  and  scientific  subjects. 
The  Liberals  of  Albany  and  Troy  have  on  more  than  one 
occasion  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  Mr.  McCabe  by  using 
his  summer  residence  and  the  grounds  attached  for  picnic 
purposes.  So  far  as  business  permits  he  devotes  his  time 
and  energies  to  the  cause  he  loves  so  well. 

Wm.  McDonnell. 

The  author  of  "  Exeter  Hall "  and  "  Heathens  of  the 
Heath  "  first  saw  the  light  in  the  city  of  Cork,  Ireland, 
more  than  sixty  years  ago.  His  parents  designed  their 
son  for  the  church,  and  sent  him  to  a  classical  school. 
He  also  became  proficient  in  the   Spanish  language.     In 


772  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OP"  FREKTHOUGHT. 

the  year  1839  liis  father  and  three  children  arrived  in 
Canada — the  mother  having  recently  died.  Two  years 
later  the  father  died,  leaving  young  McDonnell  in  an 
almost  penniless  condition.  He  resolved  at  once  to  strike 
out  for  himself.  He  soon  made  friends  and  obtained  a 
position  in  the  ]30st-office  at  Peterboro.  He  resided  in 
Peterboro  eight  years,  when  he  was  induced  to  try  his 
fortune  in  the  young  village  of  Lindsay  on  the  banks  of 
Scugog  river,  in  the  depths  of  the  forest.  He  invested 
his  means  in  manufacturing  and  mercantile  business,  and 
acquired  a  comfortable  competence.  He  was  appointed 
magistrate,  and  also  elected  mayor  of  Lindsay.  He  was  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Protestant  church  and  chair- 
man of  the  Bible  society.  By  a  course  of  close  reading  and 
thinking  he  gradually  lost  faith  in  myths  and  supersti- 
tions. "  Exeter  Hall  "  was  published  about  1870.  Several 
thousand  copies  have  been  sold.  Besides  being  a  pleasing 
romance,  it  has  an  array  of  facts  and  authorities  on  theo- 
logical subjects  which  is  quite  valuable.  "The  Heathens 
of  the  Heath  "  is  rich  in  romantic  incident,  and  exhibits  in  a 
convincing  manner  the  terrible  atrocities  which  the  church 
has  committed.  Mr.  McDonnell  is  at  present  residing  at 
Lindsay  in  hale  old  age. 

George  Martin. 

George  Martin,  of  Montreal,  is  worthy  to  be  enrolled 
in  these  pages.  He  has  been  a  life-long  Liberal,  and  has 
contributed  some  of  the  brightest  poems  to  the  literature 
of  progress  and  humanity. 

J,  P.  Mendum. 

Josiuh  P.  Mendum  was  born  at  Kennebunk,  Maine, 
Jnly  7, 1811.  He  succeeded  Kneeland  as  proprietor  of  the 
Boston  "Investigator."  By  persistent  energy,  upright 
conduct,  and  judicious  management,  Mr.  Mendum  brought 
the  "Investigator"  to  the  proud  position  it  now  occupies. 


J.  p.  MENDUM.  773 

He  piiblisliecl  and  sold  thousands  of  volumes  of  Yol- 
taire,  D'Holbacli,  Paine,  Eobert  Taylor,  Volney,  Cooper, 
and  other  Freethought  writers.  It  is  not  eas}-  to  estimate 
the  aid  he  lias  thus  rendered  to  the  search  for  truth. 

On  April  13,  1872,  he  lost  his  wife  Elizabeth.  She  was 
a  careful  mother,  a  devoted  wife,  and  a  most  excellent 
woman.  Appropriate  remarks  were  made  at  her  funeral 
by  Horace  Seaver  and  "Wendell  Phillips.  About  1870  he 
began  to  agitate  the  building  of  a  public  hall  to  commem- 
orate the  memory  of  Thomas  Paine.  Donations  began  to 
be  made  for  this  purpose  by  people  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  In  May,  1874,  a  lot  was  purchased  on  Appleton 
street,  and  in  the  course  of  the  season  a  beautiful  memo- 
rial structure  was  erected.  Mr.  Mendum  died  in  1891. 
Commemorative  services  were  held  in  Paine  Hall,  of 
which  the  Boston  "  Globe  "  of  Feb.  3d  gives  the  following 
report : 

"  '  One  whose  whole  life  was  given  to  the  cause  of  hu- 
manitv — -quiet,  modest,  and  retiring,  yet  strong,  brave, 
and  lion-hearted  in  the  cause  of  human  riglits  and 
universal  mental  liberty.'  Thus  was  the  late  Josiah  P. 
Mendum,  Freethinker,  characterized  by  William  D.  Rock- 
wood,  who  conducted  the  memorial  services  in  Paine  Hall 
yesterday  afternoon.  'I  will  say  of  Mr.  Mendum,'  Mr. 
Eockwood  declared  at  the  close  of  a  brief  address,  '  fare- 
well, brave  and  modest  man ;  your  noble,  self-denying  life 
has  honored  us,  and  we  will  honor  you ;  you  were  my 
frieml,  and  I  /ours.  Farewell.'  And  then  a  wliite-haired 
man,  J.  M.  L.  Babcock,  who  had  risen  from  a  sick  bed  to 
pay  his  tribute  to  the  memory  of  '  one  of  liberty's 
apostles,'  compared  the  strait-laced  Boston  of  sixty  years 
ago  with  the  enlightened  Hub  of  to-day,  and  lauded  the 
efforts  of  Seaver  and  Mendum  to  *  destroy  bigotrv  and 
uproot  the  evils  of  superstition.'  And  then  George  N. 
Hill  said  a  eulogy.  'When  just  six  years  ago  this  very 
Sunday,'  began  Mr.   Hill,  '  I  gave  an  address  in   memo- 


774  ^'OUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

nam  of  our  genial  brother,  John  S.  Verity,  who  had  then 
recently  passed  over  to  the  great  and  silent  majority,  little 
did  I  dream  that  in  the  short  time  that  has  since  elapsed 
uiue  more  of  the  tried  and  true,  nine  more  of  the  bravest 
and  most  devoted  of  our  Liberal  associates,  would  also  be 
numbered  with  the  dead.  Little  did  I  imagine  that  in  so 
short  an  interval  so  many  of  the  noble  men  who,  by  voice, 
or  pen,  or  money,  or  effort,  and  even  in  some  cases  by  all 
together,  had  been  doing  so  much  for  genuine  Liberalism 
in  Boston,  would  also  have  passed  from  our  loving  gaze 
through  the  work  of  the  reaper  death.  And  when  a  few 
months  after  Brother  Verity's  burial,  that  good  old  Nestor 
of  Liberalism,  that  valiant  and  untiring  champion  of  the 
liberty  of  man  from  both  chattel  slavery  and  mental  bond- 
age, "  that  grand  old  man,"  Hon.  Elizur  Wright,  had  be- 
come deceased,  little  could  I  even  think  that  in  less  than 
five  and  a  quarter  years  eight  more  of  our  stanchest  Lib- 
eral reformers,  viz.,  James  Harris,  Wm.  Chandler,  Horace 
Seaver,  D.  E.  Mayo,  Dr.  Simeon  Palmer,  Photius  Fisk, 
Howell  Matson,  and  now,  too,  the  founder  of  this  beauti- 
ful Paine  Memorial,  Josiah  P.  Mendum,  would  all  have 
been  joined  to  the  fathers  gone  before.  But  so  it  is  ;  and 
although  shaken  with  grief  at  the  appalling  loss  to  our 
cause  and  to  ourselves,  I  yet  have  the  joy  of  knowing 
that  their  work  can  never  die,  and  the  sweet  recollection 
that  for  fifteen  years  I  had  the  high  privilege,  for  such  it 
surely  was,  of  doing  what  little  I  could  to  help  these 
noblest  of  men  in  their  grand  and  so  much  needed  work 
of  civilizing  and  enlightening  the  human  race.  O  faithful 
defenders  of  reason  !  O  glorious  upholders  of  science ! 
O  splendid  workers  for  progress !  O  gallant  band  of 
heroes  all !'  J.  F.  Foster  and  Dr.  W.  Symington  Brown 
eulogized  Mr.  Mendum.  The  former  dwelt  upon  his  indi- 
viduality, the  latter  spoke  of  his  life  as  an  object  lesson, 
to  which  be  could  appeal  in  an  argument  for  Secularism, 
Letters  from  Dr.  H.  B.  Storer  and  Parker  Pillsbury  were 


J.   HKNRr   SCHROKDi'lU  (p    sul). 


ERNEST    MENDUM. 


775 


read.  And  then  Editor  L.  K.  Washburn  made  the  closing 
address.  '  Mr.  Mendum's  life,'  he  said, '  covered  a  wonder- 
ful half  century  of  progress,  and  it  is  his  glory  that  in 
what  makes  our  age  most  glorious  he  bore  an  honorable 
jDart.  The  history  of  intellectual  freedom  in  America  can 
not  be  written  with  his  name  left  out.  Josiah  P.  Mendum 
was  a  brave,  honest,  conscientious,  hardworking,  faithful 
man.  He  did  a  great  work,  a  noble  work,  and  the  world 
is  better  for  his  life  and  labor.'  " 

Ernest  Mendum. 

Ernest  Mendum  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  August  1, 
1853,  of  Josiah  P.  and  Elizabeth  Mendum.  He  was  the 
fourth  child  and  only  son  of  this  worthy  couple.  He  was 
named  after  Ernestine  L.  Rose.  While  yet  young  his 
parents  moved  to  the  town  of  Melrose,  Mass.,  seven  miles 
from  Boston,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home.  When 
he  was  eighteen  years  of  age  he  had  the  misfortune  to 
lose  his  mother,  a  most  praiseworthy  and  excellent  woman, 
admired  and  loved  by  all  who  knew  her.  Such  a  loss  was 
irreparable  to  the  son,  to  whom  she  was  attached  by  the 
strongest  bonds  of  maternal  love,  sympathy,  and  similarity 
of  ideas.  Mendum  studied  at  the  Melrose  high-school, 
was  graduated,  and  entered  Harvard  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen. After  spending  one  year  at  this  renowned  and 
venerable  institution  he  left  at  the  end  of  his  freshman 
year,  to  associate  himself  with  his  father  in  the  office  of 
the  Boston  "  Investigator,"  where  he  has  since  remained, 
his  father's  confidential  adviser  and  steadfast  supporter 
throughout  the  remaining  years  of  the  latter's  arduous 
life.  It  was  owing  to  his  advice  and  encouragement  that 
the  Paine  Memorial  Corporation  was  organized  as  the 
only  means  of  saving  that  glorious  monument  to  Thomas 
Paine — the  Paine  Memorial  Building — to  the  Liberal  pub- 
lic, and  the  success  of  this  undertaking  is  due  as  much  to 
his    careful,    painstaking    consideration   as   to   any  other 


776  FOUR    HUNDRKl)    YEARS    OF    FREBTHOUGHT. 

factor.  lu  March,  1877,  he  was  united  in  marriage,  by 
L.  K.  Washburn,  to  Miss  Isabel  Crowell,  of  West  Yar- 
mouth, Mass.,  and  the  circumstances  that  surrounded  this 
union  were  the  sweetest,  the  tenderest,  the  saddest  that 
can  befall  the  lot  of  man.  Her  father  was  Capt.  Gorham 
Crowell,  of  West  Yarmouth,  an  old  subscriber  to  the 
"Investigator."  After  a  courtship  of  a  year  and  a  half 
they  were  married  at  her  father's  home  on  old  Cape  Cod. 
But  alas !  in  ten  days  the  young  bride  was  no  more.  A 
slight  cold  rapidly  developed  into  typhoid  pneumonia, 
and  the  frost  of  death  nipped  this  bud  of  joy  at  its  very 
blooming. 

Mr.  Mendum's  work  has  been  and  is  in  the  Boston 
•'  Investigator  "  office,  and  Paine  Hall,  where,  as  publisher 
and  business  manager,  his  busy  life  is  employed.  Like 
his  honored  father,  his  duties  lie  more  behind  the  scenes 
than  before  the  footlights.  He  still  finds  time,  however, 
to  speak  occasionally  before  the  Liberals  in  Paine  Hall, 
and  to  contribute  to  the  editorial  department  of  the 
paper  with  which  he  is  connected.  He  is  a  thorough 
radical,  and  brings  to  his  work  an  inspiration  born  of  a  love 
for  the  truth,  believing  that  the  great  principles  espoused 
by  the  "  Investigator "  are  sufficient  incentives  to  the 
highest  conduct.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
IngersoU  Secular  Society,  and  has  been  an  active  spirit  in 
all  the  Liberal  work  that  has  been  carried  on  in  Paine 
Hall  since  its  erection.  At  the  obsequies  of  his  friend 
and  associate,  Horace  Seaver,  he  was  a  prominent  figure, 
and  it  was  his  privilege  to  be  an  intimate  friend  and 
associate  of  this  great  Freethinker  for  the  last  twenty 
years  of  his  life. 

In  November,  1890,  Mr.  Mendum  was  again  united  in 
marriage,  to  Miss  Alice  M.  Black,  a  young  lady  well  known 
in  the  Liberal  ranks,  of  rare  and  nameless  worth,  with 
whom  he  has  since  enjoyed  a  life  of  exceptional  hap- 
piness.    Miss  Black  was  ;it   one  time   the  vocalist  of  the 


J.  R.   MONROE.  777 

IngersoU  Secular  Society.  It  was  here  Mr.  Meiidum  met 
this  beautiful  and  amiable  young  lady,  and  in  her  he  has 
fountl  a  loyal  companion.  Since  the  deatii  of  his  father, 
who  was  a  most  wise,  generous,  and  indulgent  parent, 
which  occurred  Jan.  11,  1891,  upon  Ernest  Mendum  has 
devolved  the  whole  business  management  of  the  Boston 
"  Investigator,"  and  here,  with  his  valued  friend  and 
associate,  Mr.  L.  K.  Washburn,  and  his  worthy  clerks, 
Messrs.  L.  S.  Meston  and  Ralph  W.  Ohainey,  he  may  be 
found  attending  to  the  duties  connected  with  his  position. 

J.    R    MONKOE. 

Without  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Dr.  J.  R.  Monroe,  editor 
and  founder  of  the  "  Ironclad  Age,"  any  history  of  Free- 
thought  would  be  incomplete.  It  is  known  that  his  first 
poetical  work  was  written  while  sitting  by  a  winter's  fire 
with  only  a  flickering  rushlight,  and  in  a  similar  manner 
he  prepared  himself  for  the  medical  profession — a  pro- 
fession his  name  has  honored,  having  graduated  from  the 
Louisville  School  of  Medicine  with  marked  distinction. 
When  he  settled  in  Bockford,  in  1848,  he  was  at  once 
recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  practitioners  of  that  day. 
From  this  until  1855  he  wrote  many  stories,  poems,  and 
plays,  also  furnishing  correspondence  for  the  leading 
journals  of  the  state.  Later  he  became  indignant  at  the 
national  blot — slavery — so  that  it  and  other  iniquities, 
follies,  and  frauds  received  the  chastisement  of  his  power- 
ful pen.  In  1855  he  commenced  the  publication  of  the 
"  Roekford  Herald,"  which  attained  a  wide  circulation. 
In  1857  he  removed  the  paper  to  Seymour,  changing  the 
name  to  the  "  Seymour  Times."  In  1861  Dr.  Monroe 
received  the  first  commission  issued  by  Governor  Morton 
to  any  officer  of  the  50th  Indiana,  appointing  him  regi- 
mental surgeon  of  that  command.  Owing  to  personal  and 
political  differences  of  long  standing  with  the  command- 
ing officer,    the    Doctor   resigned,    but    was   immediately 


778  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

re-commissioned  as  surgeon  of  the  49th  regiment,  joining 
that  command  at  Cumberland  Ford.  His  resignation  in 
1862,  on  account  of  sickness,  as  post  surgeon  was  reluc- 
tantly accepted  in  a  very  complimentary  letter  of  the 
department  commander,  and  he  was  sent  to  the  hospital 
at  Lexington,  J^j.  Partially  recovering,  however,  Gov- 
ernor Morton  sent  him  on  special  surgical  duty  to  Mur- 
freesboro,  on  the  occasion  of  the  battle  of  Stone  River, 
where  he  labored  with  the  wounded  until  extra  surgical 
assistance  was  no  longer  needed.  At  Perryville  he  per- 
formed similar  service.  In  the  winter  of  1863  tlie  Doctor 
had  another  attack  of  rheumatism  which  confined  him  to 
his  bed  for  weeks,  and  from  which  he  suffered  to  the  end 
of  his  life,  in  consequence  of  his  zealous  devotion  to  duty, 
humanity,  and  country.  In  1873  he  was  possessed  of 
considerable  property,  and  his  paper  and  practice  were  in 
a  prosperous  condition.  Although  the  war  had  settled 
the  question  of  physical  slavery  satisfactorily,  Dr.  Monroe 
perceived  the  mental  bonds  by  which  orthodox  theology 
had  enthralled  the  people.  To  this  warfare  he  now  con- 
secrated his  wliole  being,  sparing  neither  mind  nor  money. , 
In  March,  1882,  he  determined  to  remove  to  Indianapolis 
and  devote  his  paper,  which  he  now  renamed  the  "  Iron- 
clad Age,"  to  the  cause  of  universal  mental  libert}'.  And 
during  his  life  it  continued  to  be  a  glorious  legacy  to 
Liberalism.  From  now  on  a  noble  ambition  inspired 
him,  that  come  what  might,  he  would  do  his  utmost  to 
shatter  the  orthodox  theological  sham.  In  the  pursuit  of 
this  supreme  passion.  Dr.  Monroe  had  a  noble  pride,  feel- 
ing tliat  he  would  not  down  or  dissimulate  before  any 
humbug,  no  matter  how  ancient,  powerful,  or  revered  it 
might  be.  The  "  Ironclad  Age "  under  his  control  was 
the  most  uncompromising  foe  of  all  kinds  of  superstition. 
In  his  style  of  writing  Dr.  Monroe  combined  a  withering 
sarcasm  with  a  buoyant  though  delicate  humor,  and  all 
his  works  bear  the  stamp  of  a  peculiar  genius  and  marked 


GUSTAVE  NELSON.  779 

originality.  His  logic  was  sound,  his  arguments  unan- 
swerable. Tall  and  well  proportioned,  his  features  clear- 
cut  and  strong,  his  deep-set  blue-gray  eyes  were  capable 
of  storm  as  well  as  loving  tenderness ;  his  firm  mouth  and 
Avell-rounded  chin  betokened  remarkable  reserve  force  ;  he 
was  a  man  for  the  hour  of  trial,  yet  ordinarily  impulsive, 
possessing  a  nature  bubbling  over  with  gentleness,  humor, 
and  compassion.  Dr.  Monroe  died  Nov.  9,  1891,  of  heart 
failure.  In  dying  he  left  a  widow  and  five  children.  The 
immediate  family  consisted  of  his  wife  and  two  younger 
daughters,  Luna  and  "  Baby "  Monroe,  the  latter  being 
seventeen  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death.  During  the 
latter  years  of  his  life,  when  failing  health  and  energy 
demanded  a  partial  cessation  of  his  labors,  they  became 
his  assistants  in  the  work  upon  the  paper,  his  devotion  to 
his  daughter  "Bab}'"  being  the  strongest  passion  of  his 
life  in  these  latter  years.  Between  these  two  a  most 
singular  love  and  attachment  existed,  and  she  became  his 
constant  companion. 

Samuel  D.  Moore. 

Samuel  D.  Moore,  now  nearly  eighty  years  of  age,  of 
Adrian,  Mich.,  is  one  of  the  noblest  veterans  of  our  cause  ; 
he  has  been  devoted  during  his  long  life  to  almost  every 
reform,  and  can  say  witli  the  old  Koman  poet,  "I  am 
interested  in  evprything  that  concerns  man."  Mr.  Moore 
has  been  an  ardent  supporter  of  "The  Truth  Seeker," 
especially  during  the  arrest  anil  imprisonment  of  Bennett, 
when  Ije  personally  increased  the  list  of  subscribers  per- 
haps more  than  any  other  one  individual.  He  is  always  a 
welcome  member  of  our  Freethought  conventions. 

GusTAVE  Nelson,  M.D. 

Gustave  Nelson,  who  was  born  at  Copenhagen,  Den- 
mark, July  30,  1863,  obtained  an  education  as  a  boy  at  a 
Ijatin  academy  in  the  place  of  his  birth.     When  eighteen 


780  FOUR  HUNDRED  TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

years  of  age  he  matriculated  at  the  Universit}'  of  Copen- 
hagen, where  he  studieil  i^hilosophy  and  science.  Nelson 
served  his  time  in  the  army,  passing  a  lieutenant's  exam- 
ination, but  was  too  much  of  a  Freethinker  to  like  soldier- 
ing. While  at  the  university  he  was  a  regular  contributor 
to  various  democratic  newspapers,  and  he  left  Denmark 
on  account  of  political  complications,  arriving  in  America 
in  1883,  where  he  went  to  work  on  a  farm,  and  later  in  a 
saw-mill,  meanwdiile  studying  English.  In  1890  he  entered 
"  The  Truth  Seeker "  ofl&ce,  and  learned  the  printer's 
business.  In  1893  he  took  his  degree  of  M.  D.  Mr.  Nel- 
son, who  now  understands  eight  languages,  including 
English,  has  contributed  and  translated  many  articles  for 
"  The  Truth  Seeker ;"  is  member  of  the  Freethought 
Federation  of  America,  and  of  the  general  committee  of 
the  International  Freethought  Federation;  corresponding 
member  for  the  United  States  and  Canada  of  Comite  d* 
Etudes  Morales,  etc.  In  belief  he  is  a  Materialist.  He  is 
now  in  good  practice  as  a  physician. 

KuFus  King  Noyes,  M.D. 

Rufus  King  Noyes,  M.D.,  of  Boston,  was  born  May  24, 
1853,  in  Hampstead,  N.  H.  His  father,  Joshua  Flint 
Noyes,  was  also  born  in  Hampstead,  and  is  a  business-like, 
prosperous,  and  intelligent  farmer.  His  mother,  Lois 
Ann  Noyes,  was  born  in  Atkinson,  N.  H.,  and  is  the 
daughter  of  Henr}'  Noyes,  second,  wdio  served  in  the  war 
of  1812.  Dr.  Noyes  spent  his  early  years  upon  the  farm  ; 
attended  the  town  schools,  received  private  instriiction  at 
home,  and  graduated  from  Atkinson  AcjulfMuv  after  a  three 
years'  course  in  1872.  Entering  Dartmouth  Medical  Col- 
lege he  attended  every  course  of  lectures  and  took  every 
course  of  instruction,  w^as  made  demonstrator  of  anatomy 
in  his  third  year,  and  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1875. 
Ooing  to  Boston  with  the  highest  testimonials  as  to  his 
ability  and  character,  he  entered  the  Boston  City  Hospital 


KNUT  WICKSELL  (p.    848). 


F.  L.  OSWALD.  731 

as  house  surgeon,  tlirougli  a  competitive  examination,  and 
took  first  rank.  After  eighteen  months'  faithful  service, 
characterized  by  independence,  self-reliance,  and  original- 
ity, he  received  the  hospital  diploma.  In  1877  he  became 
a  fellow  of  the  ^Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  and  in 
1882  he  left  that  society  and  became  a  new-scliool  prac- 
titioner of  medicine  and  surgerj'.  He  has  discovered  that 
diseases  can  be  cured  without  alcoholic  liquors,  and  he 
does  not  employ  them  except  in  rare  cases ;  also  that  dis- 
eases can  be  cured  without  poisonous  drugs.  Dr.  Noyes 
is  a  strong  believer  in  nature,  and  is  the  author  of  the 
treatise  entitled  "The  Self-Curability  of  Diseases."  He 
also  compiled  the  "History of  Medicine  for  the  Last  Four 
Thousand  Years,"  and  is  author  of  "The  Science  and  Art 
of  Ignorance  ;  or,  The  Conspiracy  of  Christian  Ministers, 
Priests,  and  Theologians  Against  Humanity;"  "Causes 
and  Cures  of  Crimes,"  and  "  The  Individual."  He  does 
not  believe  in  vaccination,  has  not  vaccinated  anyone 
for  over  nine  years,  and  is  a  corresponding  member  of  the 
"  London  Society  for  the  Abolition  of  Compulsory  Vacci- 
nation." He  is  a  Materialist,  and  tinds  great  satisfaction 
in  the  opinions  of  Haeckel,  Darwin,  and  Spencer. 

F.  L.  Oswald. 

Felix  Leopold  Oswald  was  born  in  Belgium  in  1845, 
and  was  educated  as  a  physician,  but  has  devoted  himself 
mainly  to  natural  history.  In  pursuit  of  his  studies  he 
has  traveled  extensively;  has  contributed  to  the  "Popular 
Science  Monthly,"  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  and  other  jour- 
nals. Among  his  published  works  are  "  Summerland 
Sketches  ;  or.  Rambles  in  the  Backwoods  of  Mexico  and 
Central  America"  (1881);  "Physical  Education  "  (1882) ; 
"The  Secret  of  the  East"  (1883),  which  argues  that  Chris- 
tianity is  derived  from  Buddhism  ;  and  "  The  Bible  of 
Nature,  or  the  Principles  of  Secularism  "  (1888).  Dr.  Os- 
wald is  a  clear  and  vigorous  writer,  and  there  is  the  flavor 


782  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   PREETHOUaHT. 

of  outdoor  life  in  all  that  he  says.  Though  not  a  book- 
worm, he  has  a  keen  insight  into  liistory,  and  presents  his 
arguments  in  a  luminous  manner.  He  is  radical,  and  has 
given  most  valuable  service  to  Freethought,  philosophy, 
and  science. 

COUBTLANDT    PaLMER. 

Courtlandt  Palmer  was  born  in  New  York,  March  25, 
1843,  and  graduated  at  the  Columbia  Law  School  in  1869. 
Although  brought  up  in  the  Dutcli  Reformed  church,  he 
became  a  Freethinker  while  still  young.  He  died  July 
23,  1888.  Mr.  Palmer's  life  is  a  great  lesson.  Born  to 
wealth,  he  devoted  himself  unreservedly  to  the  mental  and 
political  emancipation  of  man.  He  was  a  broad  humani- 
tarian. Colonel  Ingersoll,  in  his  noble  oration  at  his 
funeral,  said  :  "  He  was  an  honest  man — he  gave  the  right 
he  claimed.  To  think  for  himself,  to  give  his  thoughts  to 
others,  this  was  to  him  not  only  a  privilege,  not  only  a 
right,  but  a  duty  and  a  joy.  He  preserved  the  realm  of 
mind  from  the  invasion  of  brute  force,  and  protected  the 
children  of  the  brain  from  the  Herod  of  authority.  He 
investigated  for  himself  the  questions,  the  problems,  and 
the  mysteries  of  life.  Majorities  were  nothing  to  him. 
No  error  could  be  old  enough,  popular,  plausible,  or 
profitable  enough,  to  bribe  his  judgment  or  to  keep  his 
conscience  still.  He  was  a  believer  in  intellectual  hos- 
pitality, in  the  fair  exchange  of  thought,  in  good  mental 
manners,  in  the  amenities  of  the  soul,  in  the  chivalry  of 
discussion.  He  believed  in  the  morality  of  the  useful, 
that  the  virtues  are  the  friends  of  humanity,  the  seeds  of 
joy.     He  lived  and  labored  for  his  fellow  men." 

His  great  work  was  the  formation  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  Club.     Of  this  the  New  York  "  Sun  "  said  : 

"  The  late  Courtlandt  Palmer  accomplished  a  surprising 
feat  in  making  fashionable  in  New  York  a  sort  of  dis- 
cussion which  before   had   been  frowned  upon  as  in  the 


COURTLANDT  PALMER.  733 

last  degree  pernicious,  and  especially  unbefitting  polite 
and  conservative  society.  He  set  people  to  thinking  and 
talking  over  moral  and  religious  questions,  which  they  had 
not  dared  to  consider,  and  made  familiar  to  them  views 
from  which  they  had.  turned  in  alarm  as  morally  poisonous 
and  soul-destroying.  Tiie  Nineteenth  Century  Club  was 
established  as  a  Freethinking  debating  society,  and  not 
many  years  ago  it  would  have  been  avoided  and  denounced 
as  an  institution  for  the  propagation  of  Infidelity  and  odious 
Radicalism.  Yet  under  Mr.  Palmer's  lead  the  club  received 
the  stamp  of  fashionable  approval,  and  its  discussions  have 
been  carried  on  before  crowded  assemblages  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  full  evening  dress,  and  chiefly  from  the 
most  conservative,  and  even  Philistine,  circles  of  society. 
Audiences  so  composed  listened  with  polite  attention  to 
speakers  whose  very  names  had  been  loathsome  to  them, 
and  whose  notions  and  theories  were  utterly  subversive  of 
what  they  held  it  sacrilege  and  infamy  to  doubt  or  deny. 
Beautiful  women  who  had  trembled  at  the  mere  thought 
that  there  was  such  skepticism  in  the  world,  for  the  first 
time  heard  it  expressed  and  defended.  Where  they  had 
been  sure  there  was  only  one  possible  side,  they  saw  other 
people  found  many  sides  and  qualifications  innumerable, 
and  that  what  to  them  seemed  indisputable  was  the  sub- 
ject of  endless  disputation,  or  was  actually  beyond  the 
possibility  of  reasonable  proof."  Of  Courtlandt  Palmer's 
noble  death  the  same  paper  also  says:  "The  death  of 
Courtlandt  Palmer  is  another  refutation  of  the  assertion 
that  the  deathbed  of  the  unbeliever  is  an  agonizing  one. 
Mr.  Palmer  seems  to  have  entered  the  dark  valley  with 
serenity  and  composure  fully  equal  to  the  many  graphic 
pictures  of  the  last  hours  of  saints  which  are  to  be  found 
in  religious  literature.  '  I  want  you  one  and  all,'  said  he 
to  his  family  just  before  he  closed  his  eyes  to  receive  the 
anesthetic  preliminary  to  the  surgeon's  knife,  *  I  want  you 
one  and  all  to  tell  the  whole  world  that  you  have  seen  a 


784  FOUR    IIUNDRKD    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT 

Freethinker  die  without  the  least  fear  of  what  the  here- 
after may  be.'  And  these  were  almost  his  last  words. 
Surely  this  was  a  triumph  for  Palmer,  thouj:!^h  f^reat  may 
be  the  shock  of  it  to  those  who  trust  in  the  consolations 
of  religion  for  their  last  moments.  Here  was  a  man,  still 
young,  blessed  with  every  material  source  of  happiness, 
who  had  never  had  a  proper  desire  ungratified,  who  re- 
joiced in  a  delightful  home,  who  had  resources  for  the 
keenest  intellectual  enjoyment,  approaching  death  not 
nonchalantly,  nor  with  flippant  affectation  of  indifference, 
but  like  a  philosopher  about  to  put  his  philosophy  to  the 
supremest  test.  He  seemed  to  rejoice  in  the  sense  of 
victory  and  to  be  anxious  that  the  world  should  know  of 
his  experience." 

James  Parton. 

James  Parton  was  born  at  Canterbury,  England,  Feb. 
9,  1822.  At  five  years  of  age  he  was  brought  to  New 
York.  At  nineteen  he  was  teacher  in  an  academy  at 
White  Plains,  N.  Y.,  and  afterwards  at  Philadelphia  and 
New  York  city. 

His  first  literary  employment  was  on  the  staff  of  the 
"Home  Journal,"  with  whicli  he  was  connected  about 
three  years.  In  1856  he  married  Sara  Payson  Willis, 
popularly  known  as  "  Fanny  Fern."  She  died  in  1872.  In 
1875  he  married  tlie  daughter  of  his  deceased  wife  by  a 
former  union.  In  1875  he  purchased  a  house  at  Newbury- 
port,  Mass.,  wliere  he  made  his  home  until  his  death. 
He  was  an  extensive  biographical  writer  and  contributor 
to  many  papers,  and  a  pronounced  Freethinker.  His 
chief  work  is  a  "Life  of  Voltaire,"  which  is  a  monument 
to  his  industry,  his  accuracy,  his  impartiality,  his  genius 
for  historical  painting,  his  fine  understanding  and  sym- 
pathy with  Freethought  progress.  Mr.  Parton  was  a  man 
of  great  courage  and  clear  convictions.  While  one  of  the 
most  popular  writers  in  America,  he  never  failed  to  stand 


JOHN  PECK.  785 

firmly  for  the  right  even  with  the  few.  In  the  great 
strugf^le  for  mental  liberty  in  this  country  in  connection 
with  the  trial  of  Bennett  and  others  he  is  a  shining  figure. 
He  saw  tiie  logic  of  the  situation,  and  he  never  flinched 
from  the  consequences. 

John  Peck. 

John  Peck  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  about 
four  miles  north  of  the  village  of  Ovid,  Nov.  19,  1819. 
When  a  cliild  his  father  bought  a  hundred  acres  of  land 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Canandaigua  Lake,  where  lie 
spent  his  boyhood  days.  He  writes  of  these  early  days : 
"  The  pioneer  log-house  and  surroundings  seemed  just 
suited  to  my  boyish,  adventurous  nature.  I  have  stood 
for  hours  watching  the  eagles  as  they  soared  over  the 
waters,  or  swooped  down  to  bring  up  a  big  fish.  I  used 
to  start  up  the  wild  deer  to  see  them  bound  through  the 
forest,  and  thought  them  the  most  beautiful  and  graceful 
animal  in  tlie  world.  But  m}^  chief  delight  was  on  the 
waves.  As  soon  as  the  fury  of  a  storm  had  subsided  I  was 
out  in  a  boat  and  spent  hours  on  the  bounding  waves. 
Tlie  scenes  had  a  charm  for  me  I  shall  never  forget.  I  be- 
came an  expert  swimmer  and,  in  after  years,  it  proved  a 
saving  accomplishment,  for,  in  attempting  to  rescue  a 
drowning  man,  I  should  have  been  drowned  myself  if  I 
had  not  been  as  handy  as  a  duck  in  the  water.  Perhaps 
if  I  had  slipped  off  life's  hook  at  that  time  it  would  have 
saved  a  great  deal  of  ink,  and  the  church  the  trouble  of 
pronouncing  a  good  many  curses.  I  spent  the  most  of  my 
time  on  a  farm  until  I  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  when  I 
went  to  learn  the  smithing  business  in  Penn  Yan,  N.  Y. 
After  I  had  partly  mastered  the  trade,  I  went  to  school 
for  some  time,  as  Burns  would  phrase  it,  to  'give  my  man- 
ners a  brush.'  I  engaged  in  teaching,  and  also  turned  my 
attention  to  astronomy.  I  have  delivered  lectures  in  my 
own  village,  and  all  the  villages  hereabout,  upon  the  sub- 


78(5  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

ject.     There  is  something  so  exact,  grand,  and  inspiring  in 
the  vast  machinery  of  the   universe  that  it  fills  me  with 
emotion  whenever  my  mind  is  turned  in  that  direction. 
The  more  I  studied  the  laws  of  nature,  the  less  use  I  found 
for  a  God.     I  have  studied  the  systems  of  religion  a  good 
deal,  and  there  is  so  much  absurdity  in  all  of  them  that, 
in  spite  of  myself,  the  ridiculous  side  is   constautl}-  turn- 
ing up,  but  in  all  that  I  have  written  I  have  tried,  in  the 
most  simple  way,  to  impress  ideas  upon  the  minds  of  the 
people  as  they  impressed   me.     Of  course   the   pious  will 
consider  me  a  blasphemer ;  but  the  whole   subject  seem& 
to  me  very  much   like  attending  an  entertainment  of  a 
comic  troupe,  and  then  trying  to  draw  solemn  conclusions 
from   the    performance.     My   life    has   been  a  busy  one. 
Most  of  my  essays  were  written  on  my  knee,  as  I  could 
get  snatches  of  time  from  my  business.     Years  ago  I  be- 
came convinced  that  the  Christian  scheme  was  the  most 
stupendous  fraud  ;  and  against  this  superstition  I  have 
spent  the  best  energies  of  my  life.     Mr.  Bennett  sent  me 
the  first  copy  of  '  The  Truth   Seeker,'  and  I  have  taken 
it  ever  since.     It  has  been  my  pet  paper.     I  believe  it  to 
be    one    of    the    most   fearless,    outspoken,    and    efi'ective 
papers  of  the  present  day.     Indeed,  my  life  has  been  one 
of  continual  warfare.     All  through  the  long,  dark  night  of 
the  antislavery  agitation,  beginning  away  back  in  1840,  I 
worked  in  season  and  out  of  season  to  do  away  with  what 
I  believed  to  be  a  gigantic  evil.     After  slavery  was  abol- 
ished I  engaged  in  a  hand-to-hand  contest  with  the  cohorts^ 
of  rum.     Latterly,  I  have  done  a  good  deal  of  talking  for 
financial  and  political  reform.     So  my  life  has  been  a  pro- 
longed battle.     In  short,  like   the   Irishman,  I  never  was 
at  peace  iinless  I  was  in  a  fight." 

Mr.  Peck's  own  words,  better  than  any  others,  show 
what  kind  of  a  life  he  has  lived,  and  thousands  of  readers 
of  "  The  Truth  Seeker,"  and  other  journals,  know  the- 
value  of  his  work. 


..* 

i 

^^^H^^k  * 

BJORNSTJERNE  BJORNSON  (p.  842> 


PARKER  PILLSBURY  787 

R.  Peterson. 

Col.  R.  Peterson  was  borii  in  Dublin,  Ireland.  At  the 
age  of  twelve  years  Ins  father  sent  him  to  New  York  to 
learn  the  mercantile  business.  Not  liking  this,  he  began 
life  on  his  own  hook  as  a  newsboy,  sleeping  under  stoops 
and  in  crocl^ery  crates  on  the  docks.  After  a  few  months 
he  emigrated  t(j  Ohio,  where  he  learned  the  printer's  busi- 
ness. He  went  to  school  winters  and  taught  district 
schools  in  the  summer.  He  then  studied  law,  went  to 
Paris,  Texas,  where  he  now  lives,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  He  published  for  several  years  the  second 
Republican  paper  in  the  state.  He  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  tlie  Ku  Klux.  One  night  at  twelve  o'clock  they 
surrounded  his  house.  They  bullied  and  threatened 
for  awhile  and  then  rode  away.  Since  the  war  he  has 
held  many  offices.  He  published  '■  Comnion  Sense,"  a 
Freethought  journal  '"  devoted  to  the  rise  of  reason  and 
the  downfall  of  faith."  Colonel  Peterson  is  in  every 
respect  a  radical  Freethinker,  and  a  generous  supporter 
of  the  cause,  autl  without  fear  in  the  maintenance  of  his 
convictions. 

Parker  Pillsbury. 

Parker  Pillsbury  was  born  at  Hamilton,  Mass.,  Sept. 
22,  1809.  He  worked  on  a  farm  until  1835,  when  he 
entered  Gilmanton  Theological  Seminary,  graduating  in 
1838  ;  then  he  studied  for  one  year  at  Artdover,  and 
entered  the  Congregational  ministr}-.  From  the  orthodox 
creed,  through  the  slavery  agitation,  he  gravitated  to  ultra 
Radicalism,  and  labored  for  years  with  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  in  advocating  the  rights  of  the  oppressed.  He 
was  an  efficient,  scathing  speaker,  and  on  hundreds  of 
rostrums  his  voice  was  raised  in  condemnation  of  the 
"sum  of  all  villainies."  After  the  death  of  slavery,  Mr. 
Pillsbury  occupied  other  portions  of  the  great  field  of 
progress — temperance,  labor  reform,  woman's  rights,  the 


788  FOUR    HriNDRED    YEARS   OF   FRERTHOUGHT. 

demands  of  Liberalism,  etc.  He  published  "  The  Church 
as  It  Is ;  or,  Tlie  Forlorn  Hope  of  Slavery  ;"  the  "Acts  of 
the  Antislavery  Apostles,"  and  "  Pious  Frauds,"  in  which 
he  exposed  the  untruthfulness  of  the  Christian  creed. 
In  1868  he  joined  with  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  and  Susan 
B.  Anthony  in  conducting  "  The  Revolution."  Mr.  Pills- 
bury  is  always  at  the  front,  and  the  glow  of  youth  has 
never  left  the  frosts  of  age.  Indeed  there  are  no  "  frosts 
of  age "  with  this  philosophic  reformer.  It  is  always 
springtime  in  his  still  broadening  vision.  We  hope  he 
will  reach  the  century  mark  with  his  bright,  courageous, 
and  advancing  mind. 

Samuel  P.  Putnam. 

Samuel  P.  Putnam  was  born  July  23,  1838,  at  Chiches- 
ter, N.  H.  His  father  was  a  Congregational  minister  of 
that  place.  During  childhood  he  lived  after  five  years  of 
age  at  Cornish,  N.  H.,  Worcester,  Mass.,  and  Epsom,  N.  H., 
attending  the  common  schools.  He  began  to  fit  for  col- 
lege at  Pembroke  Academy,  Pembroke,  N.  H.,  and  entered 
Dartmouth  College,  Hanover,  N.  H.,  in  1858.  In  1861  he 
enlisted  in  the  army  as  a  private.  For  the  first  two  years 
he  was  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah  and  about  Wash- 
ington. He  was  then  promoted  to  a  captaincy  and  trans- 
ferred to  the  department  of  the  Gulf,  where  he  remained 
until  tlie  close  of  the  war,  campaigning  in  Mississippi, 
Alabama,  Louisiana,  and  Texas.  In  1865  he  entered  the 
theological  seminary  of  Chicago,  where  he  remained  three 
years.  After  graduation  he  preached  in  the  orthodox  pul- 
pits of  DeKalb  and  Malta,  111.  In  1871  he  resigned  his 
connection  with  the  orthodox  church  and  joined  the 
Unitarian  denomination.  He  preached  in  this  association 
at  Toledo,  O.;  North  Platte,  Neb.;  Omaha,  Neb.;  Evans- 
ville,  Ind.;  Northfield,  Mass.,  and  Vincennes,  Ind.  He  then 
gave  up  all  relations  whatsoever  with  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  became  an  open  and  avowed  Freethinker. 

During  the  administration  of  Hayes  he  was  appointed 


E.  C.   REICHWALD.  789 

under  the  civil  service  rules  to  a  position  in  the  custom 
house,  New  York,  where  he  remained  until  1887,  when  at 
the  Cassadaga  congress  he  was  elected  secretary  of  the 
American  Secular  Union,  and  after  that  devoted  himself 
entirely  to  the  Freethought  work.  After  serving  as  secre- 
tary for  three  years  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Union 
in  1887.  During  that  year  he  established  "  Freethought," 
a  Liberal  journal,  at  San  Francisco,  with  George  E.  Mac- 
donald.  He  was  elected  president  of  the  California  State 
Liberal  Union,  and  labored  mainly  upon  the  Pacific  coast 
until  1891,  when  the  publication  of  "  Freethought "  was 
suspended.  In  1892  he  was  elected  president  of  the 
Freethought  Federation  of  America. 

During  his  life  and  labors,  Mr.  Putnam  has  visited  all 
but  four  of  the  states  and  territories  of  the  Union,  and  has 
also  spoken  extensively  throughout  the  Dominion  of 
Canada.  He  has  traveled  over  one  hundred  thousand 
miles  in  all.  He  is  author  of  "Prometheus,"  "Gottlieb: 
His  Life,"  "  Golden  Throne,"  "  Waifs  and  Wanderings," 
" Ingersoll  and  Jesus,"  "Why  Don't  He  Lend  a  Hand?" 
"Adarai  and  Heva,"  "  The  New  God,"  "  The  Problem  of 
the  Universe,"  "  My  Religious  Experience,"  "  Eeligion  a 
Curse,  Religion  a  Disease,  Religion  a  Lie,"  "  Pen  Pictures 
of  the  World's  Pair,"  and  "  Four  Hundred  Years  of  Fred- 
thought." 

E.  C.  Reichwald. 

E.  C.  Reichwald,  treasurer  of  the  Freethought  Fed- 
eration of  America,  is  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of 
Chicago.  In  "  Chicago's  Half  Century  of  Progress "  we 
find  the  following  :  "An  old  and  established  representa- 
tive house  engaged  in  the  Chicago  fruit  and  vegetable 
trade  is  that  of  Messrs.  Reichwald  &  Bro.,  which  was 
established  in  1865  by  Jones  &  Reichwald,  who  were  suc- 
ceeded in  1868  by  E.  C.  Reichwald  &  Co.  Eventually  in 
1883  the  present  firm  was  organized,  the  copartners  being 


790  Fonii  HUNDRED  yp:ars  of  freethought. 

E.  C.  and  W.  G.  Reicbwald,  both  of  whom  brought  prac- 
tical experience,  energy,  and  business  capacity  to  the 
enterprise.  The  premises  occupied  are  spacious,  fully 
supplied  with  every  convenience  and  facilit}'.  Both  part- 
ners are  members  of  the  Produce  Exchange,  where  they 
are  highly  esteemed.  They  were  both  born  in  Milwaukee, 
but  have  resided  for  many  years  in  Chicago."  Botli  E.  C 
and  his  brother  W.  G.  Reichwald  are  radical  Freethinkers, 
believe  in  radical  work,  and  are  ready  to  stand  at  the 
front  and  vote  Freethought  every  time. 

J.  E.  Remsburg. 

John  E.  Remsburg  is  one  of  the  ablest,  most  popular, 
best-known  lecturers  on  the  Freethought  i^latform.  He 
has,  probably,  delivered  a  greater  number  of  public 
addresses  than  any  other  Liberal  speaker  in  this  countr3^ 
He  has  lectured  since  he  took  the  platform  in  1880,  in 
some  six  hundred  localities,  and  to  do  that  has  been  com- 
pelled to  travel  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand miles.  He  was  born  near  the  village  of  Fremont, 
Ohio,  Jan.  7,  1848.  His  father  was  of  German  and  his 
mother  of  English  descent.  His  father  was  a  nominal 
Christian,  but  never  a  member  of  any  church,  and  held  to 
broad  and  liberal  views.  His  mother  was  a  Methodist. 
When  John  E.  Avas  a  young  lad  his  father  lost  his  eye- 
sight, and  also  met  with  financial  reverses  which  left  him 
penniless,  after  which  the  support  of  the  family  devolved 
almost  entirely  on  tlie  mother.  Often  after  midnight  the 
industrious  woman  might  be  seen  at  her  work-table  i)lying 
her  needle,  and  at  her  side  her  son  John  studying  his 
books  and  receiving  instruction  from  his  good  mother. 
This  AViis,  verih%  an  industrial  school,  and  the  valuable 
education  there  imparted,  as  might  be  expected,  produced 
good  results.  In  later  years  John  attended  the  public 
district  school  a  number  of  terms,  and  one  term  at  a  New 
York  state  acaderaj" ;  aside  from  tliis  he  is  self-educated. 


J.  E.  REMSBURa.  791 

Young  Remsburg  entered  the  Union  army  as  a  soldier  at 
a  very  early  age — was  said  to  be  the  youngest  man  who 
carried  a  musket  during  the  late  civil  war.  He  was 
scarcely  sixteen  years  of  age  when  he  enlisted.  As  a 
private  he  served  at  Washington  during  1864,  participating 
in  the  battle  of  Fort  Stevens  (where  Lincoln  was  present) 
and  the  repulse  of  General  Early's  army  from  Maryland. 
The  following  winter,  though  but  seventeen,  he  did  police 
duty  in  Nashville,  that  cit}"  being  then  under  military  rule. 
The  close  of  the  war  found  him  in  the  pioneer  corps.  In 
addition  to  an  honorable  discharge,  he  received  a  special 
certificate  of  thanks  from  President  Lincoln.  After  the 
war  he  engaged  in  school  teaching.  In  1868  he  removed 
to  Kansas,'  and  in  1872  was  elected  superintendent  of 
public  instruction  for  Atchison  county. 

While  nominally  a  believer  in  his  youth,  he  was  never 
a  member  of  any  church.  When  about  twenty-one  the 
subject  of  theology  was  presented  to  his  mind.  At  that 
time  Freethought  literature  was  unknown  to  him,  but  his 
reason  rejected  orthodoxy  and  his  progress  toward  Free- 
thought  was  steady  and  rapid  and  he  soon  became  a 
radical  Freethinker.  He  soon  decided  to  enter  the  lecture 
field,  and  he  has,  surely,  proved  himself  to  be  admirably 
adapted  to  the  work  he  undertook.  Mr.  Remsburg  has, 
during  the  last  ten  years,  in  connection  with  his  duties 
as  lecturer,  written-and  publisiied  many  valuable  works. 
Among  these  are  the  following  :  "Life  of  Thomas  Paine," 
"  The  Image  Breaker,"  "False  Claims,"  "  The  Apostle  of 
Liberty,"  "Bible  Morals,"  "Sabbath  Breaking,"  "The 
Fathers  of  Our  Republic,"  and  "  Was  Lincoln  a  Chris- 
tian ?"  His  lectures  have  been  translated  into  German, 
Swedish,  Norwegian,  and  some  of  the  Asiatic  languages, 
and  have  as  large  a  circulation  in  Europe,  India,  and 
Australia  as  in  this  country.  Including  newspaper  edi- 
tions, fully  three  hundred  thousand  copies  of  his  lectures 
have  been  circulated. 


792  FOUR    liUNDRKD    YKARS    OK    KRKETHOUGHT. 

C.  B.  Reynolds. 

Charles  B.  Reynolds  was  ])orii  in  the  second  ward  of 
New  York  city,  Aug.  5,  1832.  His  parents  had  but  just 
arrived  from  Somersetshire,  England.  His  mother  died 
in  giving  him  birth.  Ere  he  reached  his  fifth  birthday  his 
father  died,  and  he  was  left  to  fight  life's  battle  without 
kith  or  kindred.  He  commenced  to  preacli  for  the  First 
Day  Adventists  in  1868.  and  joined  the  Seventh  Day  Ad- 
ventists  in  1869.  But  truth  prevailed.  Mr.  Reynolds 
made  his  first  appearance  on  the  Liberal  rostrum  at  the 
New  York  Freethinkers'  Convention,  held  at  Corinthian 
Academy  of  Music,  Rochester,  Sept.,  1883,  delivering  a 
most  touching  and  eloquent  eulogy  on  the  late  D.  M. 
Bennett,  founder  of  "The  Truth  Seeker."  At  the  con- 
vention held  at  Cassadaga,  N.  Y.,  in  1884,  he  was  elected 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  American 
Secular  Union.  Early  in  1885  he  appealed  to  the  Liberals 
to  purchase  a  tent,  so  that  Liberal  lectures  could  be  held 
in  places  where  halls  were  not  obtainable,  and  soon  after- 
ward he  pitched  the  "  Liberal  Tent "  at  Kalamazoo,  Mich. 
After  successful  work  in  the  West,  he  pitched  the  tent  at 
Boonton,  N.  J.,  July  26,  1886.  At  this  place  he  had  an 
extraordinary  experience.  After  two  or  three  nights'  dis- 
turbance— cutting  of  the  tent,  and  arrest  for  blasphemy — • 
a  howling  mob  attacked  him  and  his  friends  during  the 
delivery  of  the  lecture.  Mr.  Reynolds,  in  the  interest  of 
peace,  dismissed  the  audience.  But  it  availed  nothing. 
Mr.  Reynolds  had  to  make  his  escape  and  leave  the  tent 
in  possession  of  the  mob.  Indeed,  but  for  the  coolness  of 
Reynolds  and  the  bravery  of  the  Booth  family,  the  former 
would  without  doubt  have  been  personally  injured.  He 
was  afterwards  prosecuted  for  blasphemy.  The  trial 
came  off  May  19,  1887.  Colonel  Ingersoll  generously  vol- 
unteered without  pay  to  defend  Mr.  Reynolds.  He  was 
the  "  observed  of  all  observers  "  at  that  crowded  and  his- 


STEPHEN  HUNT  (p.  753). 


C.  B.   REYNOLDS.  793 

toric  scene,  where  bigotry  and  freedom  entered  the  lists. 
IngersoU  made  a  wonderful  plea.  Says  "  The  Truth 
Seeker:"  "All  the  hot  summer  afternoon  he  held  the 
audience  spellbound;  not  a  man  moved  from  his  seat; 
scores  were  touched  to  tears,  while  oftentimes  it  seemed 
impossible  to  prevent  the  people  from  breaking  into 
tumultuous  applause  to  express  their  approval  of  his  senti- 
ments. Colonel  Ingersoll  spoke  low  and  soft,  pleading 
with  the  judges  before  him  for  a  verdict  Avhicli  should 
leave  the  flag  unstained  and  the  pages  of  New  Jersey's 
history  unsoiled  by  the  most  infamous  of  acts — the  sup- 
pression of  free  speech.  The  address  was  full  of  imagery, 
the  purest  patriotism,  the  grandest  of  pleas  for  liberty, 
and  the  most  exquisite  and  touching  pictures.  He  made 
point  after  point  against  the  law,  following  it  from  the 
dens  and  caves  of  savagery  up  through  the  centuries  of 
religious  persecution  to  the  present,  when  he  said  he  had 
hoped  the  battle  for  human  rights  -had  been  fought  and 
won."  Against  the  noble  speech  of  Colonel  Ingersoll  the 
charge  of  the  judge  was  illegal  and  brutal  in  the  extreme. 
The  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  "guilty."  But  such  was 
the  spell  of  lugersoll's  eloquence  that  the  juxlges  dared 
not  inflict  the  full  penalty,  but  made  the  judgment  of  the 
coiirt  a  fine  of  twenty-five  dollars  and  costs,  amounting  to 
seventy-five  dollars  in  all,  which  Colonel  Ingersoll  him- 
self paid.  Thus  ended  a  famous  trial,  by  which  it  is 
believed  the  law  against  blasphemy  received  its  death 
wound,  and  is  now  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  the  past. 
The  magnificent  speech  of  Colonel  Ingersoll,  "  Trial  for 
Bhisphemv,"  is  published  by  C.  P.  Farrell,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  defenses  of  liberty  in  the  annals  of 
Freethonght.  At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Liberal 
Club  of  Walla  Walla,  Wash.,  Mr.  Reynolds  accepted  an 
engagement  to  lecture  for  them  every  Sunday  evening  for 
six  months.  He  went  to  Walla  Walla  in  1889,  and  lectui-ed 
there  eight  months  in  Small's  Opera  House  evpyv  Sun- 


794  FOUR   HONDRBD   YEARS   OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

day  evening.  Mr.  EeynolJs's  work  with  the  Washington 
Secular  Union  is  noted  in  the  history  of  that  organization. 
In  May,  1892,  he  accepted  an  engagement  as  lecturer  for 
the  Tacoma  Secular  Union,  and  from  that  date  has  lec- 
tured every  Sunday  evening  at  Germania  Hall,  Tacoma, 
the  largest  hall  in  the  city.  On  Sunday,  Aug.  6,  1893,  he 
inaugurated  the  Tacoma  Secular  Sunday-school,  which 
has  proved  a  great  success. 

J.  P.  Richardson. 

Judge  J.  P.  Richardson  was  born  in  Massachusetts, 
Aug.  20, 1821.  He  was  the  son  of  Puritan  parents,  and  was 
brought  up  in  all  the  strictness  of  that  rigid  and  uncom- 
promising sect.  Up  to  the  age  of  eighteen  he  accepted 
the  theology  that  was  taught  him  by  his  parents,  by  the 
New  England  schools,  the  Sunday-school  and  the  church. 
He  was  led  to  read  the  Bible  critically  by  attending  a 
course  of  lectures  by  Father  Miller,  an  honest  and  pious 
old  man  who  had  devoted  himself  to  the  careful  study  of 
the  Bible,  and  especially  of  the  prophecies,  and  had  satis- 
fied himself  that  the  world  was  coming  to  an  end  in  1843. 
Few  people  can  now  comprehend  the  tremendous  excite- 
ment that  the  pious  fervor  of  that  old  fanatic  inspired ; 
but  upon  the  young  man  we  are  speaking  of,  the  only 
eflfect  was  to  stimulate  him  to  careful  study  of  the  Bible 
and  the  true  meaning  of  the  prophecies  upon  which 
Miller  based  his  theories.  The  result  was  that  he  lost  his 
reverence  for  the  Bible,  and  worked  out  alone  and  unaided 
a  system  of  Rationalism.  He  then  began  to  read  Free- 
thought  literature,  and  in  1843  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Horace  Seaver  and  J.  P.  Mendum,  and  became  a  sub- 
scriber to  the  Boston  "  Investigator."  As  he  became  a 
Freethinker,  he  came  to  freedom  political  as  well  as 
mental,  and  became  an  ardent  opponent  of  slavery  ;  and 
when  the  civil  war  broke  out,  true  to  his  principles,  he 
enlisted  as  a  soldier.     He  raised  the  first  company  in  all 


ERNKSTIXE  L    ROSE. 


795 


the  loval  North  for  the  war.  This  wa,s  in  Cambric! oe, 
Mass.,  in  January,  1861.  At  the  close  '  of  the  war  he 
received  a  commission  in  the  regular  army,  which  took 
him  to  Texas.  Being  offered  the  position  of  judge  of  the 
seventeenth  judicial  district,  he  resigned  his  commission 
in  the  regular  army,  and  served  a  term  of  six  vears  on 
the  bench.  During  all  these  years  he  has  always  been  an 
outspoken  advocate  of  mental  and  political  freedom.  In 
1883,  when  J.  D.  Shaw  so  bravely  broke  from  the  tram- 
mels of  the  Methodist  church,  where  he  had  been  an 
honored  preacher  for  several  years,  and  established  the 
"  Independent  Pulpit,"  Judge  Richardson  recognized  the 
importance  of  the  movement  and  gave  it  his  hearty  sup- 
port. He  has  been  for  three  years  past  president  of  the 
Liberal  Association  of  Texas,  and  the  regular  weekly 
lecturer  to  the  local  association  in  Austin.  He  is  now  in 
his  seventy-third  year,  and  hopes  to  do  good  work  yet. 

Ernestine  L.  Rose. 

Among  the  representative  women  of  the  nineteenth 
centurv  is  Ernestine  Louise  Rose.  She  was  born  at 
Peterkov.  Poland,  Jau.  13,  1810.  Her  father  was  a  Jewish 
rabln.  From  early  life  she  was  of  a  bold  and  inquiring 
disposition.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  she  went  to  Berlin, 
She  was  in  Paris  during  the  revolution  of  1830.  Soon 
after  she  went  to  England  and  embraced  the  views  of 
Robert  Owen.  She  married  William  E.  Rose,  and  with 
him  came  to  New  York  in  May,  1836.  She  lectured 
against  slavery  m  the  slave-owning  states.  She  was  one 
of  the  originators  of  the  woman's  rights  movement.  She 
w^as  an  eloquent  speaker,  a  radical  reformer.  She  has 
publislied  a  "  Defense  of  Atheism."  Her  last  years  were 
spent  in  England.  Slie  never  lost  her  intellectual  ardor. 
Until  death  she  was  a  champion  of  Freethought. 


796  FOUR   HUNDRED   TEARS   OF   FREBTHOUGHl 

A.    ROSENOW. 

Albert  Rosenow  was  born  in  Germany,  1855,  of  Jewish 
descent.  He  followed  a  business  career,,  although  he 
would  have  much  preferred  a  student's  life.  He  has  been 
a  Freethinker  ever  since  he  began  to  reflect.  "  The  falla- 
cies of  the  established  religion,"  he  says,  "  did  not  dawn 
upon  me  gradually,  but  were  settled  in  my  mind  almost  at 
first  sight.  Most  helpful  in  strengthening  my  position  in 
Freethought  has  been  the  work  of  Ludwig  Biichner, 
'Matter  and  Force,' a  book  which  has  marked  an  epoch 
in  modern  Germany." 

Mr.  Eosenow  came  to  the  United  States  in  1883.  He 
settled  at  Walla  Walla  and  became  a  prominent  business 
man,  and  helped  organize  the  Walla  Walla  Liberal  So- 
ciety and  the  Washington  Secular  Union,  of  which  he  is 
one  of  the  leading  officers.  He  has  faithfully  supported 
Mr.  Reynolds  in  his  arduous  work,  and  it  is  no  wonder 
that  Reynolds  enthusiastically  calls  him  "  Prince  Rose- 
now,"  "  not  prince  because  of  haughty  meiu,  or  lordly 
air,  but  because  an  aristocrat  of  the  Courtlandt  Palmer 
style — a  prince  in  the  nobility  of  his  nature,  his  broad 
views,  his  generosity,  his  lofty  aims,  his  good,  pure,  and 
useful  life." 

Those  who  associate  with  Mr.  Rosenow  know  him  as 
the  best  of  comrades — true  as  steel,  and  devoted  to  Free- 
thought  the  world  over. 

Henry  Rowley. 

Henry  Rowley  was  born  April  24,  1855,  at  Woodhouse, 
a  small  village  near  Loughborough  in  the  county  of 
Leicester,  England,  the  fourth  child  of  a  family  of  eight. 
At  the  age  of  two  his  parents  removed  to  Derby,  at  which 
town  he  received  all  the  regular  school  education  it  was 
his  fortune  to  get.  His  trials  and  sufferings  began  early 
in  life.  When  he  was  eleven  j'ears  old  his  father  died, 
leaving  his  mother  and  eight  children  absolutely  penni- 


ROBERT  THORNE  (p.  812). 


HEXRY  ROWLEY.  797 

less.  Young  Rowley  went  to  the  railroad  station  and 
obtained  a  situation  as  a  newsboy  at  four  shillings  per 
week.  Six  months  after  this  (September  of  the  same  year), 
he  obtained,  through  the  influence  of  a  friend  of  his  father's, 
a  position  as  errand  boy  in  the  offices  of  a  large  iron  com- 
pany in  Yorkshire,  fifty  miles  from  home.  Here  he  was 
fairly  launched  upon  the  world  before  he  was  twelve  3'ears 
of  age.  He  resolved,  very  early  in  life,  to  become  a  public 
speaker.  When  he  joined  the  "  Mutual  Improvement 
Class,"  he  became  an  acknowledged  debater.  The  return 
of  Mr.  Gladstone  to  power  in  the  year  1880  revived  na- 
tional interest  in  politics.  He  caught  the  fever  and  was 
quickly  engaged  in  political  lecturing.  He  traveled  hun- 
dreds of  miles,  addressing  meetings  on  every  phase  of 
politics.  Sheffield  is  (or  was)  a  vQry  active  political 
center.  It  was  a  common  thing  to  hold  open-air  meetings 
in  Paradise  Square,  sometimes  under  the  presidency  of 
the  mayor  of  the  town.  The  audiences  would  vary  from 
ten  thousand  to  twenty  thousand.  On  three  occasions  Mr. 
Howley  had  the  honor  of  addressing  these  meetings.  He 
was  attracted  at  this  time  to  the  consideration  of  "  Indus- 
trial Cooperation "  as  a  social  and  economic  movement. 
He  was  the  first  secretary  and  organizer  of  the  Labor  As- 
sociation for  promoting  workshops  based  on  the  copart- 
nership of  capitalist  and  laborer;  was  associated  with  the 
veteran  Freethinker,  G.  J.  Holyoake,  with  Lloyd  Jones, 
E.  O.  Greening,  E.  Y.  Neale,  and  Benjamin  Jones,  men 
of  national  repute  and  high  character.  He  delivered 
hundreds  of  addresses  and  lectures  during  his  residence 
in  London,  He  made  two  tours  in  Scotland,  and  made 
many  friends  in  the  land  of  Burns.  His  first  speech  on 
behalf  of  Freethought  was  delivered  in  the  open  air.  He 
liad  not  espoused  the  cause  at  the  time,  and  did  not  think 
he  was  delivering  an  'Infidel"  speech.  The  following  is 
the  circumstance  :  He  was  walking  in  one  of  the  London 
parks  with  his  wife  and  boys  one  Sunday  afternoon,  and 


798  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

was  attracted  to  a  crowd  by  the  fantastic  gesticulations  of 
a  clerical-looking  gentleman.  When  he  reached  the  scene 
of  the  demonstration  he  heard  the  clergyman  make  a  das- 
tardly attack  upon  the  character  of  Mrs.  Besant.  At  the 
close  of  his  address  Eowley  asked  permission  to  make  a 
few  remarks.  This  was  readily  accorded  and,  before  the 
debate  ended,  Mr.  Rowley  found  himself  compelled  not 
only  to  defend  the  character  of  Mrs.  Besant,  but  Free- 
thought  principles.  The  fact  is,  he  had  been  a  Free- 
thinker for  years  and  had  not  known  it.  He  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh  during  his  long  and  bitter 
contest  for  constitutional  rights.  He  presided  at  three 
great  demonstrations  in  Mr.  Bradlaugh's  honor ;  six  thou- 
sand at  one,  eight  thousand  at  another,  and  about  two 
thousand  at  another.  The  last  was  held  in  the  Sheffield 
Temperance  Hall,  and  twice  the  number  were  turned 
away.  In  1885  the  agitation  for  household  suffrage  in  the 
counties  was  at  its  hight.  Open-air  demonstrations  culmi- 
nated in  a  vast  gathering  in  Hyde  park,  London.  One 
hundred  thousand  people  were  present.  Mr.  Rowley  had 
the  honor  of  speaking  from  Platform  No.  10,  presided 
over  by  Mr.  Cremer,  M.  P.  He  was  twice  invited  to 
accept  nomination  for  Parliament,  but,  in  consequence  of 
poverty,  had  to  decline.  It  is  a  costly  thing  to  be  an 
English  member  of  Parliament.  He  arrived  in  America 
in  the  year  1888.  After  moving  about  the  country  for  a 
month  or  two,  he  permanently  settled  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
He  joined  the  Brooklyn  Philosophical  Society  in  the  year 
1890,  and  has  taken  the  greatest  pleasure  in  the  work  of 
the  society.  He  has  been  secretary  for  two  years,  and  is 
now  president.  He  has  addressed  many  audiences  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  York.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Franklin 
Literary  Society,  and  has  served  one  term  as  correspond- 
ing secretarv.  He  is  a  Materialist  ;  liis  favorite  phi- 
losopher is  Spinoza,  and  his  favorite  poet  is  Shelley.  He 
is    a    total   abstainer   from    intoxicating  drinks ;  believes 


REUBEN   HUSH.  799 

that  religion,  as  popularly  taught,  is  a  social  bane,  and 
that,  under  a  rational  system  of  education,  society  will 
reach  a  condition  in  which  happiness  will  be  the  portion 
of  all. 

Reuben  Rush. 

Reuben  Rush  was  born  at  Ferrington,  St.  Clements, 
county  of  Norfolk,  England,  Feb.  6,  1868.  He  was  bap- 
tized in  the  Wesleyan  church,  of  which  his  parents  were 
members.  In  1874  the  family  left  Norfolk  and  settled  in 
Manchester,  England.  He  was  educated  at  the  Tolle3-hurst 
Wesleyan  day-school.  In  1880  the  family  moved  to  Brad- 
ford, Yorkshire,  and  young  Reuben  finished  his  education 
at  the  Eastbrook  Wesleyan  school  at  this  place.  His 
father,  M.  T.  Rush,  severed  his  connection  with  the  Metho- 
dist denomination  in  1870  ;  liis  mother  continued  in  that 
church  until  1877,  when  M.  T.  Rush  took  his  two  sons. 
Reuben  and  Thomas,  from  the  Sunday-school.  The  pious 
superintendent  told  the  father  lie  would  curse  the  day  he 
did  this,  but  he  never  has,  and  is  not  likely  to.  He  still 
allowed  them  to  attend  the  day-school.  The  first  Free- 
thought  lecture  that  Reuben  ever  attended  was  at  the 
Free  Trade  Hall,  Manchester.  The  speakers  were  Charles 
Bradlaugh  and  Annie  Besant.  This  was  in  1878.  Young 
Rush  was  deeply  impressed,  and  afterwards  attended  all 
such  meetings.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  began  to  take  an 
interest  in  politics.  He  was  with  the  advanced  wing  of 
the  Liberal  party,  of  which  Bradlaugh  was  the  leader. 
His  father  came  to  the  United  States  in  1883,  and  the  rest 
of  the  family  in  the  following  year.  Reuben  Rush  spoke 
in  public  at  the  Question  Club  in  1890.  His  first  appear- 
ance on  the  Liberal  platform  was  when  he  gave  an  address 
on  the  death  of  Bradlaugh.  He  became  widely  knon'n  to 
the  Liberals  by  his  speech  at  the  International  Congress 
of  Freethinkers.  He  has  both  enthusiasm  and  talent ;  he 
believes  thoroughly  in  making  this  world  a  better  world ; 


800  FOL'K    IIUNDRKD    YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT. 

lie  is  devoted  both  to  social  and  FreetLought  reform,  but 
he  sees  the  necessity  of  the  triumph  of  Freethought  for 
the  political  aud  industrial  emancipation  of  man.  He  is  a 
worker  himself  and  speaks  like  a  worker — straight  to  the 
l^oint,  and  with  fervid  eloquence. 

A.  SCHELL. 
In  the  following  letter  from  Mr.  Schell,  he  gives  his 
own  history  perhaps  better  than  anyone  else  can  give  it. 
He  writes  :  "  I  was  born  Nov.  9,  1817.  My  father,  Peter 
JSchell,  was  born  in  the  United  States,  and  was  a  lad  of 
fourteen  at  the  Revolution.  My  mother  was  Sophia  Schell, 
nee  Dominick.  When  the  California  gold  fever  broke  out 
in  1848,  I  got  the  fever  and  could  not  be  cured  until  I 
went  to  California.  I  then  was  young,  impulsive,  im- 
petuous, and  full  of  the  spirit  of  adventure.  I  sailed  from 
the  port  of  New  York,  Jan.  13,  1849,  on  the  ship  Taro- 
linta,  commanded  by  Captain  Cave,  via  Cape  Horn,  put- 
ting into  Rio  Janeiro  and  Valparaiso.  On  going  up  the 
coast,  when  the  tall  and  unbroken  range  of  the  Andes 
hove  in  sight,  the  boys  became  jubilant — they  were  on  the 
'  home  stretch  ' — and  when  the  tall  peak  of  Chimborazo 
appeared  in  view  their  jubilation  knew  no  bounds,  and 
they  sang  the  song  : 

'  By  the  land  of  Chimborazo  we  go  with  hearts  elate, 
To  found  another  empire,  to  build  another  state.' 

We  have  builded  the  state,  but  have  not  yet  founded  the 
empire.  That  event  lies  buried  deep  in  the  womb  of 
destiny,  but  it  is  in  the  process  of  gestation.  An  empire 
on  the  Pacific  is  bound  to  come.  We  landed  at  San  Fran- 
cisco, July  6,  1849.  Here  the  civilization  of  the  Occident 
came  into  contact  with  the  civilization  of  the  orient,  and 
the  Anglo-American  for  the  first  time  met  the  Mongolian 
of  the  celestial  empire,  and  the  two  stood  face  to  face.  I 
have  been  once  around  Cape  Horn,  seven  times  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  twentv-seven   times   across   the 


J.  HENRY  SCHROEDER.  801 

coutineut  by  rail  since  comiug  to  California,  and  never  met 
Avitli  a  single  accident.  I  liave  been  reasonably  successful 
linauciall}^,  and  have  a  few  dollars  laid  up  for  a  rainy  day." 

Mrs.  Scliell's  maiden  name  was  Catharine  Bellinger. 
She  was  born  June  14,  1821,  in  the  town  of  Coblestall, 
count}^  of  Schoharie,  N.  Y.  The  name  of  her  father  was 
John  P.  Bellinger.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
church  for  a  long  time.  She  became  impressed  with  the 
truth  of  Liberalism,  withdrew  from  the  Methodist  church, 
and  joined  the  church  of  the  Golden  Rule,  and  practices 
now  the  religion  of  liumanity. 

Mr.  Schell  has  been  for  years  a  frequent  contributor  to 
the  daily  and  weekly  press  and  to  the  magazines,  upon 
leading  subjects  of  the  day  and  hour,  and  his  style  of 
writing  is  marked  by  unusual  elegance  and  virility. 
Among  his  chief  literary  productions  are  essays  upon 
*'  The  Will  of  Stephen  Girard,"  "Brains,  Science,  and  Civil- 
ization," etc.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schell  celebrated  their  golden 
wedding,  Dec.  5,  1889,  and  were  greeted  by  hosts  of  old, 
tried  and  true  friends  from  all  over  the  state.  Mr.  Schell 
died  at  his  California  home,  Knight's  Ferry,  Feb.  1,  1894. 
Said  W.  F.  Freeman  in  his  funeral  oration  :  "  He  passed 
away  in  the  autumn  of  his  age,  having  lived  to  enjoy  the 
ripened  fruits  of  his  springtime  planting  and  summer 
culture." 

J.  Henry  Schroeder. 

J.  Henry  Schroeder  was  born  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  May 
7,  1840.  He  attended  the  public  school  eight  years,  and 
graduated  from  the  Central  High  School  in  1856.  He 
landed  at  San  Francisco  May  7,  1859.  and  went  to  the 
Coquille  River,  Coos  county,  Oregon,  May  31st,  of  the  same 
year.  He  was  married  to  Emily  Perry  December  31,1860. 
He  worked  at  mill-wrighting,  mining,  saw-milling,  farming, 
and  dairying.  He  built  the  first  creamery  in  Coos  county, 
and   now  owns  it.     His  venture  has    induced  others  to  do 


802  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS  OP  FREETHOUGHT, 

the  same,  and  now  there  are  severcvl  creameries  in  the 
county,  which  reach  a  production  of  $100,000  yearly. 
Mr.  Schroeder,  in  his  pioneer  work,  hewing  out  a  home  in 
the  forest,  and  delving  in  mines,  found  the  astronomy  and 
geology  of  orthodoxy  did  -not  agree  with  facts.  He  thus 
became  a  Freethinker  and  a  Materialist,  and  his  wife 
shares  his  convictions.  Mr.  Schroeder  was  school-super- 
intendent in  Coos  county  for  three  years,  and  was  elected  to 
the  Oregon  House  of  Representatives  in  1878.  He  was  a 
democrat  until  the  People's  party  move.  But  he  has 
never  been  afraid  of  his  Freethought  colors,  and  has  been 
an  enthusiastic  worker  for  the  cause  of  mental  liberty. 
He  was  elected  president  of  the  Oregon  State  Secular 
Union,  and  is  one  of  the  foremost  Liberals  on  the  coast. 

F.    SCHUENEMAN-POTT. 

Friederich  Schueneman-Pott  (German-American)  was 
born  in  Hamburg,  Baden,  April  5,  1826.  He  studied  for 
the  ministry  of  the  Lutheran  church  at  the  University  of 
Marburg,  but  previous  to  his  ordination  he  renounced  the 
Christian  religion  and  accepted  a  call  as  lecturer  for  the 
Free  Religious  Society  of  Nordhausen.  In  1848  he  joined 
the  ranks  of  the  people  against  their  tyrants,  and  was  sub- 
sequently indicted  for  high  treason  and  imprisoned. 
After  his  liberation  he  Avent  to  Halberstadt,  where  he 
gained  the  friendship  of  Baron  Ernst  von  Pott,  who 
afterwards  adopted  him.  In  1854  he  came  to  the  United 
States  and  was  for  sixteen  years  lecturer  for  the 
Free  Religious  Society  of  Philadelphia,  whence  he  re- 
moved to  San  Francisco,  where  he  likewise  occupied  the 
position  of  lecturer  for  the  local  Free  Religious  Society. 
He  died  in  St.  Helena,  Cal.,  Aug.  3,  1892,  and  his  remains 
were  cremated  at  Los  Angeles.  Besides  his  occupation 
as  lecturer  he  gained  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  writer 
on  ethical  and  Freethought  subjects. 


R.  K.  NO  YES,  M.  D.  (p.   780). 


S.  SHARP.  803 

Horace  Seaver. 

Horace  Holley  Seaver  was  born  at  Boston,  August  25, 
1810.  In  early  life  he  learned  the  art  of  printing,  and  was 
employed  upon  the  Boston  "Investigator"  while  under 
the  management  of  the  brave  Abner  Kneeland,  and  con- 
tinued as  editor  with  J,  P.  Mendura.  For  over  fifty  years 
he  battled  strenuously  for  Freethoughfc;  he  was  an  Athe- 
ist and  Materialist ;  he  had  no  fogs  of  superstition  ;  he 
was  a  clear,  plain  writer,  and  always  went  straight  to  the 
point ;  he  indulged  in  no  rhetoric ;  he  was  a  wise  man 
— a  philosopher ;  he  never  lost  his  balance,  and  he  never 
swerved  from  the  straight  line  of  logic  and  truth ;  he 
was  persistent  and  consistent  all  through,  and  he  won  the 
respect  of  every  one  who  knew  him. 

Early  in  life  Mr.  Seaver  married  a  lady  whose  belief 
was  harmonious  with  his  own.  His  wife  died  many  years 
ago.  At  her  funeral  he  introduced  a  bold  innovation. 
He  had  a  social  funeral  instead  of  a  priestly  conducted 
ceremony.  He  addressed  the  mourning  circle  of  friends, 
and  the  address  was  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  and  is 
admired  as  a  model  of  eloquence,  pathos,  and  noble  senti- 
ment. Besides  his  editorial  labors  Mr.  Seaver  has  per- 
formed much  service  as  a  public  speaker,  frequently 
addressing  Liberal  and  Spiritualistic  audiences  in  Boston 
and  vicinity.  He  has  been  one  of  the  small  number  who 
are  willing  to  spend  a  life-time  in  advocating  unpopular 
truth.  A  selection  of  his  writings  has  been  published 
with  the  title,  '"  Occasional  Thoughts."  He  died  August 
21,  1889.  His  funeral  oration  was  delivered  by  Colonel 
Ingersoll. 

S.  Sharp. 

S.  Sharp,  of  Salem,  O.,  is  one  of  the  old-time  anti- 
slavery  reformers.  For  half  a  century  he  has  been  the 
friend  of  humanity,  of  progress  and  freedom  ;  lie  Ims 
opposed   slavery  of  all  kinds,  and  has  ever  been   ready  to 


804  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FRBETHOUGHT. 

aid  the  Freethought  cause.  He  is  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful mauufacturers  m  Oiiio;  has  made  his  own  fortune 
by  self-reliance  and  energy,  and  has  been  a  foremost  citi- 
zen in  his  own  community.  His  generosity  and  hospitality 
to  laborers  in  the  pioneer  field  are  well  known. 

J.  D.  Shaw. 

J.  D.  Shaw  was  born  December  27,  1841,  in  "Walker 
county,  Texas.  He  went  to  school  a  little  before  the  war, 
but  on  account  of  weak  eyes  had  to  be  kept  at  home.  He 
went  through  the  war  on  the  Confederate  side,  and  was  a 
lieutenant  at  the  close.  After  the  war  he  found  his  eyes 
had  become  stronger,  hence  he  set  about  obtaining  an 
education,  which  he  did  by  hard  work,  having  lost  every- 
thing by  the  war.  He  joined  the  Northwest  Texas  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  South  in 
November,  1870.  His  first  three  years'  work  for  them  was 
as  a  teacher  iu  Marvin  College  ;  then  on  circuits  and  sta- 
tions, concluding  with  four  years  as  station  preacher  in 
Waco.  He  withdrew  from  the  church  (was  not  expelled, 
as  some  suppose)  in  November,  1882,  having  served  twelve 
years.  "When  he  left  the  church  be  occupied  the  follow- 
ing positions  of  importance  among  Methodist  preachers  : 
Delegate  to  the  general  conference  (this  being  his  second 
term  as  such)  ;  a  member  of  the  general  missionary 
board  ;  secretary  of  the  conference  missionary  board  ;  a 
member  of  the  board  of  curators  of  South  Western  Uni- 
versity ;  a  member  of  the  board  of  publication  ;  asso- 
ciate editor  of  Texas  '*  Christian  Advocate,"  and  a  member 
of  the  conference  faculty.  These  facts  assure  the  good 
standing  in  the  churcli  of  Mr.  Shaw.  He  was  never  in  any 
trouble  with  the  churcli,  and  when  lie  found  that  he  could 
no  longer  preach  her  doctrines  he  withdrew,  and  had  no 
other  reason  for  so  doinir-  The  church  honored  him  for 
his  wf)rls.  and  the  "  Conference  Jnnrnal  "  from  November, 
1870,  to  November,  1882,  shows  that  he  did  his  work  well. 


KATIE  KEHM  SMITH.  805 

He  lectured  in  Waco  six  years,  until  the  hall  was  burned ; 
established  the  ^'Independent  Pulpit"  in  March,  1883, 
and  has  written  and  published  five  little  books  :  "  The 
Bible:  What  Is  It  ?"  "  Studies  in  Theology  ;"  "  The  Hu- 
man Nature  of  Jesus ;"  "  The  Bible  Against  Itself ;" 
"  Liberalism."  These  have  all  run  through  two  or  three 
editions.  Six  thousand  copies  of  "  The  Bible  :  What  Is 
It?"  have  been  sold.  Mr.  Shaw  assisted  in  organizing 
the  Liberal  Association  of  Texas,  and  was  its  president 
the  first  year.  He  is  now  secretary.  Mr.  Shaw  was  mar- 
ried to  Lucie  F.  Mosley,  Feb.  1,  1870.  Six  children  were 
born  to  them.  She  died  Jan.  25,  1881,  and  his  youngest 
child  died  six  months  later.  The  rest  of  the  children  are 
now  living.  October  1,  1884,  he  married  Mrs.  Ellen  D. 
McCoy,  who  is  still  living.  The  whole  family  are  Lib- 
erals. 

Elmina  D.  Slenkee. 

Elmina  Drake  Slenker  was  born  Dec.  23, 1827,  in  the 
town  of  La  Grange,  N.  T.  Her  father  was  a  Shaker 
preacher,  but  he  became  a  Liberal.  He  was  "  expelled," 
but  began  to  hold  meetings  on  his  own  account.  Elmina 
was  the  oldest  of  six  girls.  She  grew  up  in  an  atmosphere 
of  debate  and  argument ;  adopted  all  the  reforms  of  the 
day,  and  at  last  reached  the  goal  of  Atheism.  She  has 
devoted  herself  to  the  cause  of  Freethought.  She  has 
been  a  steady,  faithful  correspondent  of  nearly  all  the 
Liberal  journals.  Her  persecution  is  noted  in  the  history 
of  the  National  Defense  Association.  She  has  won  the 
respect  and  affection  of  a  large  number  of  Liberals 
throughout  the  country. 

Katie  Kehm  Smith. 

Probably  the  youngest  prominent  lecturer  in  the  Free- 
thought  ranks  is  Katie  Kehm  Smith,  of  Oregon.  She  was 
born  at  Warsaw,  111.,  and   received  her  education  in   the 


806  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

public  schools.  In  1885,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  she 
j,'raJuated  from  the  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  high  school  and  im- 
mediately began  life  as  a  teacher,  which  she  followed 
successfully  iu  Iowa  and  Oregon  for  over  six  years.  At 
sixteen  she  became  a  convert  to  Freethought  and  ever 
since  has  been  an  outspoken  and  aggressive  worker  in  the 
cause.  She  is  a  student,  an  observer,  and  a  thinker.  As 
a  teacher,  she  saw  and  met  the  common  people  in  their 
everj-day  lives.  She  saw  them  willingly  bear  the  burden 
of  an  expensive  church  and  clergy ;  she  saw  them  work 
hard  and  innocently  divide  the  fruits  of  their  toil  with 
them,  sacrificing  comfort  and  happiness  in  this  world  for 
the  sake  of  their  "souls"  in  the  next.  She  therefore 
early  resolved  to  do  what  she  could  to  take  people's  eyes 
oflf  their  "  souls  "  and  turn  their  attention  to  their  bodies. 
She  delivered  her  first  lecture  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and 
although  a  teacher,  and  often  opposed  and  ostracized  by 
Bible  bigots,  she  never  neglected  an  opportunity  to  expose 
the  myths  and  evil  effects  of  Christianity.  She  is  im- 
patient to  have  the  people  see  the  wrongs  the}-  endure  and 
break  the  fetters  whicli  bind  them.  She  also  realizes  that 
as  these  wrongs  are  the  slow  results  of  centuries  of 
priestly  rule,  it  will  necessaril}-  take  persistent  and  syste- 
matic effort  for  a  long  time,  to  right  them.  In  1891  she 
married  Hon.  D.  W.  Smith,  of  Port  Townsend,  Wash.,  but 
did  not  sacrifice  her  identity  nor  lose  her  interest  in 
Freethought.  Her  husband  encourages  :ind  seconds  all 
her  efforts.  Since  1891  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  have  urged 
the  phm  of  organizing  Secular  churches  and  Sunday- 
schools  and  placing  each,  or  a  circuit  of  them,  in  charge 
of  a  competent  person  duly  appointed  by  the  state  organ- 
ization, whose  business  it  shall  be  to  lecture  regularly,  at 
a  regular  time  and  place  ;  that  the  lack  of  regular  lectures, 
by  regular  lecturers,  is  why  Freethought  societies  hereto- 
fore organized  have  not  flourished.  To  prove  the  prac- 
ticability of  this  plan,  Mrs.  Smith  organized,  Jan.  29,1893, 


E.  A.  STEVENS.  807 

the  First  Secular  Church  of  Portland,  and  soon  after  the 
Portland  Secular  Sunday-school,  and  has  lectured  for  this 
church  every  Sunday  since.  Her  audience  has  steadily 
increased,  until  at  the  end  of  a  year  it  numbers  between 
three  and  four  hundred,  and  is  as  large  as  any  orthodox 
church  in  the  city.  She  writes  the  lesson  each  week  for 
the  Sunday-school,  as  no  suitable  lessons  are  in  print. 
She  is  secretary  of  the  Oregon  State  Secular  Union,  and 
its  present  efficiency  is  due  largely  to  her  systematic  and 
untiring  efforts.  Mrs,  Smith  is  gentle  in  manner  and 
speech ;  she  is  an  orator,  and  charms  while  she  hits  hard 
with  polished  reason  and  facts  told  politely. 

Feanklin  Steiner. 

Franklin  Steiner  was  born  in  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  and  is 
of  German  descent.  His  parents  and  relatives  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Lutheran  church.  He  attended  cliurch  and 
Sunday-school  from  his  earliest  youth.  At  one  time  he 
was  secretary  of  a  Sunday-school.  As  soon  as  he  began 
to  read  and  tliink,  he  began  to  doubt.  He  commenced  to 
study  the  Bible  and  its  history.  He  learned  to  disbelieve 
in  Christianity  before  he  had  ever  read  a  Freethought 
paper  or  book.  He  afterwards  arranged  for  many  Free- 
thought  lectures,  among  them  a  course  by  Cliarles  Watts. 
Watts  urged  young  Steiner  to  enter  the  lecture  field,  and 
it  is  due  mainly  to  this  good  counsel  that  he  entered  upon 
active  Freethought  work,  which  he  has  successfully  pur- 
sufd.  He  has  become  a  welcome  speaker  upon  the  Lib- 
eral platform  ;  he  is  a  pleasing  and  logical  orator,  and  is 
vice-pi'esident  of  the  Freethought  Federation  of  America, 
and  is  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  cause  of  mental  and 
political  liberty,  to  which  he  intends  to  devote  his  whole 
life,  and  for  which  he  is  well  equipped. 

E.  A.  Stevens. 
E.  A.  Stevens  has  a  remarkable  history.     When  only  a 
boy  of  fourteen  he  ran  away  from  England  to  join  a  cousin 


808  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OP  FREETHOUGHT. 

who  commanded  a  detachment  under  Colonel  Peard, 
'•  Garibaldi's  Englishman."  Shortly  after  his  arrival,  dur- 
ing the  bombardment  of  Palermo  by  the  Neapolitans,  his 
cousin  was  killed,  and  young  Stevens  returned  to  his 
relatives.  He  afterwards  came  to  America,  enlisted  in  a 
New  York  regiment,  serving  the  last  year  of  the  war, 
having  had  at  the  age  of  seventeen  the  unusual  experience 
of  military  service  in  both  hemispheres.  Since  the  war 
Mr.  Stevens  has  held  many  important  positions,  and  might 
have  had  a  successful  journalistic  career  except  for  his 
Radicalism  on  religious  and  social  subjects.  He  edited 
several  labor  papers  and  contributed  largely  to  the  Liberal 
press.  In  1876  he  was  received  into  the  Knights  of  Labor 
on  his  honor,  refusing  to  take  the  oath;  he  has  held 
several  offices  in  the  Typographical  Union ;  he  served 
for  many  years  as  one  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
Liberal  League,  and  also  of  the  American  Secular  Union. 
In  1887  he  was  elected  secretary  of  the  American  Secular 
Union,  an  office  he  filled  with  marked  ability.  The 
Rochester  "Union  and  Advertiser  "  says  of  his  journalistic 
career :  "  Mr.  Stevens  is  well  qualified  by  native  tact, 
marvelous  versatility,  and  extended  experience,  to  per- 
form the  work  of  an  active  correspondent,  or  to  handle 
any  theme  in  an  editorial  way.  His  descriptive  work  is 
marked  by  power  and  brilliance.  Whatever  branch  of 
the  profession  he  may  adopt,  he  will  be  found  energetic 
and  reliable."  Mrs.  M.  A.  Freeman,  in  an  appreciative 
notice  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch  in  the  "  Freethinkers' 
Magazine,"  writes  the  following:  "Secularism  in  Chicago 
has  a  glorious  record  Omitting  the  name  of  E.  A 
Stevens,  its  history  could  be  given  in  almost  a  single  line. 
As  a  recognition  of  his  pertinacity  of  purpose,  his  bold 
and  energetic  advocacy  of  Liberalism,  he  was  long  ago 
dubbed  Chicago's  Bradlaugli  by  one  of  our  papers,  and  he 
exhibits  some  of  the  tact  for  leadership  which  is  conceded 
to  his  greater  countryman.     Into  whatever  movement  he 


E.   C.   RKIUHWALD  (p.  789.) 


W.  0.  .STUROC.  809 

has  gone  lie  lias  been  pushed  to  the  front  in  spite  of  him- 
self, and  he  had  to  drop  out  of  many  to  escape  the  honors 
and  to  more  thoroughly  devote  himself  to  Secular  work, 
a  work  in  which  he  never  tires,  to  which  all  business, 
personal  considerations,  and  everything  else  must  bend." 

W.  C.  Sturoc. 

William  C.  Sturoc  was  born  in  the  ancient  town  of 
Aberbrothock,  Scotland — the  scene  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
"Antiquary " — on  Nov.  4,  1822.  His  father,  Francis 
Sturoc,  was  a  small  manufacturer  in  these  days,  and  a 
man  of  great  intelligence  and  thoroughly  liberal  views. 
His  library  contained  the  works  of  the  French  and  Eng- 
lish Freethinkers,  and  into  those  the  boy  William  was 
wont  to  dip  with  a  gusto,  so  that,  at  sixteen,  he  was 
familiar  with  Yolney,  Voltaire,  D'Holbach,  and  others. 
In  1846  he  migrated  to  Canada,  and  remained  there  four 
years,  when  he  moved  into  Sullivan  county,  N.  H.,  where, 
at  Newport,  he  entered  the  office  of  the  late  Hon.  Edmund 
Burke  as  a  law  student,  for  which  his  early  education  had 
well  fitted  him,  and  was  soon  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
courts  of  New  Hampshire.  On  his  admission  to  the  bar,  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  Sunapee,  and  has  remained  there 
ever  since,  a  period  of  over  forty  years.  He  was  married 
in  1856  to  Sarah  C.  Chase,  cousin  to  the  late  Chief  Justice 
J.  E.  Sargent,  enjoying  with  her  the  sweets  of  domestic 
life  for  over  thirty  years.  She  died  in  1889.  His  ready 
tongue  and  pen  gave  him  at  once  an  entrance  into  political 
circles,  and  he  became  one  of  the  leaders  of  democracy, 
and  served  for  a  course  of  years  in  the  legislature  of  his 
adopted  state.  But  his  tastes  were  not  in  the  line  of  mere 
politics,  although  he  held  a  strong  grip  on  legal  and  con- 
stitutional qiiestious,  on  which  he  was  freely  taken  as  an 
authority.  In  the  meantime  his  literary  studies  were  not 
forgotten,  and  in  the  quiet  retreat  of  his  beautiful  home 
on  the   margin  of  Lake  Sunapee,  he   could,  undisturbed, 


810  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREKTHOUGHT. 

pursue  those  philosophical  aud  scieutific  researches  to 
which  all  his  life  he  had  a  marked  leaning.  And  to-day, 
with  a  large  library  of  scientific  and  liberal  works,  he 
enjoys  communion  with  the  advanced  minds  of  the  ages  ; 
and,  for  relaxation,  he  is,  and  has  been,  a  constant  con- 
tributor to  the  press,  particularly  the  Boston  "  Inves- 
tigator," both  in  prose  aud  verse.  Some  of  his  beautiful 
little  poems  have  gained  him  wide  and  deserved  celebrity. 
Mr.  Sturoc,  at  the  ripe  age  of  three  score  and  ten,  is  still 
hale  and  alert  in  all  his  powers,  performing  daily  his  cus- 
tomary ofl&ce  business.  He  attended  the  International 
Congress  of  Freethinkers  at  Chicago  in  October,  1893,. 
and  is  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  American  Secular 
Union. 

Henry  M.  Taber. 

Henry  M.  Taber  was  born  at  Westport,  Fairfield 
county,  Conn.,  February  8,  1825,  and  Avas  brought  to  New 
York  city  when  but  a  few  years  old.  His  father  came 
from  New  Bedford,  Mass.  Mr.  Taber  has  been  engaged 
in  the  cotton  business  in  New  York  city  for  the  last  forty- 
five  years  ;  from  1848  to  1869  with  his  brother,  the  late 
Mr.  Charles  C.  Taber,  and  from  1879  to  the  present  time 
with  his  son,  Mr.  William  P.  Taber.  In  1855  Mr.  Taber 
married  a  daughter  of  Rev.  William  W.  Phillips,  D.D., 
Presbyterian  clergyman,  from  1825  to  1846  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  church  in  Wall  street,  New  York  city, 
and  after  1846  to  the  year  of  his  death  in  1865,  in  Fifth 
avenue,  between  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  streets.  He  con- 
tinued his  church  attendance  up  to  the  time  of  the  death 
of  his  wife,  five  years  ago,  going,  as  he  states,  simply  for 
the  pleasure  of  her  company.  Mr.  Taber  has  two  sons, 
William  P.  and  Sydney  R.  (both  married),  the  first  asso- 
ciated with  his  father  in  business  and  the  last  practicing 
law  in  Cliicago;  and  one  daughter.  Mr.  Taber  was  among 
the  first  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party,  and  during 


HENRY  M.  TABER.  811 

the  war  assisted  in  the  arrangements  for  very  many  of  the 
meetings  held  to  stimulate  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  the 
people  of  the  North.  He  was,  for  a  brief  period,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Twenty-second  Regiment  of  New  York  city  ; 
also  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club  during,  and  for 
many  years  succeeding,  the  war.  Mr.  Taber  has  been 
quite  a  traveler,  having  visited  every  state  in  the  Union ; 
has  been  to  the  Pacific  coast  twice,  as  far  south  as  Santa 
Barbara,  Cal.,  and  as  far  north  as  Sitka,  Alaska ;  has  also 
visited  Canada  and  Mexico  and  spent  half  a  year  in 
Europe.  Mr.  Taber  has  made  this  request  of  his  friends, 
that  at  his  death  there  be  no  religious  services  and  that 
his  body  be  cremated  at  Fresh  Pond  or  some  other  crema- 
tory. Colonel  IngersoU  writes  of  Mr.  Taber  :  "  Henry  M. 
Taber  is  my  friend  and  one  of  the  best  of  men.  In  busi- 
ness he  is  just,  honorable,  faithful,  reliable.  He  keeps  his 
word  and  does  as  he  agrees.  For  integrity,  no  man's  repu- 
tation is  better  than  his.  He  is  an  excellent  citizen  ;  loves 
his  country  and  its  institutions  ;  taking  an  active  part  in 
matters  of  public  importance — trying  to  make  the  people 
better  and  happier.  He  is  on  the  right  side  and  always 
has  been  so  far  as  I  know.  He  was  a  kind,  faithful,  and 
loving  husband ;  and  he  is  a  good,  affectionate  father  and 
grandfather.  In  addition  to  this  he  is  a  free  man — thinks 
for  himself  and  gives  to  others  the  result  of  his  thought. 
He  is  an  exceedingly  modest  man,  remarkably  careful  of 
the  feelings  of  others  ;  gentle  in  speech  and  action.  Long 
ago  his  brain  was  shocked  by  the  absurdities  and  his 
heart  b}^  the  cruelties  of  the  Bible.  He  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  '  scriptures '  were  written  by  uninspired 
men,  and  that  man  should  be  governed  by  experience, 
observation,  and  reason,  instead  of  faith,  ignorance,  and 
superstition.  He  became  a  free  man.  He  is  a  close  and 
clear  thinker ;  a  natural  logician ;  a  lover  of  truth ;  a 
friend  of  his  race  ;  a  good,  lionest,  intelligent,  brave,  and 
successful  man," 


812  four   hundred  years  op  freethought. 

Egbert  Thorpe. 

Robert  Thorpe,  a  leading  lawyer  of  Pittsburgh,  now 
seventy-six  years  of  age,  from  his  youth  up  has  been  of 
Freethinkiug  proclivities.  When  he  first  went  to  Sunday- 
school  he  asked  a  great  many  questions  which  could  not 
be  answered,  and  so,  after  a  short  experience,  he  quit  tr}^- 
ing  to  understand  the  Bible  in  the  orthodox  fashion.  He 
attended  Onondaga  Academy  ;  he  studied  medicine  at 
first,  but  afterward  studied  law,  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  better  to  take  risks  on  a  man's  property  than 
on  his  life.  About  this  time  American  slavery  became  a 
matter  of  public  discussion,  and  after  examining  the  subject 
thoroughly  he  became  an  abolitionist.  He  married  and 
removed  to  Pennsylvania,  and  continued  the  political  fight 
for  abolitionism.  When  the  great  Civil  war  broke  out  he 
took  an  active  part  m  aiding  the  Union  cause.  He  was 
personally  acquainted  with  President  Lincoln  and  Secre- 
tary of  War  Stanton ;  knew  them  as  lawyers  long  before 
the  war.  They  entrusted  him  with  the  execution  of  many 
things  of  importance.  After  the  war,  slavery  being  abol- 
ished, and  tije  great  battle  of  his  life  having  been  fought 
and  won,  he,  for  several  3'ears,  devoted  himself  strictly 
to  legal  business,  but,  he  says,  "the  encroachnieuts  of  the 
church  on  the  rights  of  the  people  have  become  so  great 
and  unjust  tliat  I  feel  it  necessary  to  go  again  upon  tlie 
war-path.  " 

S.    TOOMEY. 

Samuel  Toomey  was  born  111  York  county,  Penn.,  March 
1,  1830.  He  was  the  eleventh  chjld  of  a  family  of  four- 
teen. The  demands  on  his  father  for  the  support  of  so 
large  a  family  rendered  it  necessary  that  the  labor  of  each 
cliild  sliould  be  made  available  as  soon  as  age  should  per- 
mit. Young  Toomey's  advantages  for  education  were 
extremely  meager,  thirty  days  comprising  tlie  whole  time 
he  ever  spent  in   a  school-liouse.     Leaving  home  at    the 


S.  TOOMEY.  813 

<ige  of  six,  he  was  reared  among  relatives  and  neighbors, 
for  whom  he  worked  at  any  jobs  he  could  obtain  until 
sixteen  years  of  age.  He  then  began  learning  the  black- 
smith trade  near  Gettysburg,  in  his  native  state.  One 
year  later,  with  fourteen  dollars  borrowed  money,  and  all 
of  his  earthly  effects  tied  in  a  bundle  over  his  back,  he 
started  on  foot  for  Ohio,  being  three  weeks  and  two  days 
on  the  way  to  Sugar  Creek  Falls,  Tuscarawas  county. 
The  last  four  days  were  spent  with  one  meal  per  day  on 
account  of  failing  funds.  Here  he  found  employment  in 
the  shop  of  Daniel  Wagner.  A  j^ear  later  he  became 
owner  of  the  business,  his  employer  removing  to  the  West. 
Working  steadily  at  this  trade  for  a  few  years,  he  soon 
gained  the  reputation  of  being  the  best  blacksmith  and 
mechanic  in  the  surrounding  countr}^  In  1850  he  lost  by 
fire  his  shop,  tools,  and  all  his  stock,  including  the  first 
buggy  he  ever  made.  In  1850  he  removed  to  Wilmot, 
Stark  county,  Ohio,  where,  with  various  successes,  he 
continued  in  business  for  fifteen  years  at  carriage  build- 
ing, which  he  added  to  blacksraithing,  and  in  a  short  time 
built  up  such  a  reputation  for  making  good  carriages  that 
he  was  compelled  to  give  up  custom  work  and  confine  him- 
self to  tlie  carriage  business.  In  1868  lie  removed  to 
Canal  Dover,  Avhere  he  has  since  continued  in  business, 
increasing  his  facilities  and  constantly  improving  the 
style  and  quality  of  liis  work.  He  is  tlie  inventor  of  dif- 
ferent patented  improvements  ou  carriages.  In  1868  he 
invented  what  was  then  so  widely  known  as  Toomey's 
method  of  constructing  bent-rim  wheels.  Within  the 
last  eight  years  he  has  taken  out  seven  different  patents 
on  improvements  on  track  sulkies,  etc.  A  successful 
inventor  and  business  man,  Mr.  Toomey  thus  writes  of 
religion :  "  My  father  and  mother  belonged  to  the  old 
German  Lutheran  church,  but  I  was  taken  away  from 
home  so  very  young  that  I  got  little  religious  instruction 
from  them,  but  I  mainly  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  same 


814  POHR  HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   FRKETHOUGHT. 

class  of  people,  so  I  liad  to  go  to  chiircb.  In  this  way  I 
grew  up,  and  being  a  natural  abolitionist  from  my  youth 
up,  I  joined  the  United  Brethren  church  when  eighteen 
years  of  age,  but  never  could  fully  believe  the  Bible 
stories.  At  the  same  time  I  became  a  reader  of  the 
"  Antislavery  Bugle,"  published  in  Salem,  Ohio.  Salem 
was  at  that  time  the  headquarters  for  those  then  known  as 
Broad-gaugers,  or  Infidels.  Such  reading  brought  about 
thinking  and  investigation,  and,  as  you  know,  investiga- 
tion brings  Infidelity.  So  for  the  last  thirty  years  I  did 
my  own  thinking,  reading  such  books  as  any  unbiased 
man  should  read  ;  and,  of  course,  as  with  the  great  Darwin, 
it  ended  in  Agnosticism,  and  very  strongly  in  Atheism." 

J.    VOSTROVSKY. 

Jaroslav  Vostrovsky  is  from  Bohemia,  the  land  of 
Huss.  He  was  born  March  5,  1836 ;  attended  schools 
in  Bomemia,  and  traveled  through  the  different  countries 
of  Europe ;  was  a  political  radical  and  favored  the 
national  independence  of  Bohemia,  as  Kossuth  did  that 
of  Hungary  ;  he  was  a  patriot  in  every  fiber  of  his  being, 
and  so  pronounced  in  his  convictions  that  he  found  it 
advisable  to  come  to  the  laud  of  Freethought  and  free 
action — America.  He  reached  here  in  1864.  He  has 
engaged  in  many  business  enterprises  in  Nebraska,  Iowa, 
and  lastly  in  California,  and  acquired  a  competence.  He 
now  enjoys,  with  his  family,  the  sunny  atmosphere  near 
San  Jose,  Santa  Clara  county.  The  name  of  his  home  is 
The  Willows.  Mr.  Vostrovsky  is  independent  in  politics, 
a  liberal  supporter  of  Freethought,  and  is  loyal  to  the  flag 
of  the  Union.  He  is  well  known  among  the  Bohemians 
of  this  country  as  a  writer  and  speaker.  He  contributes 
in  the  Bohemian  language  to  the  Liberal  journals  of  that 
7iationalitv.  He  is  vice-president  of  the  California  State 
Liberal  Union.  He  has  three  children,  and  the  whole 
familv  are  Freethinkers. 


ALBERT  ROSENOW  (p.  796) 


C.  B.  WAITE  815 

BoBERT  Wade. 

Robert  Wade,  of  Troy,  originally  of  England,  has 
always  been  such  a  stanch  supporter  of  Freethouglit  and 
contributor  to  its  funds  that  his  name  belongs  to  our  his- 
tory of  the  organized  work.  The  columns  of  "  The  Truth 
Seeker,"  "Investigator,"  etc.,  bear  witness  to  his  faithful 
service. 

C.  B.  Waite. 

Charles  B.  Waite  was  born  in  Wayne  county.  New 
York,  in  1824,  his  father  being  Daniel  D.  Waite,  an 
eminent  physician,  and  his  mother  Lucy  Clapp,  the 
daughter  of  Israel  Clapp,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Cayuga  county.  About  the  year  1825,  Dr.  Waite  removed, 
with  his  family,  to  Cayuga  county,  where  the  subject  of 
our  sketch  spent  his  boyhood  and  his  early  joutL.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen,  young  Waite  was  a  law  student  of 
William  E.  Little,  of  Joliet,  111.,  at  tlie  same  time  pur- 
suing his  classical  studies.  In  1844  he  entered  Knox 
College,  at  Galesburg.  Although  he  spent  but  one  year 
in  that  institution.  President  Blanchard  and  the  faculty, 
some  ten  years  afterward,  without  anj^  solicitation  or 
application  on  his  part,  conferred  upon  ])im  the  degree  of 
A.M.  In  1845  he  went  to  Bock  Island^  whei-e  he  con- 
tinued his  law  studies,  teaching  classes  and  evening 
schools  for  support.  He  was  a  zealous  abolitionist,  and 
though  there  were  then  but  a  handful  of  autislavery 
people  in  the  country,  he  established  and  published  an 
autislavery  newspaper  called  "  The  Libert}^  Banner." 
This  was  in  1846.  In  1847  Mr.  Waite  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  soon  afterward  entered  into  a  practice  which  was 
large  and  lucrative.  In  1848  he  was  a  candidate  for 
state's  attorney,  and,  notwithstanding  the  unpopularity  of 
his  antislaver}'  views,  he  carried  two  counties,  and  polled 
a  large  vote  in  the  others.  In  1853  he  settled  in  Chicago, 
-where  he  had  previously  resided,  and  in  a  short  time  was 


816  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT 

recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  successful  law- 
yers in  the  city.  In  the  spring  of  1854  he  was  married  to 
Catharine  Van  Valkenburg,  a  graduate  of  Oberliu  College. 
Mrs.  Waite  is  widely  known  as  a  successful  business 
woman,  and  as  a  prominent  advocate  and  participant  in 
the  social  reforms  of  the  day.  Her  influence  is  great,  and 
her  counsel  is  often  sought  for  by  those  of  her  own  sex 
throughout  the  country.  In  1862,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
eight,  Mr.  Waite  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln 
associate  justice  of  Utah,  and  removed  with  his  family  to 
Salt  Lake.  He  returned  to  Chicago  in  1866,  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1868  he  was  employed" 
to  go  to  Washington  and  make  an  argument  before  the  com- 
mittee on  elections  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the 
Utah  contested  election  case  then  pending.  His  argument 
was  a  masterly  one,  containing  a  thorough  and  able  expose 
of  the  wliole  system  of  Mormonism  in  its  relations  to  the 
people  and  government  of  the  United  States.  About  this 
time  he  became  an  advocate  of  woman  suffrage,  the  cause 
then  being  comparatively  in  its  infancy  in  the  northwest. 
He  has  remained  steadfast  in  his  views  upon  that  subject, 
and  his  articles  in  "The  Chicago  Law  Times"  during  the 
last  three  years  have  attracted  attention  throughout  the 
United  States.  "Suffrage  a  Right  of  Citizenship,"  and 
"  Who  Were  Voters  in  the  Early  History  of  This  Country  ?  " 
published  in  pamphlet  form,  have  had  a  wide  circulation. 
Tlie  winter  of  1872-73  he  spent  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
In  the  spring  of  1873  he  returned  to  Chicago,  and  since 
then  has  spent  his  time  almost  exclusively  in  literary 
pursuits.  Ten  years  ago  he  gave  to  the  world  his  "  His- 
tory of  the  Christian  Religion  to  the  Year  Two  Hundred." 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  work  of  a  historic  character  has 
€ver  attracted  so  much  attention  among  thinking  men.  It 
Las  been  indorsed  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  theo- 
logical scholars  of  Europe,  including  Prof.  Gnstav  Volk- 
xnar,  the  celebrated  theological  historian  of  Ziirich,  and 


C.  B    WAITE.  yl7 

the  Eev.  Dr.  Samuel  Davidson,  of  London.  Bjoi-nstjerne 
Bjornson,  the  renowned  Norwegian  poet  and  scholar, 
translated  about  half  of  it  into  the  Danish  Norwegian 
language,  and  published  an  edition  which  was  speedily- 
sold  among  his  countrymen.  It  was  entitled,  "  Whence 
Originated  the  Miracles?"  In  this  country  the  sale  has 
been  large,  and  the  work  has  found  its  way  into  all  parts 
of  the  country.  Judge  Waite,  after  publishing  his  history, 
spent  three  years  in  foreign  travel.  During  that  time  he 
sojourned  from  one  to  two  months  in  nearly  every  prin- 
cipal city  of  Europe,  extending  his  travels  also  to  Egypt 
and  Palestine.  He  made  a  long  stay  in  Vienna,  where  he 
remained  nine  months  with  his  daughter,  Dr.  Lucy  Waite, 
who,  having  graduated  in  medicine  in  Chicago,  was  pur- 
suing her  studies  in  Europe.  He  has  given  much  thought 
1,0  questions  of  constitutional  law,  and  some  of  his  articles 
on  such  subjects,  published  in  the  "  Law  Times,"  have 
received  the  approval  and  commendation  of  our  ablest 
jurists.  He  has  strongly  and  vigorously  opposed  nearly^  all 
of  the  late  projects  for  amending  the  federal  Constitution, 
particularly  the  religious  amendment  proposed  b}-  Senator 
Blair.  This  he  denounced  as  a  direct  step  toward  the 
union  of  church  and  state.  Judge  Waite's  ringing  article 
on  this  subject,  entitled  "  Conspiracy  Against  the  Repub- 
lic," has  been  sent  for  from  all  quarters,  and  read  with 
avidity.  He  was  lately  elected  president  of  the  combined 
societies  of  the  Secular  Union  of  Chicago,  having  pre- 
viously been  president  of  the  Philosophical  Society. 
Whilst  sojourning  in  Washington,  preparing  his  history, 
he  assisted  in  the  formation  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
that  city,  of  which  President  Garfield,  then  a  congress- 
man, and  his  wife  were  members.  Judge  Waite  has  a 
record  of  which  anyone  might  be  proud.  His  life  has  been 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  liberty — to  the  emancipation  of 
the  human  race  from  physical  and  intellectual  bondage. 
He  is  now  president  of  the  American  Secular  Union. 


818  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FRBETHOUGHT 

T.  B.  Wakeman. 
Tliaddeus  Burr  Wakeman  was  born  Dec.  23,  1834,  at 
Greenfield  Hill,  Fairfield  county,  Conn,  His  parents  were 
of  old  and  honored  New  England  stock.  His  childhood 
was  passed  amidst  the  surroundings  of  farm  life.  In  his 
seventh  year  the  family  moved,  under  the  stress  of 
calamity,  to  the  lower  part  of  the  John  Brown  tract, 
called  the  North  Woods,  in  Herkimer  county,  near  the 
center  of  New  York.  Here  for  five  or  six  years,  during 
which  time  his  father  died,  he  had  the  great  advantage  of 
meeting  life  in  its  wildest  forms  and  hardest  conditions. 
He  became  for  his  age  an  expert  in  trapping,  fishing,  and 
woodcraft.  He  then  went  to  New  York  and  settled  down 
to  city  life.  By  his  own  exertions  and  the  aid  of  friends 
he  fitted  for  college,  and  entered  the  sophomore  class  at 
Princeton,  graduating  with  honor  in  1854  in  his  twentieth 
year.  The  "Evidences  of  Cliristianity "  was  one  of  the 
departments  in  which  he  stood  number  one.  Afterwards, 
to  the  surprise  and  grief  of  his  family  and  friends,  he 
declared  that  he  could  no  longer  believe  as  his  fathers 
had  done  and  could  not,  therefore,  consistently  enter  the 
ministry.  He  turned  to  the  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1856.  He  married  in  1859.  As  a  lawyer  he  has 
done  good  and  successful  work.  In  politics  he  was  origi- 
nally antislavery.  He  joined  the  Republican  party,  but 
after  the  war  he  followed  Horace  Greeley  as  a  Liberal 
Bepublican.  He  is  now  in  favor  of  an  Independent  Lib- 
eral partv.  He  has  been  active  and  well  known  in  Free- 
thought  movements  in  New  York  since  1868,  and  his 
usefulness  and  reputation  have  extended  over  the  whole 
country.  He  became  leader  in  the  Humanity  Society  and 
Liberal  clubs  of  New  York  and  was  for  three  years  presi- 
dent of  the  National  Liberal  League,  and  is  president  of 
the  New  York  State  Freethinkers'  Association.  The  Hon. 
Elizur  Wright  exclaimed,  when  Mr.  Wakeman  was  elected 
his  successor  as  president  of  the  National  Liberal  League  : 


T.  B.  WAKEMAN.  8X9 

"Now  you  have  the  right  man  in  the  right  place.  He 
does  not  fear  gods  or  the  devils  or  the  consensus  of  the 
competent."  James  Parton  said  of  him  :  "  He  has  the 
truth  ;  he  is  the  coming  man."  Courtlandt  Palmer  said 
of  his  speech  at  Mrs.  Irving's  funeral:  "Wakeman — in 
intellect  a  sage,  in  heart  a  woman,  in  soul  a  poet — delivered 
the  most  touching  funeral  address  I  ever  heard."  Samuel 
P.  Putnam  says  :  "  His  published  works  are  to  construc- 
tive Liberalism  what  Euclid  was  to  geometry — its  foun- 
dation." Mrs.  Augusta  Cooper  Bristol  says  :  "  He  is  the 
most  universal  man  I  ever  met."  Mr.  T.  C.  Leland  said: 
"  In  Liberalism  he  has  become  known  as  one  of  its  stal- 
wart advocates.  He  is  identified  with  some  steps  of  great 
importance  in  its  history  in  this  country."  In  1887  he 
was  nominated  for  the  office  of  attorney-general  by  the 
Progressive  Labor  party.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was 
the  editor  of  "  Man,"  one  of  the  ablest  Liberal  journals 
ever  published  in  this  country.  Whenever  or  wherever 
there  is  an  intelligent  movement  inaugurated  in  behalf  of 
humanity,  there  Mr.  Wakeman  will  be  found  giving  it  the 
benefit  of  his  ripe  scholarship  and  matured  thought.  He 
is  an  admirable  platform  speaker.  His  eloquence  con- 
sists in  his  earnestness  and  honesty  and  his  evident  under- 
standing of  whatever  subject  he  discusses.  He  is  now  con- 
tributing editor  of  the  "Freethinkers'  Magazine."  He  has 
adapted  the  system  of  Comte  to  American  ideas,  so  that 
in  his  mind  it  becomes  a  fit  introduction  to  the  reforming 
power  of  Socialism.  His  most  notable  work  in  connection 
with  Freethought  is  the  fight  he  made  with  the  Comstock 
postal  laws,  which,  with  unanswerable  ability,  he  denounced 
as  tyrannical,  unconstitutional,  unnecessary,  immoral,  im- 
politic, and  useless.  It  required  a  great  deal  of  grit  and 
courage  to  oppose  laws  apparently  intended  to  suppress 
obscenity,  but  Mr.  Wakeman,  feelin<r  that  no  true  modesty 
could  exist  in  the  throttliiig  of  liberty,  manfully  stood  by 
his  post. 


820  FOUR    HUNDRED    YKARS    OF    FREETHOUGHT 

E.  C.  Walker. 

Edwiu  C.  Walker  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Erie  county, 
N.  Y.,  December  9,  1849.     He  is  of  New  England  ancestry. 
His  mother  was  a  Vermont  Whitney  and  his  father  one  of 
the  Walkers  of  Maine.     His  parents  moved  to  Iowa  when 
he  was  six  years  old.     He  was  brought  up  on  a  farm,  and 
spent  his  life,  until  he  was  twenty-six  years  old,  in  agri- 
culture   and    teaching.     He    has   devoted    the    succeeding 
vears  to  Freethought  and  reform.     In  his  early  life  he  was 
an  active   Universalist,  but  later  became  a  radical  of   the 
radicals.     He  spent  six  or  seven  years  in  the  Liberal  lect- 
ure  and  canvassing  field,  aud  was  a  frequent  contributor 
to   '-The   Truth   Seeker"  and    other    progressive   papers. 
He  took  great  interest  in  the  aggressive  work  of  the  Na- 
tional Liberal  League,  and   was   an   able    co-worker   with 
Leland   and   Wakeman.     He   always   held  that  the   great 
danger  threatening  liberty  in  America  was  the  machina- 
tions of  the  Protestant  organizations  ;  that  the  Catholics 
are  dangerous  only  as  the  Protestants  prepare  the  way  for 
them.     He  was,  for  some  years,  co-editor  with   Harman  of 
the  '•  Kansas   Liberal"  and  "  Lucifer."     Later  on   he  and 
Lillian  Harman  issued  "Fair  Play"  at  Valley  Falls,  Kan- 
sas, and  Sioux  City,  Iowa.     He  was  an  editorial  contrib- 
utor to  •'  Liberty, '  and  a  literary  worker  on  the  "  Weekly 
Review,"  Boston.     He  is  now  with  "  The   Truth   Seeker." 
He  has  ])ublished  "  Bible   Temperance,"  and   other   pam- 
phlets, and  is  an  argumentative  and  incisive  writer. 

L.  K.  Washburn. 

L.  K.  Wasljburn  Avas  born  in  tlie  town  of  Wareham, 
Mass..  on  the  25th  of  March,  1846.  He  was  the  third  in 
a  family  of  seven  boys  and  one  girl.  When  eleven  years 
of  aire  his  father  bought  a  farm  in  Barre,  Mass.,  whither 
be  rroved  his  family  in  1857.  For  eight  years  young 
Washburn  worked  on  the  farm  and   attended  school  when 


L.  K.  WASHBUJIN.  821 

he  could.  At  seventeen  lie  entered  the  high  school,  where 
he  spent  two  years.  In  1865  his  father  sold  the  farm 
and  moved  back  to  Wareham.  One  year  at  Pierce  Acad- 
emy, Middleboro,  Mass.,  followed  for  the  boy,  who  was 
not  cut  out  for  a  farmer.  In  1867  "Washburn  entered  a 
law  office,  intending  to  adopt  the  law  for  a  profession,  but 
circumstances  prevented  the  fruition  of  this  plan,  and  he 
eventually  entered  the  Boston  School  for  Ministers,  where 
he  was  expected  to  be  fitted  for  the  Unitarian  ministry. 
A  few  mouths  in  a  theological  school  was  sufficient  to  con- 
vince him  that  he  could  never  be  a  Christian  minister,  and 
he  left  before  the  first  term  closed.  What  to  do  now 
was  the  question  that  confronted  the  young  man,  who 
would  not  be  a  lawyer  and  who  could  not  be  a  Christian 
minister.  After  lecturing  for  several  months  he  was  in- 
vited to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the  Unitarian  church  at 
Hubbardston,  Mass.,  for  the  summer.  This  was  done  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  parish.  The  November  following 
he  began  preaching  in  a  hall  in  Ipswich,  where  in  the  fol- 
lowing February  he  was  ordained  a  minister  without  join- 
ing any  church  or  denomination.  From  1870  to  1880  Mr. 
Washburn  preached  in  Ipswich,  Nantucket,  Minneapolis, 
Minn.,  and  Revere,  where  his  ministry  terminated.  Five 
years  of  book-keeping  followed  in  Lynn,  when  he  entered 
the  field  as  a  Freethought  lecturer.  In  1886  he  com- 
menced speaking  in  Paine  Hall,  Boston,  where  he  has 
delivered  nearly  one  hundred  lectures.  On  the  death  of 
Horace  Seaver  in  August,  1889,  Mr.  Washburn  was  invited 
to  succeed  him  as  editor  of  the  "Investigator."  His  work 
since  that  time  is  well  known  to  the  Freethinkers  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Washburn  is  one  of  the  foremost 
writers  and  orators  in  America  to-da}-.  He  has  the  touch 
of  genius — the  brilliancy  of  the  "divine  spark."  His 
lectures  are  finished  discourses,  weight}^  with  argument 
and  sparkling  with  epigram.  He  is  a  noble  successor  to 
Horace   Seaver,  and  there    is   no  other  man  who  could  so 


822  FOUR  HUNDRED  TEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

fill  that  important  position.  He  has  the  plainness  and 
directness  of  Seaver  himself,  his  thorough-going  radical 
principles  and  bed-rock  common  sense,  with  an  infusion 
of  modern  spirit  and  culture  ;  the  wide  intellectual  sym- 
pathies and  much  of  the  impassioned  rhetoric  of  Inger- 
soll,  the  admirable  clearness  and  elegance  of  Frothingliam, 
which  make  him  a  representative  exponent  of  Freethought 
and  a  leading  and  powerful  influence  in  its  development. 
Paine  Hall  and  the  Boston  "  Investigator  "  could  not  da 
without  this  gifted  Freethinker. 

Otto  Wettstein. 

Otto  Wettstein  was  born  in  Barmen,  Ehenish,  Prussia, 
in  1838,  his  father,  Theodore  Wettstein,  being  then  a  dry- 
goods  merchant  there.     In  1848,  with  the  view  of  availing 
.himself  of  the  innumerable  advantages  offered  by  the  New 
World,  the  father  disposed  of  his  business  and,  taking  his 
all,   settled    in   Milwaukee,  Wis.      At   the   age   of  twelve- 
years   Otto  Wettstein   was  sent  to   Chicago   to  learn   tha 
jeweler's  trade,  with  a  friend  of  his  father's ;  here  he  re^ 
mained  three  years,  when  he  returned  to  Milwaukee  and 
served  an  additional  three  j-ears,  making  six  years  in  all 
that  he  served  as  an  apprentice,   and   mastering  at  th& 
early  age  of  eighteen  all  the  intricacies  of  this  profession. 
After  three  years  in   Milwaukee,  Mr.  Wettstein  was  prof- 
fered a  position   as  journeyman  at  the   Chicago  establish- 
ment where  he  first  served  as  an  apprentice.     A  year  later 
he  came  to  Rochelle.     At  this  time  Mr.  Wettstein's  savings 
amounted  to  a  fair-sized  library,  a  full  outfit  of  tlie  best 
jewelry   tools,  and  four   dollars    in   hard   cash.     On   such 
small  capital  was  this  widely  renowned  house  established 
thirty-six  years  ago.     Mr.  Wettstein  took  advantage  of  all 
his  spare  hours  for  investigation.     The  works  of  Theodore 
Parker,  and  such   logical  writers,  were  read  with  interest, 
and  led  him  to  a  field  of    thought    that    broadened  his 
views  and  took  him  out  of  the  Lutheran  church  in  whose 


J.  J.  McCABE  (p.   770). 


HERMAN  WETTSTBIN.  823 

tenets  be  had  been  educated,  and  to  plant  his  patriotism 
and  religion  on  the  foUowiug  platform  :  "  The  world  is 
mj  country,  to  do  good  my  religion."  These  views  he 
advocates  with  such  sincerity  and  tolerance  as  to  maintain 
the  respect  and  esteem  of  even  those  who  look  upon  such 
teachings  as  sacrilege.  He  is  a  prolific  writer  and  handles 
his  subjects  in  such  a  lucid  style  and  original  way  as  to 
make  his  articles  very  attractive,  and  has  in  consequence 
made  thousands  of  friends  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  In 
commercial  and  financial  circles  Mr.  Wettstein  has  ever 
maintained  an  excellent  reputation  for  honorable,  liberal, 
and  straightforward  dealing,  and  he  is  highly  esteemed 
both  as  a  successful  merchant  and  as  a  Liberal,  intelligent, 
public-spirited  citizen. 

Herman  Wettstein. 

Herman  Wettstein  was  born  February  14, 1840,  in  Bar- 
men, Elberfeld,  "  the  Pittsburg  of  Germany."  In  1848  his 
parents  migrated  to  America.  The  third  of  a  family  of 
five  boys  and  one  girl,  his  father  '  bound  "  Herman,  with 
his  brother  Otto,  to  learn  the  jeweler's  trade,  which  all  of 
his  brothers,  excepting  the  oldest,  Theodore,  subsequently 
acquired.  In  1860  he  was  engaged  b}'  S.  C.  Spaulding, 
the  leading  jeweler  of  Janesville,  Wis.,  with  whom  he 
stayed  f  jt  two  years.  In  1862  he  commenced  business  for 
himself  in  Albany,  Wis.,  but  this  town  affording  no  facil- 
ities for  an  increase  of  business  he  returned  to  Janesville, 
where  he  remained  for  eight  years.  He  subsequently  re- 
moved to  Harvard,  111.,  where  he  carried  on  a  successful 
business  for  fifteen  years  ;  then  to  Marengo  and  Byron, 
111.  Mr.  Wettstein  was  married  in  1868  to  Miss  Harriet 
P.  Collier,  of  Evansville,  Wis.,  by  whom  he  has  one  child, 
Pauline  L.  Wettstein.  In  1886  he  was  married  to  Mrs. 
Clara  A.  Kennedy,  of  Mound  City,  IlL 


824         four  hundred  years  of  freethought. 

Susan  H.  Wixon. 

In  the  quiet  town  of  Dennis,  Mass.,  amid  tlie  dunes 
and  breez}^  pines  of  old  Cape  Cod,  the  eyes  of  Susan 
Helen  Wixon  first  opened  to  the  light  of  day.  She  comes 
of  Welsh  stock.  Robert  Wixon,  of  whom  she  is  a  lineal 
descendant,  came  to  this  country  from  Wales  in  1621  in 
the  ship  Fortune,  and  was  one  of  the  original  settlers  of 
Eastham,  Mass.,  in  1644.  As  showing-  the  force  and  per- 
sistency of  heredity,  the  type  of  features,  and  certain 
marked  traits  of  the  independent  Welsh  people,  are  so 
plainly  discernible  in  Miss  Wixon  as  to  elicit  comment 
from  those  conversant  with  the  land  of  the  Cymri.  Her 
father,  Capt.  James  Wixon,  was  a  man  of  broad  views  and 
keen  perception.  His  early  acquaintance  with  the  sea 
and  commercial  dealings  with  people  of  all  nationalties 
and  religious  views,  led  him  to  believe  in  the  brotherhood 
of  the  human  race,  and  that  religion  was  simply  a  matter 
of  climate  and  education.  Her  mother,  Bethia  Smith 
Wixon,  was  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence,  a  clear 
reasoner,  and  remarkably  conscientious.  From  her 
parents  the  subject  of  this  sketch  has  inherited  the  qual- 
ities of  mind  and  nature  that  have  made  her  name  well 
and  favorably  known,  not  only  in  America,  but  beyond  the 
seas  as  welL  Miss  Wixon  was  born  a  Liberal.  As  a 
child  she  was  thoughtful  and  meditative,  finding  her 
greatest  pleasure  in  communion  with  nature.  When 
missed  from  her  home  for  hours,  she  would  finally  be  dis- 
covered lying  full  lengtli  under  the  swaying  branches  of 
some  old  pine  tree,  listening  with  rapt  attention  to  the 
sigliiug  melodies  overhead,  or  watchinjjr  with  eager  interest 
the  solemn  splendor  of  the  sea,  as  the  moaning  billows 
dashed  their  foaming  offerings  upon  the  glistening  bosom 
of  the  sandy  beach  below.  Her  first  introduction  to  an 
orthodox  Sunday-school  struck  the  key-note  to  her  sub- 
sequent career  in  the  Liberal  field.     Her  little  heart  was 


SUSAN  H.  WIXON. 


825 


filled  with  indignation  at  the  popular  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion, and  although  unable  to  speak  distiuctl}-,  for  she  was 
little  more  than  a  baby,  she  disputed  the  tenets  of  the 
church  with  her  teacher,  electrifying  that  good  lady,  and 
her  classmates,  by  emphatically  declaring  that  anybody 
who  would  make  a  lake  of  lire  and  brimstone  in  which  to 
burn  up  his  children  ought  to  be  the  first  one  to  be 
burned  in  it.  Miss  Wixon  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools,  and  always  stood  at  the  head  of  her  classes.  In 
her  thirteenth  year  she  was  teaching  school,  passing  a 
successful  examination,  and  distancing  all  competitors. 
Following  this  she  was  placed  in  a  seminary  of  learning 
for  a  year,  after  which  she  taught  school  several  years  in 
Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island.  The  removal  of  her 
family  to  I^^all  River,  Mass.,  brought  Miss  Wixon  into 
more  active  contact  with  the  great  world.  She  attended 
the  Universalist  church  with  her  parents,  but  after  a  study 
of  religious  subjects  she  discovered  that  there  was  no 
church  in  existence  whose  platform  is  broad  enough  for 
her  to  stand  upon.  She  found  her  place  and  her  work  in 
tlie  Liberal  ranks.  In  taking  her  stand  as  a  Radical,  she 
well  knew  that  she  must  face  the  coldness,  unfriendliness, 
and  bigotry  of  the  ignorant  and  unthinking  devotees  of 
ecclesiasticism.  But  never  for  one  moment  has  she  hesi- 
tated in  avowing  her  candid  opinions  in  regard  to  the 
myths  and  mistakes  of  theology.  Among  her  first  public 
efi"orts  was  her  opposition  to  the  using  of  corporation 
funds  for  sectarian  purposes.  She  attended  the  annual 
meeting  of  stockholders  of  a  certain  corporation  and  made 
such  an  argument  against  the  movement  that  the  vote  was 
carried  against  the  unjust  demand.  A  local  paper,  in 
adverting  to  the  subject,  said  :  "We  honor  the  heroism  of 
the  young  lady,  a  stockholder,  Avho  had  the  devotion  to 
principle  and  the  moral  courage  to  attend  a  meeting  of 
stockholders  where  she  was  the  onh'  woman  present,  and, 
with  thrilling  eloquence,  to  advocate  the  rights  of  those 


826  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

who  were  thus  attempted  to  be  despoiled  of  tlieir  own,  by 
the  combined  action  of  corporate  sectarian  influence,  and 
whose  strong  k)gic,  forcible  appeal,  cutting  and  convincing 
arguments,  roused  a  majority  to  side  with  right  and  jus- 
tice. When  Roger  Williams,  the  apostle  of  religious 
liberty,  fled  from  Massachusetts  to  Rhode  Island,  he 
declared  for  '  soul  libert}'.'  Let  credit  be  given  to  Susan 
H.  Wixon  for  the  same  noble  sentiment."  The  affair 
created  much  excitement,  and  at  once  placed  Miss  Wixou 
with  the  reformers  of  the  world.  Miss  Wixon  is  an  easy 
and  attractive  platform  speaker.  She  was  the  first  lady 
who  lectured  in  Paine  Hall,  Boston,  and  the  first  to  give  a 
radical  discourse  in  the  city  where  she  resides.  She  is  an 
earnest  friend  of  reform  in  all  its  phases,  speaking  and 
writing  upon  educational  and  moral  topics,  temperance, 
rights  of  labor,  and  scientific  improvement  of  the  race. 
All  she  says  and  does  is  in  defense  of  truth  and  justice, 
and  against  all  forms  of  tyranny  and  intolerance.  She  is 
a  friend  of  the  poor  and  lowly,  and  the  unfortunate  find  in 
her  a  ready  sympathizer.  It  is  to  her  many  of  the  work- 
ing fraternity  go  with  tlieir  troubles  and  grievances,  and 
she  is  known  in  her  city  as  the  "  working  people's  friend." 
It  was  she  who  appealed  to  the  governor  of  Massachusetts 
(Russell)  to  appoint  women  in  that  state  as  factory  in- 
spectors, and  througli  her  influence  the  measure  was 
adopted.  When  a  child  her  father  said  to  her:  ''Were 
you  a  boy  T  would  send  you  to  college."  From  that  time 
on  she  has  been  an  entliusiastic  advocate  of  woman  suf- 
frage, helping  woman  in  every  way  possible,  believing 
thoroughly  that  tlie  rights  and  privileges  of  one  human 
being  are  those  of  every  other,  witliout  reference  to  sex, 
nationality,  or  complexion.  In  1890  Miss  Wixon  repre- 
sented lipr  state  at  the  convention  in  Washington,  D.C., 
of  the  Woman's  National  Liberal  Union,  and  was  one 
of  the  speakers  upon  that  occasion.  In  1892  she  went 
abroad,  visiting  England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Belgium, 


SUSAN  H.  WIXON.  827 

collecting  statistics  of  woman's  work  and  wages,  which 
were  embodied  in  a  lecture  on  her  return  to  America. 
She  also  presented  her  views  upon  free  trade  in  foreign 
countries,  which  elicited  much  and  varied  C(jmment. 
Notwithstanding  her  skeptical  and  unpopular  views  on 
religious  subjects,  she  has  been  for  years,  and  is  still, 
an  honored  member  of  the  school  board  in  Fall  River, 
always  on  the  occasions  of  re-election  winning  votes  from 
each  of  the  two  leading  political  factions.  She  is  the 
founder  and  president  of  the  Women's  Educational  and 
Industrial  Society  in  the  above-named  city,  and  until 
recently  was  president  of  the  Humboldt  Scientific  Society. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  and  an 
active  worker  of  tlie  Associated  Cliarities,  a  member  of 
the  Moral  Educational  Society  of  Boston,  and  of  various 
other  reformatory  movements  ;  but  her  special  work  is 
against  religious  superstition,  as  she  sees  clearly  that  it 
is  the  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  human  advancement. 
In  this  line  she  has  accomplished  much,  especially  with 
her  own  sex.  Since  able  to  handle  a  pen,  she  has  used  it 
to  advantage  of  others,  if  not  for  herself.  She  cares  little 
for  fame  or  popularity,  her  one  object  being  to  destroy 
the  harmful  and  help  the  good.  She  writes  easily,  in 
verse  as  well  as  prose,  and  is  a  frequent  contributor  to 
tlie  Li])eral  press.  Her  services  have  also  been  used  in 
reporting  for  the  local  press,  and  at  one  time  she  was  on 
the  reportorial  staff  of  the  Boston  "  Sunday  Record." 
She  is  the  author  of  "All  In  a  Lifetime,"  a  novel  bearing 
upon  social  wrongs  ;  "Apples  of  Gold,"  a  book  of  short 
stories;  "The  Story  Hour,"  tlje  only  illustrated  Free- 
thinkers' children's  story-book  in  the  world,  an  excep- 
tionally handsome  and  interesting  work  ;  "  Summer  Days 
at  Onset;"  "Sunday  Observance;  or,  How  to  Spend 
Sunday  ;  "  "  Woman  :  Four  Centuries  of  Progress,"  and 
*' Right  Living."  Miss  Wixon  is  represented  in  Bennett's 
''World's  Sages.  Thinkers,  and  Reformers,"  in  Hethering 


828  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

Shaw's  "  Poets  of  America,"  issued  in  1890.  Siie  is 
quoted  also  in  "  Poetical  Quotations,"  by  the  same  author, 
and  is  given  a  biographical  sketch  in  "A  Woman  of  the 
Century,"  a  book  containing  the  histories  of  leading 
American  women,  published  by  C.  TV.  Moulton,  of  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.  For  the  last  ten  years  Miss  Wixon  has  had  the 
editorial  management  of  the  children's  department  of 
"The  Truth  Seeker,"  New  York.  Naturally  affectionate 
and  warm-hearted,  children  readil}'^  attach  themselves  to 
her  b}^  the  intuitive  law  of  attraction  and  adhesion.  The 
Children's  Corner  is  a  popular  place  with  old  and  young, 
and  in  it  is  accomplished  effective  work,  not  only  in  the 
present,  but  for  the  future. 

Elizur  Wright. 

Elizur  Wright  was  born  in  South  Canaan,  Conn.,  Feb. 
12,  1804.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College,  1826.  He 
warmly  advocated  the  principles  of  the  abolitionists.  He 
was  secretary  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  and 
edited  the  '"Abolitionist  "  and  "  Commonwealth."  He  was 
an  uncompromising  Freethinker.  He  was  president  of 
the  National  Liberal  League.  He  never  faltered.  See  his- 
tory of  the  National  Defense  Association  of  which  he  was 
president.  He  died  at  Boston,  Dec.  21,  1885.  Robert  G. 
Ingersoll  gave  the  funeral  oration.  He  said  :  "Another 
hero  has  fallen  asleep,  one  who  has  enriched  the  world 
Avitli  an  honest  life.  Elizur  Wright  was  one  of  the  Titans 
who  attacked  the  monsters,  the  gods  of  his  time,  one  of 
the  few  whose  confidence  in  liberty  was  never  shaken,  and 
who,  with  undiramed  eyes,  saw  the  atrocities  and  bar- 
barisms of  his  day,  and  the  glories  of  the  future.  When 
New  York  was  degraded  enough  to  mob  Arthur  Tappan, 
the  noblest  of  lier  citizens  ;  when  Boston  was  sufficiently 
infamous  to  liowl  and  hoot  at  Harriet  Martineau,  the 
j;randest  Englishwoman  that  ever  touched  our  soil ;  when 
the  North  was  dominated  by  theology  and  trade,  by  piety 


HENRY    KUWLKV    (p.    796). 


ELIZUR  WRIGHT.  829 

and  piracy ;  when  we  received  our  morals  from  merchants, 
and  made  merchandise  of  our  morals,  Elizur  Wright  held 
principle  above  profit,  and  preserved  his  manhood  at  the 
peril  of  his  life.  Elizur  Wright  said  to  himself,  Why 
should  we  take  the  chains  from  bodies  and  enslave  minds 
— why  figlit  to  free  the  cage  and  leave  the  bird  a  prisoner  ? 
He  became  an  enemy  of  the  orthodox  religion,  that  is  to 
say,  a  friend  of  intellectual  liberty.  He  contended  that  a 
good  God  would  not  have  upheld  slavery  and  polygamy  ; 
that  a  loving  father  would  not  assist  some  of  his  children 
to  enslave  or  exterminate  their  brethren ;  that  an  infinite 
being  would  not  be  unjust,  irritable,  jealous,  revengeful, 
ignorant  and  cruel.  Elizur  Wright  scattered  with  gen- 
erous hand  the  priceless  seeds,  and  we  shall  reap  the 
golden  grain.  His  words  and  acts  are  ours,  and  all  he 
nobly  did  is  living  still." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

English  Biographical  Sketches. 

Annie  Besant,  nee  Wood,  was  born  at  London,  Oct. 
1,  1847.  She  was  educated  in  Evangelicalism  by  Miss 
Marryat,  sister  of  the  novelist,  but  turned  to  the  High 
church  by  reading  Pusey  and  others.  In  December,  1867, 
she  married  Rev.  F.  Besant.  In  1874  she  joined  the 
National  Secular  Society,  after  separation  from  her  hus- 
band on  account  of  Freethought.  She  took  the  platform, 
and  became  joint  editor  of  the  "  National  Reformer."  In 
1877  she  was  arrested,  with  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  for  publishing 
"Fruits  of  Philosophy."  The  indictment  was  quashed  in 
1878,  and  was  not  renewed.  In  May,  1878,  a  petition  in 
chancery  was  presented  to  deprive  Mrs.  Besant  of  her  child 
on  the  ground  of  her  Atheistic  and  Malthusian  views. 
The  petition  was  granted.  In  1880  Mrs.  Besant  matricu- 
lated at  London  University,  and  took  first  degree  BlSc. 
Avith  honors  m  1882.  She  has  since  become  Socialist  and 
Thesophist.  See  Part  I,  page  490,  and  Freethought  in 
England,  page  610. 

Charles  Bradlaugh  was  born  m  East  London,  Sept. 
22,  1833.  See  First  Part,  page  427,  and  Freethought  in 
England,  page  599. 

Alice  Bradlaugh,  his  elder  daughter,  born  April  30, 
1856,  lias  written  on  "Mind  Considered  as  a  Bodily 
Function."     She  died  Dec.  2,  1888. 

Hypatia  Bradlaugh-Bonner,  liis  second  daughter,  born 


ENOLISH  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.  831 

March  31,  1858,  lias  written  "  Princess  Vera "  and   other 
stories. 

Richard  Carlile  was  born  at  Ashburton,  Devon,  Dec. 
8,  1790.  lu  1818  he  published  Paine's  theological  works. 
For  this  he  was  sentenced  to  fifteen  hundred  pounds'  fine 
and  three  3-ears'  imprisonment.  He  was  kept  in  prison 
until  1835,  and  was  then  released  unconditionally.  He 
died,  Feb.  10,  1848.  See  Freethought  in  England,  page 
598. 

Egbert  Cooper  was  born  Dec.  29,  1889,  at  Barton-on- 
Irwell,  near  Manchester.  He  died  May  3,  1868.  See 
Freethought  in  England,  page  599. 

Daniel  Isaac  Eaton,  bookseller,  was  born  in  1752. 
He  published  Paine's  "  Rights  of  Man  "  and  other  Free- 
thought  books  and  was  imprisoned.  In  1811  he  issued 
Paine's  "Age  of  Reason,"  and  was  tried  before  Lord 
Ellenborough  and  sentenced  to  eighteen  months'  imprison- 
ment and  to  stand  in  the  pillory.  The  sentence  evoked 
Shelley's  spirited  "Letter  to  Lord  Ellenborough."  Eaton 
died  at  Doptford,  Aug.  22,  1814. 

George  William  Foote  was  born  at  Plymouth,  Jan. 
11,  1850.  In  September,  1881,  he  started  the  "Free- 
thinker." In  1883  he  was  prosecuted  and  imprisoned  for 
issuing  a  Christmas  number  of  the  "Freethinker"  with 
an  illustrated  "  Comic  Life  of  Christ."  See  Freethought 
in  England,  page  605. 

George  Jacob  Holyoake. — See  Part  I.,  page  178,  and 
Freethought  in  England,  page  594. 

Austin  Holyoake,  born  Oct.  27,  1826;  died  April  10, 
1874.     See  Freethought  in  England,  page  599. 

Arthur  B.  Moss,  born  May  7,  1855,  contributor  to  the 
"Freethinker,"  "The  Truth  Seeker,"  etc.  See  Free- 
thought  in  England,  page  606 

William  Winwood  Reade,  English  traveler  and  writer, 
nephew  of  Charles  Reade,  the  novelist,  and  author  of 
"Martyrdom   of   Man,"  one    of   the    brightest   and    most 


832  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

learned  Freethouglit  books  ever  written.  He  rejected  the 
doctrine  of  a  i^ersoual  creator.     He  died  April  24,  1875. 

William  Stewart  Eoss  ("Saladiu")  was  born  March 
20,  ISi-l,  at  Kirkbean,  Galloway.  He  is  one  of  the  keenest 
and  most  original  writers  in  England.  He  surpasses  both 
in  prose  and  poetry.  He  is  a  striking  personality.  See 
Freethouglit  in  England,  page  607. 

George  Standring,  born  Oct.  18, 1855.  He  is  secretary 
of  the  London  Secular  Federation,  a  contributor  to  the 
''  Freethinker,"  etc.  His  brother,  Samuel  Standring,  born 
July  27,  1853,  is  also  an  active  worker  in  the  Free  thought 
cause. 

Egbert  Taylor  was  born  Aug.  18,  1784  He  joined 
the  church  in  1809,  and  was  curate  until  1818  ;  he  grew 
skeptical,  preached  a  sermon  on  Jonah  which  astonished 
his  flock,  and  he  resigned.  In  1827  he  was  indicted  for 
blasphemy,  tried  and  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  one 
year's  imprisonment.  Here  he  wrote  his  chief  work, 
"  The  Diegesis."  After  his  liberation  he  published  "  The 
Devil's  Pulpit."  He  was  again  prosecuted  and  sentenced 
to  two  years'  imprisonment.  He  died  at  Jersej^  June  5, 
1844. 

Edward  Truelove  was  born  Oct.  29,  1809.  In  1878, 
after  two  trials,  he  was  sentenced  to  four  month's  im- 
prisonment for  publishing  Owen's  "Moral    Physiology." 

Charles  Watts  was  born  Feb.  28,  1835.  See  Part 
I.,  ]iage  180,  and  Freethought  in  Canada. 

Kate  Eunice  Watts,  wife  of  Charles  Watts,  is  author 
of  ''  Tlie  Education  and  Position  of  Woman,"  and 
"  Eeasons  for  Not  Accepting  Christianity."  These  are 
excellent  pamphlets  and  rank  Mrs.  Watts  among  the  lead- 
ing Freetliought  women  in  England.  Mrs.  Watts  is  gifted 
with  fine  elocutionary  powers,  and  as  an  amateur  actress 
has  no  superior,  and  she  is  a  delightful  contributor  to  the 
social  entertainments  of  Freethought.  She  is  able  also  to 
make  a  fine  address,  if  need  be,  on  the  platftjrm.     But  she 


ENGLISH  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.  833 

does  not  seek  for  anj  promineut  position,  only  she  is 
reudj  to  aid  the  cause  as  far  as  she  cau  with  her  brilliant 
gifts.  Both  iu  the  United  States  and  Canada  she  has 
made  man}-  friends  in  her  cordial  co-operation  with  the 
work  of  Mr.  Watts,  and  no  doubt  in  England  the  enthu- 
siasm of  litu-  nature  makes  her  equally  popular. 

Joseph  Mazzini  Wheeler,  Atheist,  he  calls  himself,  was 
born  at  London,  Jan.  24,  1850.  He  was  converted  from 
•Christianity  by  reading  Newman,  Mill,  Darwin,  Spencer, 
etc.  He  contributed  to  the  "National  Reformer,"  "Secu- 
lar Ciironicle,"  "  Liberal,"  "Progress,"  and  "  Freethinker," 
which  he  has  sub-edited,  using  occasionally  the  sig- 
natures "  Laon,"  •'  Lucianus,"  etc.  He  has  published 
""  Frauds  and  Follies  of  the  Fathers,"  "  Footsteps  of  the 
Past,  '  and  'Crimes  of  Ciiristianity,"  written  in  conjunc- 
tion with  G.  W.  Foote,  with  whom  he  has  also  edited 
•"  Snpljer  Toldoth  Jeshu."  He  is  compiler  of  a  "  Biographi- 
•cal  Dictionary  of  Freethinkers,"  to  which  the  author  of  this 
Avork  is  much  indebted,  as  also  to  Charles  Watts,  Gustave 
Nelson,  ;in  1  J.  J.  Krall  for  facts  in  European  Freetliought 
"which  could  not  be  otherwise  obtained.  Mr.  Wheeler 
says  lie  is  a  willin<jj  drud<jje  in  the  cause  he  loves,  and 
liopes  to  empty  manv  an  inkstand  in  the  service  of  Free- 
;houoht,  to  which  we  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  cordially 
Tespond. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Freethinkers  op  Continental  Europe. 

Victor  Arnauld  was  born  in  1838  at  Maestricht,  Bel- 
gium. In  1855  he  entered  the  University  of  Liege,  pur- 
suing the  study  of  law,  which  he  practiced  at  Anvers  and 
Brussels.  He  associated  himself  with  the  Liberal  party, 
and  entered  journalism  and  politics.  At  Anvers  he 
assisted  in  organizing  the  Freethoughfc  movement  and 
inaugurating  the  system  of  popular  conferences.  Return- 
ing to  Brussels,  he  was  president  of  the  National  Free- 
thought  Federation  from  1875  to  1878  and  from  1887  to 
1888,  and  as  such  he  organized  and  presided  over  numer- 
ous conferences  of  Freethinkers.  In  1869  he  was  elected 
delegate  to  the  Freethought  congress  at  Naples.  Died, 
Jan.  17,  1894. 

August  Bourceret,  born  in  Paris,  is  one  of  the  most 
active  of  French  Freethinkers,  dividing  his  time  between 
scientific  pursuits  and  the  propagation  of  Freethought ; 
is  a  member  of  the  Freethought  Federation  of  France, 
and  a  constant  attendant  at  its  meetings ;  publisher, 
president  of  the  Freethought  Society  of  the  seventh  ward 
of  Paris,  professor  at  the  school  of  sociology,  member  of 
the  International  Freethought  Federation,  of  the  Universal 
Peace  Federation,  and  of  the  Comite  d'Etudes  Morales, 
delegate  to  the  International  Freethought  Congress  at 
Madrid,  October,  1892. 

J.  G.  ten  Bokkel,  Amsterdam,  born  Dec.  14,  1856,  is 
one  of  tlie  eflitors  of  "  De  Dageraad,"  and  a  regular  con- 


REUBEN  RUSH  (p.   799). 


FREETHINKERS  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  835 

tributor  to  several  democratic  newspapers.  He  serves  the 
government  as  officer  of  the  ground-tax,  and  has  called 
down  the  enmity  of  the  orthodox  upon  himself  by  his 
famous  work,  "  Dominee,  Pastoor  of  Babbi,"  which  has 
in  the  small  kingdom  of  Holland  reached  the  enormous 
sale  of  fifty  thousand  copies. 

Edward  Brandes,  M.  D.,  of  Copenhagen,  a  brother  of 
George  Brandes,  the  eminent  Danish  Freethinker,  is  an 
outspoken  Materialist.  He  first  attracted  public  attention 
when,  upon  his  election  to  the  Danish  Folkethiug  (House 
of  representatives),  he  refused  to  take  the  customary 
oath.  The  government  endeavored  to  unseat  him,  but  his 
party,  the  democrats,  rallied  to  his  ,  support,  and  he  was 
finally  allowed  to  affirm,  thus  establishing  a  precedent  for 
future  cases  of  a  similar  kind.  Since  then  he  has  devoted 
his  life  to  politics  and  journalism.  As  editor  of  a  Copen- 
liageu  (hiily  paper,  he  gives  free  opening  to  well-written 
Freethought  articles  of  the  scientific  and  philosophical 
kind,  a  practice  which  has  on  more  than  one  occasion 
caused  his  pocketbook  to  become  lighter  and  himself 
to  get  acquainted  witli  the  inside  of  a  prison. 

George  Brandes,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  is  the  representative 
of  Freethought  in  Denmark.  Of  Jewish  extraction,  he 
was  born  at  Copenhagen.  Feb.  4,  1842.  In  1859  he  en- 
tered the  University  of  Copenhagen,  and  in  1862  received 
the  university's  great  gold  medal  for  a  prize  essay.  In  1867 
he  published  his  first  work,  "The  Dualism  in  Our  Latest 
Philosophy,"  which  aroused  the  ire  of  the  Danish  clergy. 
As  private  tutor  at  the  university  he  delivered  public  lect- 
ures at  that  institution.  Owing  to  the  machinations  of 
the  church  and  government  he  was  obliged  to  leave  D^^n- 
mark,  going  to  Germany,  where  he  filled  the  chair 
of  esthetics  at  the  University  of  Berlin.  In  1882  he  re- 
turned to  Denmark,  his  fellow-countrymen  having  guar- 
ranteed  him  four  thousand  crowns  a  year  for  a  terra  of 
ten  years.     Dr.  Brandes  is  the  author  of  nnmeron-^  works, 


836  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

which  have  been  translated  into  all  European  languages. 
He  is  an  outspoken  Atheist,  and  member  of  the  Interna- 
tional Freethought  Federation. 

Theophilo  Broga,  professor  in  the  University  of  Lis- 
bon, Portugal,  was  born  in  1843.  His  name  is  a  household 
word  in  Portugal,  and  that  in  spite  of  his  decided  Free- 
thought  opinions.  Eminent  as  poet,  philosopher,  and 
historian,  he  has  acquired  a  world-wide  reputation.  To 
him  is  due  the  introduction  of  modern  (evolution)  philos- 
ophy in  his  native  country.  In  politics  Professor  Broga 
is  a  republican.  Among  his  best  known  works  arc  his 
philosophic  and  historical  essays,  his  great  poem,  "  Visao 
dos  Tempos,"  and  the  epoch-making  work,  "As  Modernas 
Ideias  da  Litterature  Portuguesa."  He  is  a  member  of 
the  International  Freethought  Federation,  the  Interna- 
tional Federation  of  Peace  and  of  Liberty,  and  of  numer- 
ous scientific  and  literary  societies. 

Odon  de  Buen,  professor  at  the  University  of  Barce- 
lona, Spain,  equally  eminent  as  scientist,  traveler,  orator, 
and  republican,  is  one  of  the  foremost  and  most  active 
Freethinkers  of  the  present  age.  Besides  attending  to  his 
duties  at  the  university,  he  takes  a  prominent  part  in 
republican  politics,  gives  public  lectures  on  Freethought 
and  social  science,  presides  at  meetings,  is  editor  of 
"  La  Republica  "  and  "  El  Radical,"  Barcelona,  and  finds 
time  to  contribute  an  article  of  at  least  two  thousand 
words  to  "  Las  Dominicales  del  Libre  Pensamiento"  every 
week.  He  figured  conspicuously  at  the  International 
Freethought  Congress  at  Madrid,  1892,  and  was  delegate 
for  Spain  at  the  International  Freethought  Congress  held 
at  Paris,  1889.  As  stated  above,  Prof.  Odon  de  Buen  is 
an  enthusiastic  republican,  and  as  such  he  favors  likewise 
the  establishment  of  a  Spanish-Portuguese  Federation, 
and  is  a  firm  supporter  of  the  peace  movement,  and  vio- 
lently opposed  to  war  between  nations. 

Ramon   Chies,  editor   of   "Las  Dominicales  del  Libre 


FREETHINKERS  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  837 

Pensamiento  "  (Madrid),  the  representative  Spanish  Free- 
thought  paper,  and  municipal  councillor,  was  born  in 
1845.  From  the  time  of  his  youth  he  identified  himself 
with  the  Freethought  and  democracy  of  his  native  land, 
and  he  has  since  promoted  every  movement  of  importance 
of  these  two  forces.  As  a  writer  and  speaker  he  possessed 
extraordinary  powers.  When  the  police  had  forcibly 
closed  the  International  Freethought  Congress  at  Madrid 
in  1892,  he  alluded  to  this  incident  at  the  republican  con- 
vention, calling  attention  to  this  outrage  of  international 
hospitality,  and  predicted  the  fall  of  a  monarchy  which, 
instead  of  being  the  servant  of  the  people,  was  but  the 
henchman  of  the  church.  At  his  death,  October  15,  1893, 
a  cloud  of  sorrow  fell  not  alone  upon  every  Spanish 
patriot,  but  upon  every  lover  of  liberty.  The  entire 
Spanish  press,  with  the  exception  of  the  Catholic  church 
journals,  rendered  its  homage  to  the  talent,  the  integrity 
and  faithfulness  of  Ramon  Chies.  The  poor  of  Madrid 
in  him  found  a  friend  and  advocate,  while  the  corrupt 
church  deemed  him  its  greatest  enemy.  During  the  last 
six  years  he  advocated,  and  finally  brought  about,  a  union 
of  the  difi'erent  republican  groups  and  schools,  and  advo- 
cated a  union  of  Spain  and  Portugal.  A  friend  of  peace, 
he  talked  and  wrote  against  the  "  armed "  peace  which 
shields  but  a  cruel  war.  Together  with  Fernando  Lozano 
he  founded  and  edited  'Las  Dominicales  del  Libre  Pen- 
samiento." To  estimate  the  value  of  his  services  rendered 
to  liberty  is  impossible  ;  future  generations  only  can  do 
him  justice.  The  funeral  of  Kamon  Chies  was  most  im- 
pressive. The  hearse  was  followed  by  three  hundred 
carriages  and  ten  thousand  persons.  The  municipal 
council  attended  in  a  body,  and  all  the  chief  representa- 
tives in  arts,  letters,  politics,  and  law  were  seen  in  the 
cortege.  Letters  and  telegrams  of  condolence  by  the 
thousands,  from  all  over  the  civilized  world,  have  been 
sent  to  liis  family.     A  monument  to  his  memory  is  to  be 


838  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS  OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

erected  upon  a  site  granted  by  the  city  of  Madrid,  which 
at  first  intended  to  make  his  funeral  a  public  one  at  the 
expense  of  the  city.  This  however  was  not  done,  as  his 
friends  deemed  it  not  proper  to  use  public  money  for  pri- 
vate purposes,  but  in  place  of  it  the  municipal  council 
decided  to  grant  a  site  for  a  monument  and  to  name  a 
street  in  his  honor. 

Johannes  Cseeski,  who  died  at  Schneidemuhl,  Prussia, 
January,  1894,  began  his  career  as  a  Catholic  priest  at 
Schneidemuhl;  but  in  1844,  he,  like  several  others,  left 
the  church  and  established  Free  Religious  communities. 
Tlie  early  part  of  his  career  as  Free  Religious  speaker  was 
a  stormy  one ;  several  times  he  was  in  actual  danger  of 
his  life.  Ou  July  29,  1845,  an  armed  mob  of  peasants, 
directed  by  fanatical  priests,  made  an  attack  upon  him, 
and  the  hussars  had  to  be  called  in  to  subdue  the  demon- 
stration and  escort  Cserski  into  Posen.  Later  he  traveled 
from  city  to  cit}^  lecturing  and  speaking.  For  many 
years  he  lived  in  poverty  at  Schneidemuhl,  a  wreck  of  'his 
former  self.  His  service  for  Freethought  extended  over  a 
period  of  fifty  3'ears. 

Edward  Douwes  Dekker  ("  Multatuli  "). — In  the  year 
1860  the  Ccilm  and  phlegmatic  Hollander  sustained  a 
shock  which  nearly  caused  him  to  drop  his  traditional 
pipe,  and  which  created  as  great  a  local  stir  as  did  the 
appearance  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  in  the  United  States. 
The  cause  of  his  emotion  was  the  appearance  of  a  book, 
''  Max  Havelaar  of  De  Kaffieveilengeu  der  Nederlandsche 
Handelsmoatschappig,"  by  an  author  then  unknown  in 
Dutch  literary  circles.  It  was  a  condemnation  of  the 
attitude  of  the  government  toward  the  natives  in  Dutch- 
India,  and,  as  an  old  governor-general  stated,  "  it  caused  a 
trembling  of  the  whole  country."  Dekker,  its  author, 
went  to  India  as  a  jDublic  officer,  and  was  located  at  a 
station  where  the  abuses  flourished.  Being  transferred  for 
remonstrating,  he  asked  for  his  dismissal  from  the  service, 


FREETHINKERS  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  839 

and  returned  to  Holland.  At  home  everybody  believed 
iiim,  but  as  a  cessation  of  the  outrages  would  involve  a 
diminution  of  revenue,  these  good  Christians  could  not 
think  of  righting  the  wrong,  and  even  so  late  as  1893  a 
Hollander  was  indicted  for  not  only  scourging  natives  to 
death,  but  burying  his  victims  alive  in  ant-hills.  Such  is 
Dutch  Christianity.  Dekkci'  was  a  born  orator  and 
author,  his  most  important  works  being  "  Indrukken  van 
den  Dag "  (Impressions  of  the  Day)  ;  "'  Minnebrieveu" 
(Love  Letters)  ;  "  De  Bruid  Daarbove  "  (The  Bride 
Above);  and  "Yorstenschool "  (The  School  of  Princes). 
No  Dutch  author  ever  enjoyed  such  popularity.  He 
directed  his  pen  against  religion,  especially  against 
the  "  harmonizers "  of  religion  and  science,  attacking 
their  unscientific  juggling  and  insisting  upon  the  truth. 
Translations  of  his  "  Ideas  "  have  appeared  in  the  Mil- 
waukee "  Freidenker,"  while  in  the  "  Nouvelle  Revue  " 
(1888)  appeared  some  of  his  legends  which  the  translator, 
D'Estre}^  tried  to  pass  as  his  own,  but  was  detected  and 
had  to  acknowledge  his  theft.  Dekker's  devotion  to  truth 
ruined  him  financially,  and  when  he  at  last  died  in  poverty 
in  1887,  at  sixty-seven,  one  might  truthfully  say  that  the 
religious  Holland  had  premeditated  the  murder  of  one  of 
her  noblest  sons.  The  influence  and  power  of  his  works 
are  increasing  every  year. 

Dr.  Cesar  de  PAEPE,one  of  the  most  illustrious  Free- 
thinkers of  Belgium,  was  born  at  Ostemle,  July  12,  1842. 
When  a  youth  he  studied  law,  while  supporting  himself 
by  liis  trade  as  printer.  Later  he  applied  himself  to 
natural  science  and  medicine,  taking  the  degree  of  M.D. 
at  the  University  of  Brussels.  Early  in  life  he  made 
several  contributions  to  the  literature  of  science  and  Free- 
thought.  As  a  physician  he  confined  his  practice  almost 
exclusively  to  the  poor  people  without  compensation.  He 
was  an  active  Freethinker,  and  for  several  years  was 
elected    delegate  to  the  International  Freethought   Con- 


340  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF  FREETHOUGHT. 

gress.  He  died  at  Cannes',  Dec.  19,  1890,  and  his  funeral 
was  made  the  occasion  of  a  pjreat  public  demonstration,  in 
which  uuiversity  professors,  lawyers,  doctors,  municipal 
oflficers,  Freethought  societies,  Freemason  lodges,  labor 
unions,  etc.,  participated.  Over  two  hundred  wreaths 
were  sent  from  Freethought  societies  in  Paris,  Madrid, 
Rome,  Berlin,  Lyons,  Amsterdam,  Marseilles,  and  carried 
in  the  procession  to  the  crematory.  Dr.  de  Paepe  was 
vice-president  of  the  Belgian  Freethought  Federation. 
On  Dec.  25,  1892,  a  monument  in  his  honor  was  unveiled 
at  Brussels  iu  the  presence  of  delegates  from  all  Belgian 
Freethought  societies,  a  delegation  from  the  Freethought 
Federation  and  others,  besides  a  concourse  of  more  than 
two  thousand  people.. 

Jules  Des  Essaets  is  a  typical  Belgian  Freethinker. 
Born  January  22,  1849,  at  Charleroi,  Belgium,  he  received 
a  common  school  education,  and,  like  so  many  prominent 
Freethinkers  of  the  past  and  present,  became  a  printer. 
In  order  to  devote  himself  to  the  mental  and  political  en- 
franchisement of  his  countrymen,  in  1879  he  became 
editor  of  the  "Journal  de  Charleroi,"  and  at  once  made 
himself  known  by  his  vigorous  attacks  on  kingdom  and 
church.  The  career  of  Des  Essarts  is  closely  identified 
with  that  of  the  Federation  Rationaliste  de  Charleroi,  of 
which  he  has  been  president  since  its  formation  at  Lode- 
linsart  during  the  year  1875,  and  which,  under  his  direc- 
tion, has  enjoyed  a  steady  progress,  having  at  last  report 
about  fifty  branches.  At  the  congress  held  June  3,  1888, 
Mr.  des  Essarts  proposed  the  erection  of  a  "  Temple  of 
Science,"  with  the  result  that  in  June,  1893,  the  city  of 
Charleroi  was  the  seat  of  one  of  the  grandest  Freethought 
demonstrations  ever  held  in  Belgium.  One  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  Freethought  societies,  with  banners,  were 
represented,  seventeen  Freethought  bands  of  music  took 
part  in  a  grand  parade  which  had  for  its  object  to  trans- 
form the  building  of  Cercle  Catholique  into  a  Temple  of 


R.  L.  BAKER  (p.    692). 


FREETHINKERS  OF  CONTISENTAL  EUROPE.  841 

Science,  a  Popular  University,  a  House  for  the  People. 
Great  was  the  raf;;e  of  the  Catholic  clergy  in  the  province, 
but  greater  still  the  joy  of  Freethinkers  all  over  Belgium, 
The  library  has  been  opened  and  lectures  are  given  every 
Thursday  evening  and  Sunday  morning,  free  to  members 
of  Freethought  societies,  of  labor  syndicates  and  unions. 
This  undertaking  of  Mr.  des  Essarts  contains  an  answer 
to  the  often  proffered  question,  '"  What  have  Freethinkers 
done  for  popular  education  ?"  Mr.  des  Essarts  has  written 
several  Freethought  brochures  of  excellence.  His  coun- 
trymen have  not  failed  to  perceive  the  value  of  his  ser- 
vices, and  have  several  years  in  succession  elected  him  to 
represent  them  at  the  International  Freethought  Con- 
gress. 

Conrad  Deubler  represents  that  large  body  of  our  co- 
irreligionists  who  work  in  silence  and  obscurity  for  the 
betterment  of  their  fellow-beings.  Born  near  Goisern,  Aus- 
tria, he  was  the  son  of  a  peasant,  a  peasant  himself,  later 
a  miller,  hotel-keeper,  and  finally  mayor  of  Goisern,  a 
small  city  near  Ischl  in  Austrian  Salzkammergut.  Al- 
though a  born  peasant,  and  farmer  by  occupation,  he  was 
the  personal  friend  of  the  most  prominent  scientific  and 
literar}'  men  of  this  century.  His  correspondence,  pub- 
lished by  Prof.  A.  Dodel-Port,  is  of  greatest  interest  and 
value,  as  it  reflects  the  most  important  literary  and  scien- 
tific accounts  of  our  time.  Conrad  Deubler  had  but  a 
common  scliool  education,  but  this  was  supplemented  by 
a  burning  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  while  a  mere  youth 
he  perused  with  avidity  all  the  books  he  could  buy  or 
borrow.  While  a  boy  he  believed  everything,  as  a  vouth 
he  doubted,  as  a  man  he  became  a  Freethinker  and  Ma- 
terialist. Says  Haeckel  in  a  letter  to  him  :  "If  Diogenes, 
when  he  went  around  with  his  lantern,  could  have  seen 
you,  he  would  have  blown  it  out."  In  1850  he  was  put 
under  police  surveillance,  and  in  1853  he  was  arrested, 
charged  with    high   treason  and  blasphemy.      The    trial 


842  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

lasted  fourteen  months.  His  high  treason  consisted  in 
republicanism  ;  his  blasphemy  was  founded  on  a  letter 
written  to  a  minister,  in  lending  other  people  works  on 
Freethought,  and  in  burning  the  midnight  oil,  instead  of 
sleeping  his  life  away  like  a  good  Christian !  The  sen- 
tence pronounced  was  two  years'  imprisonment  at  hard 
labor  at  Brunn.  After  his  liberation  he  was  elected 
mayor,  which  office  he  resigned.  As  a  member  of  the 
school  committee  he  established  a  "  secular  "  school  and 
a  town  library  in  which  secular  and  democratic  journals 
should  be  kept.  In  his  will  he  bequeathed  the  interest 
of  three  thousand  gulden  for  the  support  of  poor  children 
in  the  school  erected  by  him.  He  died  as  he  lived — a 
Freethinker. 

Henrik  Ibsen,  the  eminent  Norwegian  dramatist,  born 
at  Skien,  March  20,  1828,  is  an  honorary  member  of  the 
International  Freethought  Federation. 

Bjornstjerne  Bjornson,  born  at  Quickne,  Norway,  May, 
1832,  is  an  out-and-out  Freethinker,  who  never  lets  a  chance 
go  by  to  attack  superstition.  A  member  of  the  Universal 
Peace  Union,  and  the  International  Freethought  Feder- 
ation, he  has  always  been  a  stanch  defender  of  Viktor  E. 
Lennstrand,  and  his  eloquence  and  sharp  pen  have  on 
several  occasions  been  employed  in  defending  the  latter  in 
public  or  to  attack  his  enemies.  He  is  a-n  accomplished 
scli('l;ir  and  philosopher,  and  has  given  public  lectures  not 
alone  in  Norway  and  Sweden,  but  also  in  Denmark,  where 
he  in  June,  1892,  spoke  at  an  open-air  meeting  to  fif- 
teen thousand  people. 

Dr.  Franz  Wilhelm  Junghuhn  was  born  at  Mansfield, 
Prussia,  Oct.  29,  1812.  He  studied  at  the  universities  of 
Halle  and  Berlin,  and  became  a  physician  in  the  German 
army.  In  consequence  of  a  duel  he  was  sentenced  to 
twenty  years'  imprisonment  at  Ehrenbretstein,  but  escaped 
after  twenty  months'  confinement  and  went  to  Algiers. 
Afterwards,  pardoned  by  the  king  of  Prussia,  he  went  to 


FREETHINKERS  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  §4.3 

Holland.  After  researches  in  Java  be  returned  to  Hol- 
land, where  he  by  his  work,  "  Lichten  Schadubulden  nit 
de  Binnenlanden  van  Java"  (Light  and  Shadow  Pictures 
from  the  Interior  of  Java),  did  much  for  the  development 
of  Freethought  by  opening  the  eyes  of  many  to  the  folly 
of  religious  dogmas.  He  founded  "De  Dageraad,"  the 
organ  of  the  Dutch  Freethinkers'  Union.  He  died,  April 
24,  1864,  at  Lemberg  in  the  Preanger  Regnitschappe. 

Fernando  Lozano,  with  the  late  Eamon  Chies,  founded 
the  principal  Spanish  Freethought  paper,  "  Las  Domini- 
cales  "  (Madrid,  Spain),  of  which  he  now,  since  the  death 
of  the  latter,  is  sole  editor  and  proprietor.  Equally 
prominent  as  Freethinker  and  republican,  he  has  done 
much  to  advance  the  cause  of  liberty.  To  him  and  Ramon 
Chies,  the  Spanish  Castor  and  Pollux,  is  due  the  success 
of  the  International  Freethought  Congress  at  Madrid  in 
1892,  as  well  as  the  present  excellent  organization  of  the 
Freethinkers  of  Spain.  He  is  a  friend  of  universal  peace 
and  a  promoter  and  defender  of  the  "Iberic  Union." 

D.  Francisco  Pi  y  Margall,  is  a  prominent  Spanish 
Freethinker  and  republican.  During  the  republic  he  was 
minister  of  justice,  and  then  had  a  very  cloge  escape  from 
an  assasiu's  bullet.  Although  advanced  in  years  (he  was 
born  in  1824)  he  keeps  up  in  literature  and  politics.  As 
a  Freethinker  and  philosopher  he  is  naturally  a  friend  of 
peace.  His  expression,  published  in  1882,  has  become 
classic :  "  We  will  increase  the  greatness  of  our  country 
by  work  and  not  by  war." 

CoNSTANTiN  MiLLE  was  born  at  Tassi,  Rumania,  on 
Dec.  21,  1861.  Together  with  Dr.  Russel  and  Jean  Na- 
dejde,  Mr.  Mille  began  a  socialistic  and  Freethought  agi- 
tation among  the  workingmen  and  the  students  of  the 
university  of  that  city.  The  government,  considering  such 
an  agitation  criminal,  expelled  Dr.  Russel  from  Rumania 
and  closed  the  doors  of  the  universit}'  to  Mille.  While 
engaged  in  this  agitation  Mille  and  Nadejde  published  the 


844  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

journal  "  Coutemporanul "  (Contemporary),  a  review  of 
literary  and  scientific  Materialism.  This  magazine  has 
produced  untold  good  by  spreading  the  light  of  freedom 
among  the  young  generation  and  the  people  at  large. 
"The  Daughters  of  the  Pope,"  an  anti-Catholic  work,  and 
*'  The  Kings,"  in  which  he  attacks  monarchy,  are  from  his 
pen.  He  is  a  member  of  the  International  Freethought 
Federation. 

Jacob  Moleschott,  Freethinker,  scientist,  author,  sena- 
tor of  Italy,  cosmopolitan  in  the  true  sense  of  this  word,  was 
born  Aug.  9,  1832,  at  Herzogenbosch,  Holland.  He  held 
a  professor's  chair  at  Hiedelburg,  but  owing  to  the  pro- 
gressive character  of  his  teachings  he  was  compelled  to 
resign.  Since  then  he  has  occupied  chairs  at  the  Univer- 
sities of  Zurich  and  Turin,  and  at  the  Acaderfiy  of  Rome, 
and  has  been  since  1878  senator  of  Italy.  He  was  hon- 
orary member  of  the  Freethought  Federation  of  Holland, 
of  various  Italian  Freethought  societies,  and  active  mem- 
ber of  the  International  Freethought  Federation.  His 
popular  expositions  of  science,  the  courage  of  his  convic- 
tions, and  his  never-abated  opposition  to  the  false  teach- 
ings of  the  Christian  church,  have  placed  him  in  the 
foremost  rank  of  Freethinkers  of  this  century.  He  died 
at  R(Hne  May  20,  1892. 

Anton  Nystrom,  Ph.D.  (born  Feb.  15,  1842),  is  one  of 
the  most  prominent  Swedish  Freethinkers.  He  has,  on 
several  occasions,  tried  conclusions  with  the  clergy,  who  do 
not  admire  him,  especially  since  the  publication  of  his 
great  historical  work,  "  General  History  of  Civilization," 
in  six  volumes.  Dr.  Nystrom  is  a  member  of  the  Free- 
thought  Federation  of  Sweden,  and  is  regarded  as  the 
most  eminent  historian  of  the  present  generation. 

Albert  Regnard,  one  of  the  foremost  active  French 
Freethinkers,  was  born  at  Nievre,  March  20,  1886.  He 
studied  medicine  at  the  University  of  Paris.  In  1865  he 
published    his   "  Historical    Essays  and    Scientific  Criti- 


FREETHINKERS  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  845 

cisms,"  in  which  he  advocated  radical  Freethought  and 
Materialism.  The  priest-ridden  government  of  Napoleon 
III.  could  not  tolerate  this,  and  after  taking  a  prominent 
part  ill  the  International  Freethought  Congress  at  Liege 
ill  November,  1865,  Regnard  was  expelled  from  the  uni- 
versity and  the  Paris  hospitals.  After  the  fall  of  the 
empire  he  held  the  position  of  secretary  to  the  prefect  of 
police,  but  the  establishment  of  the  republic  obliged  him 
to  flee  from  France,  and  for  ten  years  he  remained  in 
London.  When  the  amnesty  was  issued  he  returned  to 
Paris.  To  him  is  due  the  translation  into  French  of  Prof. 
L.  Biicbner's  ''  Force  and  Matter."  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Coniite  i-V  Etudes  Morales,"  active  and  honorary  member 
of  the  French  Freethought  Federation  and  the  Interna- 
tional Freethought  Federation. 

Joseph  Ernest  Renan,  philosopher,  poet,  historian, 
and  Freethinker  of  international  reputation,  was  born  at 
Treguier,  Cotes-du-Nord,  Brittany,  France,  on  Feb.  27, 
1823,  and  died  at  Paris,  Oct.  2,  1892.  His  primary  educa- 
tion was  imparted  to  him  by  the  priests  in  the  old  min- 
ster of  Treguier,  and  consisted  mainly  of  Latin  and  the 
lives  of  the  saints.  When  the  priests  could  teach  him 
no  more,  Renan,  who  by  his  parents  were  destined  for 
the  priesthood,  was  sent  to  the  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice, 
Paris.  Previous  to  consecration  he  abandoned  the 
church  forever.  In  1860  he  went  on  a  mission  to  Syria 
and  Palestine,  which  led  liim  to  investigate  the  origin  of 
Christianity.  On  his  return  he  was  appointed  professor 
of  oriental  languages  in  the  College  of  France,  but  the 
violent  manifestations  of  the  Catholic  students  caused  him 
to  discontinue  his  professional  work.  In  1863  he  pub- 
lished his  famous  "Life  of  Christ,"  which  aroused  the 
active  hostility  of  the  Catholic  church,  and  caused  his 
deposition  from  the  professorship  in  Hebrew.  Upon  the 
fall  of  the  empire,  Renan  again  became  professor  of 
oriental  languages  in  the  College  of  France,  and  was  on 


846  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

June  13,  1878,  elected  member  of  the  Frencli  Academy. 
lu  1880  he  delivered  in  London  a  series  of  lectures  on 
"  The  Influence  of  the  Institutions,  Thought,  and  Culture 
of  Rome  on  Christianity  and  the  Development  of  the 
Catholic  Church,"  and  at  the  Royal  Institution  a  lecture 
on  "Marcus  Aurelius.'*  In  the  same  year  he  received  the 
cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  In  1886  he  published  the 
first  part  of  "The  Origin  of  the  Bible."  a  work  in  seven 
volumes.  In  1888  he  was  made  grand  officer  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor.  Renan  is  in  all  his  anti-Christian 
writings  open  to  the  charge  of  inaccuracy.  He  is  too 
much  of  a  poet.  Renan's  "Life  of  Christ"  is  but  a  his- 
torical romance  ;  in  reading  it  and  several  other  works  of 
his,  the  reader  is  never  sure  of  his  (Renan's)  "Opinion  ;  on 
one  page  he  is  a  Deist,  on  another  a  skeptic,  on  another, 
again,  a  Freethinker.  As  a  man  Renan  is  a  Deist ;  as 
a  historian,  a  skeptic ;  and  as  a  philosopher,  a  Free- 
thinker. On  Oct.  7,  1892,  he  was  buried  from  the 
College  de  France,  with  Secular  ceremonies.  Members 
of  the  International  Freethought  Federation,  in  congress 
at  Madrid,  sent  a  telegram  of  condolence  to  his  widow. 

D.  Nicholas  Salmeron. — Every  Spaniard  knows  D. 
Nicholas  Salmeron,  the  ex-president  of  the  Spanish 
republic,  who  chose  to  resign  rather  than  sign  a  death 
warrant.  When  in  exile  in  Portugal,  Salmeron,  through 
the  machinations  of  the  Spanish  minister,  Canovas,  was 
ordered  to  leave  that  country  within  twenty-four  hours, 
he  succeeded  in  reaching  Paris,  although  burdened  with  a 
large  family  and  without  funds.  While  at  Paris  he  was 
taken  dangerously  ill  and  the  doctors  informed  him  they 
despaired  of  saving  his  life  ;  on  hearing  this  he  exclaimed  : 
"  Die  without  having  done  any  good  for  my  countrj'  ?  '* 
Salmeron  has  as  his  friends  the  university  students  of 
Spain  ;  his  comrades,  the  university  professors,  love  him 
and  follow  him  ;  he  counts  among  his  friends  the  most 
eminent   professors,    the    great    provincial    lawyers,    the 


JAMES  A.  OONANT  (p  710). 


FREETHINKERS  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  847 

merchants  and  capitalists.  His  party  grows  stronger 
every  day,  because  he  in  himself  is  guarantee  of  good 
government.  He  represents  in  Spain  a  liberal  policy, 
positive,  humanitarian,  a  policy  of  tolerance.  He  disap- 
proves of  insurrection,  but  welcomes  revolution  the  very 
day  he  is  sure  that  public  opinion  is  ready  to  receive  it. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Spanish  Freethought  Federation, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  International  Freethought 
Congress  at  Madrid  in  1892. 

Johannes  van  Vloten  (1818-1883)  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most litterateurs  of  Holland,  and  a  Freethinker.  Deposed 
by  the  orthodox  from  his  position  in  a  public  institution 
of  learning  for  having  criticised  the  attempts  of  the  modern 
school  of  theology  to  reconcile  religion  with  science,  he 
devoted  himself  to  literature,  and  most  unmercifully  did 
he  apply  the  lash  of  reason  to  the  backs  of  his  former 
brethren  in  the  pulpit,  especially  in  his  paper,  "  De 
Levensbode,"  while  he  rendered  great  service  to  Free- 
thought  through  his  "  Life  of  Spinoza,"  and  by  his  new 
edition  of  the  works  of  Spinoza,  issued  in  co-operation 
with  Professor  Land. 

Dr.  Titus  Voelkel  was  born  Dec.  14,  1843,  at  Wirsitz, 
Prussian  Poland.  His  father,  a  physician,  was  a  Deist  ; 
his  mother,  a  Rationalist.  As  a  teacher  he  was  sin- 
cerely hated  for  his  Freethought  opinions.  In  1880  lie 
became  a  Freethought  lecturer;  in  1889  he  gave  187  Free- 
thought  lectures,  250  lessons  in  ethics,  and  traveled  about 
2.000  miles.  During  1887  and  1888  lie  was  indicted  five 
times  for  blasphemy,  but  in  each  instance  was  found 
not  guilty.  In  1891,  after  a  farcical  trial,  he  was  con- 
victed of  blasphemy  and  sentenced  to  two  years'  im- 
prisonment. He  evaded  the  penalty  by  voluntary  exile  to 
Switzerland,  but  failing  to  provide  for  his  family  in  that 
country,  he  returned  to  Germany,  where  he  is  now 
paying  the  penalty  deferred  by  his  absence  abroad.  For 
some  years  previous   to  his  exile  he  was  proprietor  and 


848  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FREETH0U6HT. 

editor  of  the  "  Freireligioses  Sountags  Blatt,"  one  of  the 
most  readable  German  Freethought  papers.  When  he 
has  served  his  sentence  lie  will  return  to  his  vocation  as 
Freethought  writer  and  lecturer. 

Mrs.  Anna  Bugge-Wicksell  was  born  Nov.  17,  1862. 
For  the  3'ears  1888-89  she  was  speaker  of  the  Norwegian 
Society  for  the  Emancipation  of  Women.  In  1888  she 
attended  the  International  Peace  Congress  in  Switzerland, 
whence  she  left  for  France,  where  slie  met  and  married, 
during  the  summer  of  1889,  her  present  husband.  Dr. 
Knut  Wicksell,  without  the  assistance  of  either  priest, 
minister,  or  judge.  Since  then  she  has  lived  in  Stock- 
holm, and  has  there,  as  well  as  in  Upsala,  given  lectures 
and  taken  part  in  discussions  relative  to  the  betterment 
of  the  position  of  woman  in  Sweden  and  Norway. 
During  the  retirement  of  Capt.  Otto  Thomson  from  the 
business  management  of  '•  Fritankai:en "  she  filled  the 
place  left  vacant  by  him  until  June,  1893. 

Knut  Wicksell,  Ph.D.,  was  born  Dec.  25,  1851,  on 
Sondermalm,  in  Stockholm.  In  1869  he  matriculated  at 
Upsala  University.  In  1880  he  in  public  defended  the 
Malthusian  theories.  In  1885  he  passed  the  examination 
for  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  before  the  facult}'  of  natural 
sciences  at  Upsala.  A  traveling  stipend  was  given  to  him 
and  he  spent  the  time  until  the  summer  following  in  Eng- 
land. Daring  the  winter  of  1886-87  he  lectured  in  Stock- 
holm on  various  social  questions.  The  three  years  fol- 
lowing he  spent  in  England,  Germany,  Austria,  and  France. 
Dr.  Wicksell  became  a  Freethinker  during  the  early 
days  of  his  student  life  at  Upsala,  and  joined  the  Free- 
thought  Federation  of  Sweden  in  1890 ;  is  also  member  of 
the  International  Peace  Association.  The  doctor  is  not 
onlj'  an  excellent  lecturer  and  debater,  but  wields  a  fluent 
pen.  Of  his  social  economic  works  the  following  are  best 
known:  "The  Sexual  Question,"  "About  Prostitution," 
*'  The  Increase  of  Population  in   Sweden,"    "About  Mar- 


FREETHINKEIIS  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  849 

riage,    its   Past   unci   Future."     At    the    election   for   the 
People's  Congress  of  Sweden  lie  received  13,817  votes. 

Dr.  Bruno  Wille,  one  of  tlie  most  prominent  German 
Freethinkers,    the   present    editor  of  "  Der  Freideuker," 
Koln,  and  president  of  the  Free  Religious  Society  of  Ber- 
lin, was  born  at  Magdeburg,  Feb.  2,  1860.     The  university 
at    Kiel    conferred    the   degree   of    doctor  of    philosophy 
upon  him  for  a  work  on  "  'i'he  Phenomenalism  of  Thomas 
Hobbes."     In  1885  he  left  Germany  and  entered  as  tutor 
the  house  of  the  Bulgarian  poetess.  Mite  Kremnitz,  and 
in   1886  he   followed   Professor  Kiepert,   the  well-known 
geographer,    upon    a    "  Kartograph "    expedition    through 
Asia  Minor.     Since  then  Dr.  Bruno  Wille  has  been  occu- 
pied as  writer,  speaker,  and  teacher  for  the  Free  Religious 
Society    at    Berlin,     the     present    excellent    condition   of 
which  is  entirel}'  due  to  his  efforts.     A  man  of  wide  learn- 
ing, an  excellent   speaker,  he  draws  audiences  larger  than 
any  minister  in  Berlin,  -while  his  kindness  and  love  for 
the  young  make   him   the  idol  of  the  five  or  six   hundred 
children   of    the     school    belonging    to    the     society,  of 
which  he  has  been  teacher  and  principal  for  several  years. 
The  doctor  is  a  Materialist   and  follower  of  Darwin  and 
Haeckel.     The  rod  has  no  place  in  his  school,  no  more 
than  has,  in  his  opinion,  war  among  nations.     He  is  a  poet 
of  high  rank.     Three  years   ago  the  doctor  founded  the 
socaety,  Freie  Volksbukne,  which  the  opposition  of  the 
social  democrats  caused   to  be  a  temporary  failure,  but 
with  his  usual  energy  a  new  society,  Neue  Freie  Volks- 
bukne, was  inaugurated,  w^iich,  after  a  two  months'  exist- 
ence, consisted  of  fifteen  hundred  members.     This  society 
gives  concerts,   theatricals,  and  recitations,  and  thus  en- 
ables the  laboring  classes  to  come  in  nearer  contact  with 
the  best  of  music,  literature,  and  dramatic  art,  and  exerts 
an  educating  and  elevating  influence.     The  doctor,  who  is 
a  member  of    the  Freethought   Federation  of  Germany, 
has,  upon  several  occasions,  been  prosecuted  by  the  gov- 


850  FOlIli    HCNlJRKli    YKARS    OF   PREETHOUGHT. 

eminent  and  cliurcli  for  his  Freethouglit  lectures  and 
writings,  and  suffered  both  fines  and  imprisonment.  But 
voung  in  years,  strong  and  energetic,  who  can  measure 
tlje  amount  of  good  he  may  yet  accomplish  for  the  eleva- 
tion of  mankind? 

D.  Manuel  Ruiz  Zorilla,  Spanish  statesman,  republi- 
can and  prominent  Freethinker,  was  born  1834.  In  liis 
excellent  work,  "La  Federation  Iberique,"  Mr.  Mogelhaes 
Lima  quotes  Zorilla  as  saying:  "The  Republic  in  Spain 
has  one  powerful  enemy — the  upjoer  clergy.  The  fanati- 
cism of  women  and  the  ignorance  of  the  lower  population 
are  the  greatest  obstacles  which  present  themselves 
against  the  realization  of  a  new  regime.  The  Spaniards" — 
it  is  Zorilla  wdio  speaks — "  are  either  Catholics  or  Ration- 
alists. The  Catholics  are  always  expecting  a  miracle  ;  the 
Rationalists,  a  chance."  Zorilla  is  one  of  the  most  popu- 
lar and  well-beloved  Spanish  politicians.  He  first  em- 
braced the  cause  of  the  republic  during  the  interregnum 
following  the  dethronement  of  the  dissolute  and  pious 
Queen  Isabella  II.  (1868),  and  when  in  1870  Amadeus  of 
Aosta  was  elected  king,  he  accepted  the  presidency  of  the 
council,  but,  chief  of  the  progressive  and  revolutionary 
party,  he  stood  by  its  colors,  and  at  the  abdication  of 
Amadeus  (1873),  his  prestige  liad  not  decreased  nor  his 
cliaracter  been  sullied.  He  is  a  Liberal  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word,  intimately  connected  with  Spanish  Free- 
thought  and  republicanism,  and  to(jk  an  active  part  in  the 
International  Freethouglit  Congress  at  Madrid,  1892. 
The  churches  consider  him  one  of  their  most  dangerous 
foes,  classing  him  in  their  journals  and  speeches  witli  the 
ultra  Anarchists,  to  refute  which  we  can  do  no  better  than 
quote  his  own  words  :  "  I  am  a  revolutionist  before  the 
reactionary  party  ;  I  am  a  conservative  before  Anarchy." 


J.  M.  Leon  Garcia,  foremost  in  the  ranks  of  the  Free- 
thinkers in.  the  republics  of  Venezuehi,  was  born  October 


J.  M.  LEON  GARCIA.  851 

15,  1865,  in  El  Yalle,  a  town  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
liood  of  Caracas,  Venezuela.  Much  against  bis  will  he 
was  placed  in  the  episcopal  school  in  Caracas,  where  he 
remained  for  two  years,  his  parents  designing  that  he 
should  become  a  priest.  Finally,  he  refused  to  enter  the 
seminary,  and  the  vigorous  efforts  of  the  Archbishop  Jose 
A.  Ponti  and  the  rector  proved  unavailing  to  change  his 
determination,  but,  if  anything,  added  to  his  irreconcil- 
able enmity  to  the  church  of  Rome.  Escaping  the 
clutches  of  the  church  he  joined  openly  the  Liberal  party, 
became  a  frequent  and  regular  contributor  to  reformatory 
journals,  and  became  editor  of  "  El  Partido  Democratico." 
In  addition  he  has  edited  and  published  the  two  Free- 
thought  journals,  "  Eco  Publico "  and  "  El  Libre  Ex- 
amen,"  in  both  of  which  he  conducted  a  vigorous  warfare 
against  the  clergy  and  church.  To  him  is  due  the  intro- 
duction into  Venezula  of  "  El  Matin,"  "  Las  Dominicales," 
and  other  Freethought  and  Liberal  journals,  for  the  sale 
of  whicli  he  established  agencies.  Mr.  Garcia  is  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Venezuelan  Freethought  Societies, 
and  has  filled  important  offices  in  tliem.  But  not  alone 
with  pen  and  word  has  he  battled  for  liberty,  he  has  been 
an  active  participant  in  the  various  civil  wars  of  liis  coun- 
try, and  the  progressive  party  being  victorious  in  tlie  last 
revolution,  it  rewarded  him  in  December,  1892,  for  his 
services  witli  the  office  of  Fishal  of  Public  Instruction  in 
the  territory  Yuruari,  an  office  which  he  fills  with  great 
honor  to  himself  and  his  party,  and  to  the  great  discom- 
fiture of  the  clergy.     He  is  a  pronounced  Materialist. 


352  FOUR    HUNDRED   YKARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

THE    PAINE    HALL    CALENDAK. 

Ill  ail  article  in  the  New  York  "Truth  Seeker"  of  Oct. 
29,  1881,  Mr.  T.  B.  Wakeman,  of  New  York,  iii  referring  to 
the  remark  of  Dr.  Draper — in  the  doctor's  famous  book, 
"The  Conflict  between  Religion  and  Science" — that  pos- 
sibly posterity  may  unvail  a  statue  of  Bruno  "  under  the 
dome  of  St.  Peter's  at  Home,"  was  moved  to  say,  "  But 
would  it  not  be  a  surer  and  a  nobler  monument  than  any 
'  enduring  bronze  '  could  ever  be,  to  date  the  calendar  of 
the  New  Era  of  Science  and  Man  from  the  year  1600  as 
its  year  one  ?" 

This  and  other  words  in  connection,  in  their  turn, 
moved  Mr.  G.  N.  Hill,  of  Boston,  to  offer  in  the  Paine 
Memorial,  on  the  29th  of  January,  1882,  a  resolution,  of 
which  the  following  is  an  amended  copy  : 

Resolved:  That  in  everlasting  commemoration  of  that 
rise  of  Science  and  Freethought — the  two  best  friends 
humanity  has  ever  had — which  began  during  the  sixteenth 
century  of  the  superstitious  "Year  of  our  Lord;"  and  in 
peoyetual  Itonor,  also,  of  the  heroism  of  that  glorious 
teacher  of  Reason  and  noble  Martyr  for  Science  and  Man, 
Giordano  Bruno,  of  Itah' — so  inhumanly  burned  at  the 
stake  b}'  the  Christians  at  Rome,  on  the  16th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1600,  for  proclaiming  scientitic  facts — therefore,  in 
future,  all  records  and  other  official  documents  of  the  In- 
vestigator Freetliought  Societ}',  of  Boston,  Mass.,  shall 
bear  date  from  a  Calendar,  beginning  its  year  0 — or  start- 
ing point — on  the  1st  day  of  January-,  A.  D.,  1600  ;  thereby 
placing  our  Society — and  all  persons  also  adopting  it — 
entirely  out  of  the  bedeviling  fog  of  the  age  of  Bible  faith 
with  its  "  Year  of  Grace  1882,"  and  into  the  humane  light 
of  the  "Age  of  Reason"  and  YEAR  OF  SCIENCE  282. 

With  the  necessary  change  from  the  first  of  January, 
1600,  to  the  first  of  January,  1601,  this  calendar  has  been 
adopted  quite  extensively. 


WATSON"  hksto:t. 


THE  BEUNO  MONUMENT.  853 


THE   BRUNO    MONUMENT. 

The  dark  ox  sliiuiug  history  of  four  hundred  years  of 
Freethought  cannot  be  more  fittingly  closed  than  with  the 
superb  picture  of  the  Bruno  monument.  It  fronts  the 
Vatican,  with  the  sunrise  of  Liberty  upon  its  face.  The 
pope  crouches  before  it,  and  the  shadows  of  superstition 
flee  away.  The  heart  of  the  multitude  is  filled  with  joy. 
It  is  an  auspicious  moment,  and  a  glorious  prospect  opens 
from  this  gleaming  shaft  into  the  boundless  future.  All 
the  races  of  the  world  will  sometime  hail  this  glad  hour 
of  freedom  and  progress.  America  has  contributed  her 
noble  share.  Iler  gold  has  been  poured  forth  with  the 
congratulations  of  her  mighty  people.  Through  her  gen- 
erosity this  great  gift  has  been  made  to  humanity.  As 
the  morn  and  the  evening  come,  and  the  stars  glitter  and 
the  flowers  grow,  so  shall  these  jeweled  stones  gatiier  the 
light  of  the  centuries,  and  from  this  lofty  and  dauntless 
form  shall  shine  the  prophecies  of  to-morrow.  To  the 
millions  that  will  yet  rejoice  upon  this  planet,  let  the 
voice  of  regenerated  Italy  be  borne — the  Italy  of  the 
future,  of  thought,  of  freedom,  of  science,  and  of  human 
brotherhood. 

Professou  Bovio's  Address  at  the  Bruno  Celebration. 
(Rome,  June  9,  1889.) 

(Translated  by  Prof.  Thomas  Davidson.) 

This  inauguration  ought  to  be  celebrated  by  a  people 
in  silence,  as  a  solemn  act  of  religion,  and  the  few  words 
with  which  I  shall  break  the  silence,  already  made,  shall 
be  purely  explanatory. 

The  papacy  feels  less  sorrow  over  the  20th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1870,  when  the  national  troops  took  possession  of 
Rome,  than  over  the  9tli  of  June.  The  former  was  a  con- 
clusion ;  this  is  a  beginning.     Then  Italy  entered  Rome, 


854  FOUR   HUNDRKD   YEARS   OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

the  goal   of  its  progress  ;  to-day  Eome   inaugurates  the 
religion  of  thought,  the  principle  of  another  age. 

The  goddess  of  reason  does  not  enter  Rome  intolerant 
— Rome,  which  opened  the  pantheon  to  all  religious,  nor 
do  new  idols  come  to  claim  worship  here,  where  still 
re-echoes  the  living  word  of  Christ:  "After  me  no 
prophets  shall  arise." 

The  nations  assembled  here  are  clearly  aware  that,  as 
the  year  313  was  fixed  by  imperial  decree  in  Milan,  as  the 
era  of  the  Christian  religion,  so  this  9th  of  June  is  fixed 
in  Rome,  by  the  consent  of  free  peoples,  as  the  era  of  the 
religion  of  thought. 

Is  it,  then,  a  religion  ?  And  is  this  the  age  and  this 
the  place  for  such  a  thing  ? 

If  in  the  most  populous  city  of  Europe  two  queens — 
Mary  and  Elizabeth,  Bruno's  contemporaries — seek  each 
other's  heads,  and  the  one  leaves  hers  in  the  hands  of  the 
other,  the  struggle  is  one  between  two  dogmas  of  two 
revealed  religions.  If  between  these  two  an  Italian  exile 
offers  himself  up  to  an  idea  which  fulfills  in  humanity  the 
destiny  of  man,  this  is  the  religion  of  thought. 

On  this  spot  he  was  burnt,  and  his  ashes  did  not 
appease  dogma ;  on  this  spot  he  rises  again,  and  the 
religion  of  thought  demands  no  vengeance. 

It  demands  toleration  for  all  doctrines,  for  all  forms  of 
worship,  and  chiefly  for  that  of  justice.  Instead  of  con- 
templation, it  demands  labor ;  instead  of  credulity,  exam- 
ination ;  instead  of  obedience,  discussion ;  instead  of 
prayer,  reparation  and  work.  The  articles  of  this  religion 
will  be  the  discoveries  of  science,  just  compacts  between 
nations,  and  universal  exhibitions  of  universal  labor. 

This  faith  has  no  prophets ;  it  has  thinkers.  If  it 
seeks  a  temple,  it  finds  the  universe  ;  if  it  seeks  an  in- 
violate asylum,  it  finds  the  conscience  of  man.  It  has  had 
its  martyrs,  it  insists  from  this  day  on  that  reparation 
shall  not  be  posthumous. 


THE  BRUNO  MONUMENT.  855 

Rome  may  make  this  proclamation.  Here  Lave  been 
celebrated  the  millenaries  of  the  successive  religions. 
All  the  gods  of  the  earth  met  in  the  universal  pantheon — 
here,  where  law  had  become  universal,  and  the  chuicii 
bade  fair  to  become  catholic.  Here,  too,  it  is  possible  to 
fix  the  new  millenary,  whicli  shall  replace  the  catholicity 
of  one  man  by  the  catholicity  of  human  thought. 

And  this  is  the  time  forecast  by  Bruno.  Many,  indeed, 
manj^  and  ugly  are  still  the  prevailing  hypocrisies  ;  but 
their  impotence  against  this  living  bronze  determines  the 
meaning  of  the  memorable  civil  celebration.  When  we 
honor  him  here,  we  imply  that  a  great  part  of  him  is  here 
alive  and  speaks  to  us  in  that  philosophy  of  nature  which 
is  not  merely  a  doctrine,  but  a  destiny. 

With  regard  to  this  succession  of  ideas  and  civiliza- 
tions, an}'  other  monument,  to  prince  or  tribune,  would  bear 
some  indication  of  country  and  of  place.  Before  this 
monument,  politics,  art,  customs,  language  become  frag- 
ments ;  systems  and  confessions  cloak  their  peculiarities ; 
the  priestly  orders  hide  their  rule  ;  nations  forget  their 
boundaries,  and  man  feels  himself  equal  to  himself. 

No  voice  of  hatred  can  issue  from  this  monument. 
The  last  word  of  every  great  burnt-offering  has  been : 
Forgive  them !  Pope  Aldobrandino,  who  decreed  the 
crown  to  Tasso  and  the  stake  to  Bruno,  ignored  the 
doubts  of  the  one,  the  affirmation  of  the  other,  but  was 
himself  tormented  by  those  doubts  and  that  affirmation. 

Nor  against  his  successor,  who  regards  this  monument 
with  .luxious  eye,  shall  one  word  go  hence  to  darken  the 
light  of  this  hour.  He  is  not  happy,  that  old  man,  a 
victim,  first  of  all — and  more  than  Bruno — to  his  own 
dogma,  which  forbids  him  to  utter  the  good  wish  stirring 
in  every  Italian  bosom  to  his  Italian  fatherland.  He  feels 
that,  while  Italy  and  the  civilized  world  are  here,  in  the 
bitter  desert  that  surrounds  him,  there  echo  these  words 
of  a  murdered  philosopher  :    "  Persevere,  O  Nolan,  and  be 


856  FOUR    HUNDRKD    YEARS    OF   FREETHOUGHT. 

assured  tliiit  at  last  all  will  see  vviiat  tliou  seest,  that  all  men 
of  good  conscience  will  pronounce  a  favorable  judgment 
on  thee.  Impress  the  knowledge  of  the  infinite  universe, 
before  which  there  is  no  greatness  that  endures." 

At  tiie  sound  of  this  appeal,  we  mark  no  absentees  ; 
because  there  are  no  absences  at  epochal  dates,  and  the 
nations  that  are  here,  and  those  that  are  not  here,  are 
equally  represented.  There  are  present,  along  with  you, 
the  longing  ones,  in  the  way  of  whose  coming  distance, 
poverty,  Avretchedness,  or  some  government  less  civilized 
than  the  nation  has  placed  obstacles.  There  are  present 
those  wdio  have  accepted  the  teaching  of  the  Nolan,  and 
those  who,  for  late  shame,  deny  that  the}'  slew  him. 
Those  who  have  begun  to  count  an  age  by  this  day  are 
present.  In  Bruno's  universe  there  are  no  excommunica- 
tions ;  the  human  race  enters  it  whole. 

O  world-wide  Kome !  to-day  thou  dost  truly  reconcile 
thyself  with  the  catholic  word,  pronounced  not  by  dogma, 
but  by  the  concordant  thought  of  the  nations. 


BRUNO  MONUMENT, 


index:. 


Note. — Many  names  of  societies  and  individuals  of  which  only  brief 
mention  is  made,  may  be  found  under  the  head  of  "  Freethought  Organ- 
zation  in  America,"  p.  519,  or  "  Local  Organization,"  p.  566  and  following 
pages,  or  under  the  various  countries,  states,  cities,  organizations,  and 
occasions  included  in  this  index. 


Abbot,  F.  E 527 

Abbott,  Dr.,  on  Idealism 135 

Abelard,  Discussions  of 78 

Absolute,  the 110 

Achillini,    Debates    of,      with 

Pomponazzi 75 

Adams,    Charles   Francis,    on 

Puritanism 455 

Adams, Robert  C, on  Evolution  365 

Sketch  of 685 

Age  of  Man,  the,  Denton. 
Baldwin,  Lenourman, 
Lyell,  Austed,  Broca,  Les- 
ley and  Gray,  on 353 

Agnosticism,  Definition  of,  bv 

Huxley '.  132 

Alcott,  Transcendentalist 474 

Allen,   Ethan 461 

Alliance,  Ohio,  Liberals  of...  573 

AUyn,  C.   Fannie 689 

America  before  the  Civil  War,  453 
America,   its   Advantages  and 

Dangers 20 

American  Freethinkers,  Biog- 
raphies of 681 

-America  To-day 497 

American  Secular  Union,  His- 
tory of 527-536 

Anarcharsis 1 52 

Anarchy 400-410 

Andrews,       Stephen       Pearl, 

Sketch   of 689 

As  a  Metaphysician 118 

Anthony,  Susan  B 494 


Arizona,  Freethinkers  of 576 

Arnauld,  Victor,  sketch  of. .  . .  834 

Astronomy,  chapter  on 38 

Austed,  Professor,  on  the  Age 

of  Man 353 

Austria-Hungary 633 

Averroes 30 

Bacon,    Francis,     his     Philos- 
ophy and   Method 143 

On  the  Copernican    System,  145 

Aganst  Harvey 145 

Draper,  on 14,5 

Macaulay,  on 147 

Paeon,   Roger 31 

Baker,  R.  L. 692 

Bakounine 415 

Sketch   of 418 

Baldwin,  on  the  Age  of  Man.  353 

B.dzac 412 

Barker,  Joseph 5;i2 

BartoUi,  Professor,  quoted....  201 

Baxter,  Geo.  E 693 

Belgium,    Freethought    in.    ..  624 

Hell,  W.  S ^ 694 

Bennett.  D.  M..  sketch  of 694 

Bentham,  Jeremy 450 

Besant,  Annie.  .' 490-6 lO 

Sketch  of 830 

Besant.  Walter,  quoted    173 

Bible,  Woman  and  the 477 

Biographical   .Sketches,    Am'n  681 

English 830 

European S:{4 

Bird,   Ht,:irv G!l7 


85H 


Bjornson,  Bjornstjerne 442-843 

Biasphemy,   Prosecutions  for, 

(see  Freethought  in  Eng. )  586-61 1 

Sweden 618 

Denmark 643 

America 793 

Blodgett,  D.  A 698 

Boccaccio 32-199 

Bohemia 6H4 

Bolzano.  Bernard 635 

Botsford.  W.  B 700 

Bourceret,  August 83 i 

Bovio,  Address  of 85:! 

Bover,  A.   J 701 

Kradlaugh,    Alice 830 

Bradlaugh,  Charles,  on  the  Un- 
knowable       ]  37 

Sketch    of 427-599-830 

Bradlaugh,    Hypatia 830 

Brandes,  Edward 835 

Brandes,    George 835 

Broca,  Professor,   on  the  Age 

of  Man 353 

Broga,    Theophilo y36 

Bronte,  The  Sisters   492 

Brookhaven,  Miss., Liberals  of     573 
Brooklyn   Philosophical  Asso- 
ciation      571 

Brotherhood  of  Moralists.  .  .  .      586 

Brown,  G.  W 703 

Brown,  T.  L 7(3 

Browning     Elizabeth   Barrett, 
On  the  Age  of  Shakespere, 

3:6-489 

Bruno,  Giordano 39 

His  Philosophy  on  Tol- 
eration, Asa  Wit,  Person- 
al Description  of.  At  Ven- 
ice,    His    Arrest.        H  is 

Death 51-59 

On   Humanity 35-3 

Monument  of 853 

Bryant,   William  Cullen.  ..  .  471 

Buckle,  Thos.  Henry,  quoted  .     479 
Biichner,  Ludwig,  on  Monism 

138-450 

Buffon 28i 

Burke,    Edmund 31  0 

Hurnham,  J.   H 703 

Burns,   Robert 33,5 

Burr,  W.  H 704 

Bush,   Sally 495 

Hutterfield.  Rufus 704 

I^yron ■"     33^ 

Calendar,  Bruno 533 

PaiiK-  Hal! 852 


California.  State  Libr'l    Union  554 

Liberals  of 5;6 

Campanella , 71-85 

Canadian  Secular  Union 563 

Carlile,    Richard 598-831 

Carlvle  on   the    French     Rev- 
olution   290 

Castelar,  Emilio 434 

Cattell,  Chas.   C 601 

Cee,  Jean  Paul 617 

Central  America 645 

Cervantes 209 

Chicago  Secular  Union 581 

Chies,  Ramon 836 

Child,  Lvdia  Maria 494 

Child,    6 705 

Child  Growth,  Froebel 163 

Goethe 164 

E.  B.   Foote 165 

Whitman 165 

Choir  Invisible,  the 194 

Christianity,  Causes  of  its  ad- 
vancement      234 

Its  Origin,  Holyoake  on.    .  .  3^0 

Wakeman  on X*41 

Its  harrenness .    .  .  331 

Church,  the  and  Geology  ....  350 

The  Age  of  Man 353 

And   Woman 478 

Cincinnati  Liberal  Society...  .  573 

Civil  W.ir.  the 464 

Clifford,  W.  K 608 

Close,  Converse 706 

Cobbett,  on  the  French   Revo- 
lution   293 

Coleman,   Wm.  Emmette 70G 

Coleridge,  on  Rabelais 208 

Colman,  Lucy  N 709 

Colorado,  Liberals  of 580 

Columbus 18 

Combe,  Principles  of 167 

On    Education 168 

Comenius 155 

Committee  on   Moral  Laws. . .  616 

Comte,  Philosophy  of 119 

Conant,  J.  A 710 

Condillac 284 

Condorcet 309 

Confessional,  the 479 

Conscience 383 

Continental    Europe,    Free- 
thought  in 61 

Cook,  J.  H 711 

Cooper,  Robert 831-599 

Copernicus 38-39 

Martin  Luther  on 47 


INDEX. 


859 


Cousin 115 

Cowper 331 

On  Geology 351 

Creed.   Presbyterian 389-391 

Creede,  N.  C 713 

Cserski,   Johannes 838 

Curtis,    Thomas 713 

D'Alembert 284 

Dante 33-198-323 

Darwin,  Charles  Robert 189-373 

Theory  of 375 

Davies,  O.  T 714 

Da  Vinci,  Leonardo 43 

De  Buen,  Odon 836 

De  Gama.  Vasco 24 

Dekker,  Edward   Douwes. . .  .     838 
Delphos.  Ohio,  Liberals  of. .  ..     575 

Denmark 641 

Denslow.Van  Buren.on  Comte     127 

On    Priests 197 

Denton,  William,  on  the  Age 

of  Man 352 

Sketch    of 714 

De  Paepe,  Cesar 839 

Descartes 94 

Discoveries  of 96 

Descent,  Theory  of 374 

Des  Essarts,  Jules 840 

De  Stael,  Madame,  on  Kant  107-486 

Deubler,  Conrad 841 

D'Holbach 285 

Diaz,  Gen.  Porfirio 644 

Diderot 282 

Dissenters,  Act  Against 294 

Drama,  Greek  and  Roman. . .  .     212 

Draper 134 

On  Bacon 145 

Drey,    Sylvan,    on    Spencer's 

Philosophv 168 

Dryden,  John 'S2ii 

Earth,  Age  of  the 354 

East  Dennis  Society 568 

Eaton,  D.    1 831 

Eckler,   Peter .525-526 

Edwards,  Jonathan 456 

Education 143 

Milton  on 158-176 

Rousseau  on 159 

Froebel  on 164 

Whitman  on 165 

Combe  on 168 

Spencer  on 168-171-173 

Huxlev  on 173-178 

Eiiot,  Choir  Invisible  of. .  .193-488- 

609 
Ellis,  J.  Spencer 722 


Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  Quo- 
tations from 193-473 

Encyclopedia,  the  French....  281 

England,  Military  Strength  of  399 

Freethought  in 586 

Ethical  Movement,  the 503 

Ethics 143 

Europe,  Population 399 

Politics  in 397 

Evolution,  Order  of 357 

Gladstone  and  Huxley  on.  .  358 

Chapter  on 361 

What  is  Evolution  ? 363 

Haeckel's  Definition 364 

Its  Methods 371 

Proofs  of 378 

Its  Results 381 

Its  Progress 388 

Farrington,    Matthew 722 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  their 

Reign 30 

Fergus,  James 724 

Feuerbach 451 

Fittest,  Survival  of 376 

Foote,   Edward  Bliss 726 

Foote,  Edward  Bond 731 

Foote,  George  W 6u5-83l 

Fort  Fairfield  Liberal  League,  566 

France.  Milit:.ry  Strength  of..  398 

Literature  of . .  .^ 439 

Catholics 637 

Free  Inquirers'  Association. . .  535 

Freeman,  Mrs.   M.   A 733 

Freeman,  W^.  F 734 

Freethinkers' Magazine,  the..  651 

Freethought,  What  it  Is 13-505 

Freethought    Organization    in 

America 519 

In  England 587 

In  Continental  Europe 611 

Freethought      Federation     of 
America     Principles    and 

Objects  of 672-680 

Friendship  Liberal  League...  573 

French  Revolution,  the 287 

Carhie  on 390 

Cobbett  on 293 

Van  Laun  on 393 

De  Brouckere  on 396 

Froebel.  Philosophy  of 161 

Fuller,   Margaret..' 493 

Gage,  Matilda  Joslyn 477 

Galileo 41 

Gambetta 423 

Garcia,  J.  M.  Leon 850 

Gardenei,  Helen  H 737 


8  GO 


INDEX. 


Garibaldi,  Sketch  of 406 

Garrison,    Wm.    Lloyd,    Reso- 
lutions offered  by,  at  Am. 

Bible  Convention 466 

Geology ^49 

The  Church  and >JoO 

Germany ^'^^ 

Gibbon,  Chapter  on 228-'-347 

Milman  on 2'6^-2'Sii 

Guizot  on ■  '^''1 

Freeman  on ~^1 

On  the  Causes  of  Christian 

Advancement , .  .  .  .  2o4 

In  Paris   279 

Gibson.  Ella    E |?43 

Girard,  Stephen "41 

Gladstone,  W.  E. ,  on  Woman's 

Emancipation 476 

God,  Goethe's  Idea  of 178 

Goethe,  his  Idea  of  God 178 

Quotation  from UH-314-.M6 

Shellev.  Era  of 338 

Goliards  the "-W 

Goodell,  N.  D "f4 

Gray,  Asa,  on  the  Age  of  Man  on3 

Greece 3 1  < 

Greek   Language    and   Litera- 
ture    34 

Green.  H.    L 745 

Greenhill,   lames  A 746 

Griswold,  N.  F 747 

Hacker,  j 748 

Ilaeckel,  Ernst 188 

On  Virchow 190 

On   Evolution 361 

Hamilton,  Sir  Wm.,  sketch...  110 

Happiness,  Pope  on 181 

Hardee,  R.  A 749 

Harman,  Moses 544 

Hanford  Bible  Convention.  466-520 

Havlicek,  Karel 636 

Hayden.  Chas.  T 750 

Hegel,  Philosophy  of HI 

Heine 450 

Heliocentric    Theory 38 

Helvetius   284 

Hey  wood,  Ezra  H 750 

Hill,   Geo.  N..... 759 

History  before  Gibbon 228 

Hobbes.  Thomas   97 

Holland.  F.  M 753 

Holyoake,  Austin 831 

Holyoake.  Geo.  J.,  his  Secular 

Philosophy. 178 

Sketch 183 

IngersoU's  Tribute  to 184 


On    the   Origin    of    Christi- 
anity  240-594-831 

Homer 315 

Hospitaller  Hall 537 

Hugo,   Victor,  on   the  French 

Revolution 250 

On  Voltaire 257 

His  Works 440 

Humboldt 450 

Hume 99 

On  Religion 103 

Adam  Smith  on , .  .  .  .  105 

On  Vinue 109 

Hunt,    Stephen 753 

Huxley,  Thomas  H.,  on  Phil- 
osophy   92 

On  Miracles 101 

On  the  Phenomena  of  Con- 
sciousness  124-125 

On   Bacon 145 

On  Education 173-177-448 

Ibsen,   H 442-842 

Idaho,  Liberals  of 580 

idealism.  Dr.  Abbott  on 135 

Ideas,  Innate,  Locke  on 99 

Illinois,  Liberals  Work  in 552 

Independent  Pulpit,  the 651 

infinite,   the Ill 

Ingersoll 511-517 

On  Secularism 182 

Tribute  to  Holyoake 184 

Ingersoll  Secular  Society 566 

Inquisition,    the 30 

International  Congress    of 

Freethinkers,  report.  ...656-672 
International  Freethought 

Federation,    Congress    of  613 

Investigator,    the 649 

Iowa 550-5S() 

Ironclad  Age,  the 652 

Iscariot,    Judas,     his     Reflec- 
tions   , 214 

Italy 642 

Jacksonville.    Fla 575 

Jamieson,  W.  F 754 

Jesse,  W.  W   754 

Jesuitism 402 

Jesuits,  the,  in  France 280 

lews,    the 30 

Junghuhn.  F.  W 842 

Kansas.  Liberal  Work  in 550 

Kant.  Emanuel.  Sketch  of.  ...  106 

His  Definition  of  Philosophy  93 

Keats 337 

Kempis,  Thos  a 34 

Kent,  Ohio,  Liberal  Work  at.  575 


INDKX. 


S6L 


Kepler ' 42 

Klacel,  F.   M 685 

Kneeland,  Abner !•)■) 

Kossuth,  Louis 4()o 

Krekel,  Arnold 75(> 

Krekel,  Mattie,  P ToC) 

Lassalle,  Ferdinand 421 

Law,  Canon  and  Woman 480 

Law,  Harriet 610 

Lecky,   Quoted 479 

Leland,  Lilian 757 

Leland,  T.  C 760 

Lennstrand,  Viktor 619-620 

Lenourinan,    on    the    Age    of 

Man 353 

Lessing 342 

Lexington,    Ky 575 

Liberty 653 

Lick,  James 762 

Liening,  James 764 

Lima,  S.  de  Mogelhaes 641 

Lincoln,  Abraham 466 

LinesviUe,   Pa 573 

Literature 197 

Provencal 202 

Of  .Modern  Europe 432 

Locke,  John 97 

Longfellow 473 

Longford,   George 573 

Louisville,  Ky 575 

Lozano,  F 843 

Lucifer 653 

Luther,  Martin 47-49-480 

Lyell 353 

Macaulay,  on  Bacon 147 

Macdonald,  E.  M 765 

Macdonald,  G.  E 767 

McCabe,  J.J 770 

McDonnell,   William 771 

Magnellan 24 

Maine,  Freethought  in 566 

Man,  Age  of 352 

Man,   League  Paper 652 

Manhattan  Liberal  Club 568 

Marlowe 216 

Martin,    Emma 491-609 

Martin,  Geo 773 

Martineau,   Harriet 487 

Marx,  Karl,  Sketch  of 419-609 

Mather,  Cotton , 456 

Mazzini,  on  Political  Tenden- 
cies   400 

His  Creed,.. 404 

Mendum,    Ernest 775 

Mendum,  J.    P 773 

Meriden,  Conn 568 


Mexico 643 

Mill,  J.  S.,on  Comte 126 

Teachings  of 449 

Mille,  Constantin 843 

Milman,  on  Gibbon 330 

Milton 199-337 

Miracles,  Hume  r.n 100-103 

Huxley,  on 101 

Mohammed 38 

Moleshoit,   Jacob 844 

Monism 139-375 

Monroe,  ].  R 777 

Montaigne 209 

Montesquieu 384 

Moore,  S.  D 779 

Montreal,    Pioneer    Free- 
thought  Club 584 

Monument,  the   Bruno 853 

Moralities,  Mysteries  and.  .  .  .  313 
Moralists,  Brotherhood  of...  .  586 
Morality,  God's  Different  from 

Man's 83 

Distinct  from  Religion 169 

Secular,  defined  by  Watts.. .      181 

Utilitarianism,  Mill  on...  .182-386 
Moral  Laws,  Committee  on. .  .  616 
Mormonism,    Problem    of     its 

Growth 238 

Morris,  William 439 

Moses,  as  an  Illustration 16 

Moss,  Arthur  B 831 

Mott,  Lucretia 493 

Mysteries  and  Moralities 212 

National  Defense  Association,   536— 

547 

National  Liberal  League 528 

National  Secular  Society 603 

Neckar,  Madame '. 384 

Nelson,  Gustave 779 

Newark  Liberal  League.  .  ..571-586 
Newton,  Isaac,  his  Principles,  44-45 
New    York    State     Freethink- 
ers'  Association,    History 

of 547-550 

Nihilism 416 

Northport,  L.  1 571 

Norway 624 

Noyes,   R.  K 780 

Nystrom,  Anton 844 

Open  Court,  the 653 

Oregon  Liberals  and  Societies.     577 

State  Secular  Union 556 

Organization,   Freethought  in 

America 519 

Local 566 

Orthodoxy,  the  New 503 


8G2 


Oswald,  Felix  L 7H1 

Owen,  Robert 91-186-008 

Paine,  Thomas 298 

On  the  P'rench  Revolution..  3im 

On  Creation 368-461 

Paine  Memorial  Hall 527 

Palmer,  Courtlandt 782 

Pantheism 63 

Paper  and  Press 36 

Parliament  of  Religions 503 

Part  II 519 

Parker,   Theodore 465-501 

Parton,  James,  on  Voltaire.  . .  259 

Sketch 784 

Paul-Ce6,  Jean 617 

Peck,  John 785 

Pestalozzi,  Sketch  of 160 

Peterson,  R 787 

Petrarch 32-199-453 

Petrofsky,    Sophia 492 

Phillips,  Wendell,   on    Educa- 
tion   150 

On  Nihilism 415 

Philosophy,  Critical,  of  Locke,  98 

Pillsbury,  Parker 787 

Pittsburg  Secular  Union 573 

Pi  y  Margall,  D.  F 843 

Platonism 143 

Poe,  Edgar  Allen 471 

Poetry,  Goliardic 200 

General  Consideration  of . .  .  507 

Politics  of  Modern  Europe.  .  .  397 

Pomponazzi 71-72-73 

Discussions     with    Achillini 

at  Padua 74 

His      Materialistic      Philos- 
ophy   78 

On  Human  Liberty 80 

His  place  in  the  Italian  Ren- 
aissance   80 

His   Death 82 

Pope,  A.,  his  Characteristics.  329 

Portland  Secular   Church,  the  578 

Portugal 640 

Positive  Philosophy 119 

Lewes   on 122 

Presbyterian  Creed 389-391 

Press,  the  Liberal 647-655 

Priests,  V.  B.  Denslow  on....  197 
Printing,  Art  of   Discovered.  .34-36 

Proctor,  R.    A 608 

Proem, 7 

Progress,  Evolution  and 368 

Proudhon 409 

Provencals,     Religious    Crus- 
ades against 205 


103-; 


Pulci 

Puritans,  the 

Pushkin 

Putnam,  Samuel  P. . .  . 
Rabelais 

Coleridge  on 

Reade,  W.   Winwood.  . 
Realism  in  Literature. 

Reformation,   the 

Regnard,  Albert , 

Reichwald,  E.  C 

Religion,  Hume  on.  .  . 

Remsburg,   J.  E 

Renaissance,    the 

Renan,  Ernest,  on  Primitive 
Christianity 

Writings  of 

Sketch   of 

Resolutions  offered  by  Garri- 
son at  Am.  Bible  Conven- 
tion  

Revolution,  the  French 

Reynolds,  C.  B 

Richardson,    J.  P 

Robespierre 

Roland,  Madame 

Rome 

Rose,   Ernestine  L 495 

Rosenow,  A 

Ross,  W.  Stewart 607 

Roumania 

Rousseau,  his  "  Emile  "...  .159 

Rowley,  Henry 

Rush,  Reuben 

Russia 

Phillips  on 

Ruteboef 


453 
454 
445 

788 
206 
208 
831 
443 
47 
844 
789 
i83 
79.'> 
322 

238 
441 
845 


466 
287 
792 
794 
291 
486 
318 
-795 
796 
-832 
637 
-274 
796 
799 
398 
416 
202 


Salem,  Ohio  Liberals  of 573 

Salmeron,  D.  Nicholas 846 

Sand,  George 488 

San  Francisco  Liberal  League  577 

Salon,  the   Paris 277 

Gibbon  on 279 

Woman  in 286 

Savonarola 81 

Schell,  Abram 800 

Schiller 344 

Schroeder,  J.  Henry 801 

Schueneman-Pott,  Fred 802 

Schwella,  Edward 633 

Scott,  Walter 337 

Seaver,  Horace 803 

Secularism,  defined  by   Holy- 

oake 178-597 

Ingersoll 182-506 


INDEX 


863 


Secular  Thought.. 651 

Selection,   Natural 874-379 

Sexual 377 

Seneca,  his  Notion  of  a  Philos- 
opher      148 

Shakspere,  on  Man 11-215 

Age  of 218-334-326 

Sharp,  S 803 

Shaw,  J.   D 804 

Shelley 314-339 

Silverton  Secular  Union 577 

Slenker,  Elmina  D 805 

Smetana,  A.  S 635 

Smith,  Katie  Kehm 805 

Socialism 400-420 

Socrates 81 

Somerville,  Mary 486 

South  America 645 

Spain 631 

Specht,  Dr.  August 639 

Spencer,    Herbert,  as  a  Posi- 

tivist 128 

His  Philosophy   of  the   Un- 
knowable   130-133 

His    Philosophy    stated    by 

Sylvan  Drey 168-374 

Spinoza 51-62 

Death  of 63 

On  Theology  and   Politics.  .       67 
Decrees  of   the   Vatican, 

against 69-97 

Spiritualism 503 

Spontaneous   Generation 380 

Standring,  George 832 

Stanton,  Elizabeth  Cady 494 

State,  Woman  and  the 481 

'  Steiner,  Franklin 807 

Stevens,  E.   A 807 

Stockton,  Cal., Liberal  League     576 

Stowe,  Mrs.  H.  B 494 

Sturoc,  W.  C 809 

Sweden 618 

Swinburne,  A.    C 438 

Switzerland 642 

Taber,  Henry  M 810 

Taine,  on  the  Drama 215 

Talleyrand,  on  Religion 120 

Taylor,   Robert    832 

Tchernychewsky 446 

Telescope,  Invention  of 41 

Telesio 71-84 

Ten  Bokkel,  J.  G 834 

Tennyson,  Alfred 436 

Texas  Liberal  Association. .  . .     552 
Theism,  Hume  on 104 


Theosophy 504 

Thompsv^n,  Otto 622 

Thoreau 473 

Thorne,  Robert 812 

Toland,  John,  Quoted 368 

Toomey,  S «12 

Toronto  Secular  Society 582 

Torricelli 44 

Transcendentalism 114 

Troubadour,    the 203 

'1  ruelove,  Edward 833 

Truth  Seeker,   the 650 

Truth.   Twofold 82 

Mill   on 83 

Repudiated   by  Freethought  84 
Tyndall,  John,  on  the  Potency 

of  Matier 53-448 

L'nitarianism 500 

Universalism 500 

Unknowable,  the 129 

Spencer,    Harrison    and 

Wakeman  on 130 

Bradlaugh,  on 137 

Utah  Liberals 580 

Vale,  Gilbert 526 

V^anini 71-86-89 

Van  Laun,  on  the  French    Re- 
volution   293 

Van  Vloten,  Johannes 847 

Vatican,  the 401 

Vaughan.  Dr.    Herbert,    Quo- 
ted    593 

Vidal,     Raimon,    on     Metrical 

Art 204 

Virgil 319 

Virtue,  Hume  on 109 

Voelkel,  Titus 847 

Volney 312 

Voltaire,  Chapter  on 348 

On  Natural  Rights. 253 

Faith  of 254 

Death  of 256 

How  he  Died 258 

Parton  on 250 

Vostrovsky,  J 814 

Waco,  Texas 575 

Wade,  Robert 815 

Waite,  C.  B 815 

Wakeman,    as    an   Interpreter 

of  Comte 120 

On    the    Origin    of    Christi- 

anitv 241 

Sketch  of 818 

Walker,  E.  C 820 

Warren,  Josiah 498 


864 


INI),  X. 


Washburn,  L.  K S:3() 

Washinjjton      Liberals      and 

Societies -JG 1 

Secular  IJnion 558 

Watts,  Chas. ,  on  Secular  Mor- 
ality  181-601-8:^2 

Watts,  Kate  Eunice 832 

Westphalia.  Peace   of .50 

Wettstein.    Herman 833 

Wetrstcin,  v)tto 822 

Wheeler.  J.  M 833 

Whitman.  Walt 510 

Wicksell,   Anna-Bugge 848 

Wicksell,  Knut 848 

Wigglesworth,      his      Day    of 

Doom 456-459 


Wille.  Bruno 849 

Wixon,  Susan  H 496-824 

Wollstonecraft,  Mary 406 

Woman  and  the  Bible 477 

Emancipation  of 476 

And  the  Church 478 

And  the  State 481 

Before  Christianity 483 

Wordsworth , 336 

Wright,   Elizur 828 

Wright.  Frances 487 

Wright,  Henry  J •522 

Young    People's    Freethought 

Temperance   Society 562 

Zola,   Emil '. 442 

Zorilla,  D.  M.   R 850 


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iiilmond  Apsey 
John  A.  Aspinall 
Albert  Barwis 
James  Blackney 
!).  A.    Blodgett 
L.  G.  Bragg 
B.  \\\  Brockway 
J.  H.  Burnham 
Isador  Caron 
Emily  J.  Castle 


C.  H.  Chase 

.Mrs.  Converse  Close 
Coply  Cottrell 
M    A.   Dexter 
Dr.  F.  Fettig 
Uriah  Fritz 
Wm.  .A.  Gibbs 
Isadore  Goulette 
Lawrence  Hofma 
Marcus  Klein 
Amo^  Knapp 
A.  B.  Lenox 

D.  Millard 
Samuel  D.  Moore 
Dr.  Gustave  Nelson 
Francis  R.  Pavne 

J.  H.   Plett 

F.  J.    I'orter 

I.  F.    f^n  ctor 

Mrs.   Caroline  L.  Rich 

J.  F.    Ruggles 

Mrs.   H.  Smith  Saunders 

Daniel  M.  Smith 

A.  W.  Sturdy 
James  Taylor 
J.  F.  Tibb'its 
Vincent  D.  Vincent 
O.Y.fc  Luella  K.Webster 
Daniel  White 

Minnesota 

Leopold  Bacquet 
Wm.  H.  Baier 

D.  C.  Dyer 
Ole  Eidetn 
John  Frank 
Nick  Gaetner 
James  Geddes 
M .  A.  Gilmore 
Ole  E.   Hagen 
John  Maddock 
John  Monroe  Martin 

B.  Monroe 
Wm.  Miinch 
B.  Peabody 
Julius  Rasmussen 

E.  C.  Sly 

Elias  Steenerson 
L.  N.  Stevens 
William  Thomas 
S.  C.  Todd 
Charles  Wolsfeld 

Mississippi 

J.  M.  Maynor 


870 


SUBSCKJtiEKS 


Missouri 

Jos.  E.  Alexander 
John  Brossie 
Ed.  Butler 
C.  W.   Caines 
William  Cook 
W.  C.  Devall 
Wm.  Hart 
Chas.  Lambert 
J.  F.  Lane 
L.  C.  Livingood 
Ed.  Nathan,  In 
W.  H.   Steer  " 
Thomas  J.  Tanner 
S.  M.  Tilley 
J-  J.  Uhl 
P.  J.  Umbrite 
H.  W.  Vitte 

Montana 

A.  Bessette 
Bill  Berry 
C.  T.  Collier 
Fred  Cook 
W.  H.  Culver 
James  Davidson 
Alex.  DeLong 
Sam'l  P.  De  Noielle 
James  Fergus 
Mrs.  S.  C.  Gilpatrick 
John  Hagan 
David  Hall 
Jacob  Harris 
R.  H.  Harwood 
Charles  M.  Jeffries 
L.  F.  Keim 
J.  R.  Logan 
Enos.  A.  Mills 
Thomas  Salmon 
Geo.  W.  Scobee 
J.  V.  Stafford 
H.  L.  Stephens 
A.  M.  Stevens 
J.  C.  Wahlen 

Nebraska 

Bennett  Anderson 

Hiram  L.  Boyes 

H.  M.  Dopp 

Walter  Francois 

J.  W.  Gilbert 

C.  W    Goff 

C.  W.  Havlicek 

G.  Hessler 

John  McArdlo 

C.    F.  W.  Marqiiardt 


Lewis  Moflitt 
D.  S.  Newbold 
Thomas  Patrick 
H.  A.  Peirce 
C.  Putnam 
Henry  Reithardt 
Mrs.  O.  Slopansky 
H.  B.  &  C.  W.  Smith 
Elling  Strand 
Fred  Thibodeau 
Mrs.  A.  C.  Todd 
Miss  Lavina  Wagner 
Calvin  J.  Wright 

Nevada 

H.  H.  Greer 

lohn  Sunderland 
H.   L.  Wriirht 

.\<'W  Hampshire 

J.  E.  Maiden 
Parktr  Pillsbiiry 
Sophia  B.   Robinson 
Edward  Runneils 
VV.  C.  Sturoc 
G.  W.  V\liittemore 

New  Jersvy 

Harris  (i.  .Avery 

B  ntley  Rainfor'th 

•August  Hehn 

I.  S.    I'cnnett 

Henry   I  ir  1 

Thomas  lilack 

James  Chattin 

Julius  Fehr,   M.D. 

August  Jacobi 

Marie  Louise  A.  Lefort 

.Alex.  McAlpine 

W.  W.  xMorris 

J.  A.  Munn 

Oliver  S.  Poppey 

J.  S    Shepherd 

Dr.  Wm.  A.  Smith 

John  Snijer 

Paul  S.    looker 

Samuel  R.  Wetherell 

Tim  White 

New  Mexico 

Seaman  Field 
Nathaniel  Moore 
J.  G.   Schumann 
B.  G.  Stegman 


SUBSCRIBERS. 


871 


New  York 

Daniel  T.  Ames 

W.  VV.  Ames 

Miss  Jennie  .-^  rmr,trons 

D.  C.  B.ker 

Mrs.  H.  M.  S.  Billing-. 

Henrv  Monnell 

Francis  S.&Ruth  Brctteil 

S    Hrewtr 

\Vm  BroLidbelt 

Jasper  J.  Brown 

Mrs.  R.  S.   lirunner 

Jacob  Buckmeer 

Mrs.  Eliza  B.  Burnz 

Edward  VV.  Chamberlain 

L.  Chaskin 

Louis  N    Cohen 

Dexter  K.  Cole 

Lucv  N.  Colman 

L.  D.  Crine 

E.  E.  Curtis 
William  Dickson 
Paul  Fisher 

Dr.  E.  B.  Foote,  Sr. 
Dr.  E    B.  Foote,  Jr. 
Wm.  Smiley  Galloway 
Wm  ThompsonGalloway 
Helen  H.  Gardener 
L.  DeWitt  Griswold 
B.  F.  Harrington 
Jackson  A.  Haynes 
Ralph  Helm 
N.  F.  Howe 
Robert  G.  IngersoU 
J.  W.  Jewett 
Mr   &  Mrs.  L.  A.  Kaple 
A.  V.  Kendricks,  Jr. 
G.  A.  Kenvon 
J.  A.  Kimble 
Capt.  R.  A,  Kinnier 
Nelson  E.  Knox 
Frederick  Koezley 

F.  Larabee 
F'eter  Leist 
Edward  A.  Little 
Geo.   H.  Look 
Geo.  Loomis 

1.   J.  McCabe 
William  Mcllvain 
H.  Merrick 
L.  F.  Mines 
Ja^mes  J. .Mills 
JEugene  V.  C.  Myers 

(Germantown) 
A.  Nvlund 


J.  W    (Mmstead 
fames  L.  Parshall 
Samuel  Page 
John  Peck 
Nelson  L.  Pidgeon 
Geo.  L.  Pratt 
L.  G.  Reed 
Henry  Rowley 
Edw.  E.  Sammis 
Wm.  A.  Sands 
Capt.  John  Scott 
William  Smith 
W.  H.  H.  Stebbins 
Henrv  A.  Stone 
G.  L.'Swift,  Sr. 
Henrv  M    Taber 
Mabel  M.  Tarbell 
William   Thorp 
A.  VanDeuseri 
T.  B.   Wakeman 
E   C.  Walker 
Joseph  Warwick 
Dr.  Caleb  S.  Weeks 
N.  S.  Whitney 
Hiram  Wilbur 

Nortli  Carolina 

1  eger  Meyer 
W.  S.  Rolin 

>orth  Dakota 

George  Adams 

C.  E.  Anderson 

L.  Gilbert 

M.  A.  Hewitt 

Lief  T.  jordshangen 

C.  W.  McDorman 

John  C.  Risvold 

E.  Smith 

H.  F.  Speiser 

David  Wallace 


Ohio 


Dr    E.  Behymer 
-Sol.  Benson 
E.  P.  Bly 
M.  F   Bly 
S.  M.  Bowers 
William  Buchtel 
N.  B    Butler 
R.  CrDcker 
E\v  al  !  Duemig 
C    H.  Dye 
William 'M.  Everett 
.'\.  E    Fa  able 
H.  Fishering 


872 


srHSCKIBFRS. 


S.  F.  Fobes 
John  Griffith 
J.  F.  Haucnstein 
Mrs.  John  Haugc 
Walt  Hengartner 
Solomon  Hill 
John  Hirt 
Andrew  Hogg 
J.  H    Hunt 
D.  M.  Isenhart 
J.  T.  Johnson 
W    H.  Kintnt-r 
George  E.  Light 

A.  Johnson  Lutes 
Elmer  Miller 
William  Neiswender 
Ira  E.  Norton 

J.  Geo.  (3eh 
H.  A.  Pierce 
Milton  Raley 
Fred  W.  Raper 

B.  A.  Roloson 
Joseph  Roth 

J.  H.  Schueller 
Alexander  C.  Scott 

C.  M.   Sears 
Simeon  Sharp 
Joseph  Shinn 
Samuel   Silverman 
H.  L  Smedes 

J.  M.  Smiley 
Vaclav  Snajdr 
Ely  Tayk  r 
Persifor  Tavlor 
A.  W.  Tinker 
Mrs.  S.  T.  Tompkins 
.S.    1  oomey 
Geo.  H.  Turner 
John  W.  Turner 
G.  H.  Van  Ness 
J.  H.  White, 
Enoch  Wickersham 
las.  M.  Wight 
Mrs.  E.  R.  Wilco.x 
S.  T.  Woodward 
n.  ^L  Worley 
James  Yates 

Herman  Arnold 

Mr.  ^  Mrs.  J.  W.  Reaty 

Warren  Carson 

Chas.  G.  Caspary 

O.  Coolidge 

Mrs.  A.  M.  Crawford 

W.  J    Dean 


lohii  Diamond 
d.     x     Doane 
E.  X.  Ford 
|.  !).  Fountain 
L.  C.   (jilmore 
Chas.  S.   Harris 

B.  F.  liyland 
Benj.  Jdgger 
|.  .S.    1  amar 

H    L.  Lindeleap 

I     I.   Mc    oy 

Soi  .Meiidel'l 

Mr    and  Mrs.  A.  K.  Olds 

Free-man  Parker 

( ).  P.   Platter 

Mr.\'.\lrs.  Jack  Plummer 

Maxwell  Ramsby 

letter  kauch 

Mrs.  Is  bella  Robinson 

1.  Henry  Schroeder 

Katie  Kehm  Smith 

Miss  Lilla    Turney 

Ioiiath,-in  Wells 

David  Wittenberg 

Pt'imsylvjuiia 

j.  O.   Bentley 
VVm     Bergstresser 
Andrew   Beveridge 
Miss     ffie  Beveridge 
Jerry   Brcjckway 
T.  E.  C  hidester 
D.  K.  Christian 
W.  H     Clark 

C.  J.  Curtis 
Geo.  1 1.  Deeds 
Ed.  W.  Dewey 
William  Dietz 
G    P.  Driesbach 
George  East 
Samuel  Eberly 
Ben.  F.   Eynon 
Dr.  A.  J.  Gillis 
W.  j.   Halden.an 
M.  S.  Hayhurst 
Charles  Henshaw 
T.  H.  Hershey 
William  Holmes 
William  Hulton 
N    L.  Ireland 

1  evy  Kelly 
Watson  Kenderdine 
W.  F.  Lerich     . 
Jos.   M.  Libby 
Thos.  E    Longshore 
Thos.  W.  McHenry 


SUBSCRIBERS. 


F.  C.  Mende 

Geo.  H.  Merritt 

William  Owen 

Louis   /'lack 

Ernest    &    Krnesline     C. 

PJaiz 
John  Puulsoii 
John  Rowe 
C.  W.  Sic  cum 
Mrs     Kliza  Snedeker 
E.  M.   Stevenson 
Jacob  Tausig 
A.  W.  Thompson 
Robert   Thorne 
Z.  W.  Tinker 
J.  E.   V'anKirk 
Seth  T.  Walton 
John  F.   V\  erntz 
Fred'ck  Whittlesey, M.I) 
Thomas  J.  Whitney 
James  Yates 

Rhode  island 

Wm.  SL-iter  Mowry 

Soiitli  Caroliuy 

A.  A.  Cohen 

B.  Doscher 
Louis  Levine 

South  Dakota 

Frank  Flitner 
N.  S.  Johnson 
John  H.  McKee 

Temie.ssee 

John  A.  Caldci 
J.  W.  James 
Watson  Hestou 
Jennie  Pryor 
James   Turner 

Texas 

W.  W.  &   IL  C.  Lallew 

A.  H    Chandler 

T.  The- .  Colwick 

A.  W.   Dellquest 

William  Doose 

Miles  I    Doyle 

S.  <'.  Etheridge 

P.  F.  Garrett 

M.  II    Goldowskx' 

j .  E.   Harv>  y 

Capt.  J.  C    Harvv 

Lem.  Jones 

William  Joseph 


M.  Kangerga 
I.  M.    Kendall 
k.  D.   Kinney 
Dr.  B.  C.  Lacy 
R.  II.  Larabee 
Mrs.  F.  L.  Latow 
G.  S.   Lincoln,  M.D. 
William  Mansfield 
I.  F.   Miles 
|.  H.   Morrow,  M.  D. 
B.  C.   Murray 
A.  Ockander 

D.  A.  Orvis 
R.  Peterson 

Judge  J.  P.  Richardson 

J.  B    Rochel 

Chas.  C    deRudio 

I    H.  Sloma 

G.  T.  Toye 

Chas.  Trotter 

E.  M.  Yingling 

Utali 

M.  P.  Braffet 
David  L.  Evans 
Hector  W.  Haight 
^\  m    J.  Jones 
Robert  R.  Ramsey 
].  A.  Eaves 
Alexander  Rogers 
P.  Schwartz 
Philip  Sibley 
John  W.  White 
D.  Williams 

\  eriiiont 

A.  A.  Orcutt 
John  D.  Powers 
[ohn   P.  Warner 

A  irj»iiiiii 

M.  \^  Dadisman 
Leonard  Walters 

"Washington 

W.  M.  Anderson 

B.  A.  Curtis 

J    C.   Davidson 
"William  Fisk 
J.  J.  Ford 
W.  O.  Freese 
Henry  Ferguson 
A.  Geery 
Mrs.  F.  Gillette 
lohn  Gronow 
Lars  Hansen 


874 


SUBSCR1B^  RS 


F.  H.  Harkins 

Emil  Holm 

J.  M.   Hubbard 

John  Iffland 

Cyrille  Lacasse 

America  LaFollette 

Mrs.   A.  C.  MacdonalH 

A.  L   McFarlane 

J.  S.  Martin 

Frank  Morse 

J.  H.  O'Hara 

P.  A.    Olsen 

D.  Jenny  O'Neale 

Robert   Pfaendtner 

Oscar  Redfield 

A.   Rosenow 

C    W.  Sammis 

F.    Sctiornhorst 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  Peter  .Selde 

Richard  Sinner 

Dominique  Soldini 

P.  K.  Spencer 

Michael  Steffan 

P.  N.  Wiis 

Wm.  J.  White 

West  \'irgiiiiu 

Dr.  L.  Hockman 
Geo    W.   Uobinson 
W.  D.  Scott 
John  R.  Selbe 

Wisconsin 

H.  P.    .Anderson 

Maligas  Boehmer 

S.  C.    Boardman 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  M  O.  Brewer 

J.  H.  Collins 

Wm.  D.  Cullman 

A.  G.  Descent 

R.  Dewhurst 

A.  M.  Dickson 

Chas.  A.  Ecker 

W.  A.  Griswold 

Joseph  Gross 

Wm.  Hanselman 

L.  A.  Helmka 

A.  C.    Kenter 

Charles   LaTour 

John    Leitch 

Joseph   Manhart 

H.  C.  Nelson 

DeWitt  C.  Priest 


A.  A.   Raymond 
D.  C.    Robinson 
N.  C     Skelton 
P.  F.  Spencer 
Otto  W.  Spengler 
Andrew   'lainter 

D.  L  'Fainter 
W.  W.  Taplin 
B    Thorpe 

J.  P.  Whipple 
James  H.  Wilson 

Britisli  Columbia 

J.  W.  Castner 

Simeon  Duck 

W.  Jensen 

R.  J.  Moffat 

John  P.  Pellitier 

Mr.  &  Mrs    A    Sumne- 

Robert  Watkin 

Caiiiula 

Capt    Robert  C.  Adams 

E.  L    Brarenor 
George   Derry 
Charles  Dunn 
Joseph  Fortier 
Wm.  A.  Goodwin 
James  B.  Knowlson 
Charles  Laperche 
William  Long 
William  McDonnell 

B.  Marcuse 
S.  T.    Tilley 

.     M.  O'B.  Ward 

Knglaiid 

Thomas  Kewley 
W.  H.  Lawrence 
Charles  Watts 

Germany 

Theo.  Wilmersdoerfer 

New  Brunswick 

T.  S.  Dent 

West  Indies 

C.  Massenden 
Emanuel  dos  Santos 
Edward  Todd 

C   Walker 


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